Sesto San Giovanni: what to know before buying a home
A municipality in the province of Milano, Lombardia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.
Liveability index free for any address
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Search for an address in Sesto San Giovanni
The report looks at the exact point: landslide and flood risk, seismic zone, price per square metre for the area, services and nearby stops.
For example: Viale Fratelli Casiraghi 0, Sesto San Giovanni.
Sesto San Giovanni, from steelworks to the metro
For most of the twentieth century Sesto San Giovanni was a town of big factories: Falck, Breda, Marelli, Campari. The steelworks have closed, leaving huge sites that are partly redeveloped and partly still under construction, such as the former Falck land where a new hospital and research campus, the Città della Salute e della Ricerca, is being built. Today Sesto is effectively a continuation of Milan's northern districts.
The link with Milan is why many people choose to live here. The red line of the Milan metro runs through the town to Sesto 1° Maggio station, where mainline trains also stop. In the open timetables the municipality has 174 stops and 25 lines: metro (1), tram (1), rail (9) and bus (14).
Housing is mostly apartment blocks built for factory workers between the 1950s and 1970s, alongside older small houses and new buildings on former industrial land. Noise, traffic and distance from the metro vary a lot between neighbourhoods. The town is almost entirely built up, and green space is concentrated in parks, starting with the Parco Nord.
Istat, the national statistics office, counted 78,495 residents in 2023, up 2.6% on 2011. Households are small, averaging 2.00 people, and over-65s make up 25.2%, more than in the province (23.0%). Foreign residents account for 16.0%. Average declared incomes are below the provincial figure, which Milan pushes up considerably.
Earthquake hazard is low: seismic zone 3, expected ground acceleration about 0.052 g. For a new flat on a former industrial site, the history of the ground may matter more. Ask the developer for the documents on the land clean-up and the checks carried out before building.
Key points
- Former steel town, now linked to Milan by the red metro line.
- 174 stops and 25 lines in the open timetables.
- Over-65s at 25.2%, foreign residents at 16.0%.
- Seismic zone 3: low hazard.
Overview
Sesto San Giovanni is a municipality in the province of Milano, in Lombardia. At the end of 2023 it had 78,495 residents, the second most populous in the province.
Earthquakes
For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Sesto San Giovanni is in seismic zone 3, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible but rare. Only 60 of 133 municipalities in the province are in zone 3.
In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.052 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.
Even in zone 3, seismic standards apply to new buildings: for an older building, ask about the design year and any structural work.
Population
Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has grown by 2.6%. The estimated average age is 47 years, in line with the province. 25% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 24%). Foreign residents make up 16.0% of the population. On average, a household has 2.0 members.
Income and climate
In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Sesto San Giovanni declared an average taxable income of 28,019 euros, below the provincial average (33,635 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.
Sesto San Giovanni is in climate zone E, with 2,404 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 15 October to 15 April, for up to 14 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 140 metres above sea level.
Services
In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Sesto San Giovanni has 49 schools and 24 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 26 grocery shops and supermarkets, 70 healthcare facilities, 47 sports facilities and 11 parks and green areas.
Public transport
Within the municipality there are 174 public transport stops, served by 14 bus lines, 9 train lines, 1 metro line, 1 tram line. That is about 2.2 stops per 1,000 residents.
How built-up it is
Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 69.2% of the land in Sesto San Giovanni, compared with 32.0% in the province and 12.2% in the region. In 2024 built-up land shrank by 2.1 hectares.
Radon and contaminated sites
Sesto San Giovanni is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Lombardia in 2023. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.
Official databases list 12 contaminated sites, or sites still under investigation, in Sesto San Giovanni, and 30 more have been cleaned up or closed. The report tells you whether one is close to the address.
Landslides and flooding
Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Sesto San Giovanni: the report checks the address against the ISPRA maps.
House prices
The Revenue Agency's price ranges per square metre (OMI) apply to zones, not to whole municipalities: the report gives the range for the address's zone.
Land registry
The cadastral maps for Sesto San Giovanni are public: from the address the report finds the sheet and parcel number.
Liveability area by area
The Vicinalia liveability index runs from 0 to 100 and looks at the place, not the people who live there: services within walking distance, transport, green space, natural hazards, air, quiet, buildings and connection. Here it is worked out at the centre of each of the 323 inhabited census areas in Sesto San Giovanni. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 76 or more.
Residents by band
- fair 3.1%
- good 75.6%
- very good 21.3%
Vicinalia index by census area, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Data: IdroGEO ISPRA (2026), Istat, INGV, EEA, AGCOM, Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap.
The colour is the value at the centre of the area. For an exact address, search for it above: the free check looks at that exact point. How the index is worked out
Data sources
- Seismic classification of municipalities, Dipartimento della Protezione Civile. Licence CC BY 4.0, updated to 2025-05.
- MPS04 seismic hazard model, INGV. Licence CC BY 4.0, 2004 model.
- Data by census section, Istat. Licence CC BY 4.0, residents at the end of 2023, compared with the 2011 census.
- Places, Overture Maps Foundation. Licence CDLA Permissive 2.0 and others depending on provider, release 2026-10-21.0.
- Public transport timetables (GTFS): ATM Milano, Comune di Milano - AMAT, orari del trasporto pubblico ATM (GTFS). Licence CC BY 4.0, version 20261029.
- Public transport timetables (GTFS): Trenord, Regione Lombardia - Trenord, orari ferroviari (GTFS). Licence CC BY 4.0, version 20261111.
- Income and main IRPEF variables by municipality, MEF, Dipartimento delle Finanze. Licence CC BY 3.0 IT, tax year 2024.
- Climate zones and heating degree days of municipalities (Presidential Decree 412/1993, Annex A), Normattiva. Licence CC BY 4.0, current text.
- Land take, territorial dynamics and ecosystem services, ISPRA e SNPA. Licence CC BY 4.0, 2024 data.
- Predictive radon map by municipality, ISPRA. Licence CC BY 4.0, version 2022-11.
- Radon priority areas (Legislative Decree 101/2020), Regione Lombardia, national list compiled by ARPA Lombardia. Licence Atto pubblico (art. 5 L. 633/1941), 2023.
- Contaminated sites, Regione Lombardia. Licence CC0 1.0 (pubblico dominio), updated to 15 November 2026.
- Liveability index by census area, Vicinalia, from the data in the report sections. Licence CC BY-SA 4.0, worked out on 30 September 2026.
- List of Italian municipalities, Istat. Licence CC BY 4.0, updated to 21 February 2026.
ISTAT code 015209. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.