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Urbania: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, Marche. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Urbania

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: Via Roma 3, Urbania.

Urbania, the old Casteldurante in a bend of the Metauro

Until the seventeenth century the town was called Casteldurante. Its present name comes from Pope Urban VIII, who raised it to the rank of city when the Duchy of Urbino passed to the Papal States. The historic centre sits inside a bend of the Metauro river at around two hundred and seventy metres, with the Della Rovere dukes' palace overlooking the water. Urbino is about twenty kilometres away, beyond Fermignano, and Pesaro and the coast are under an hour's drive.

Urbania is known for ceramics: its majolica has a tradition going back centuries and a few workshops are still active. The town lives on small industry, crafts and services for the villages of the upper valley. In the historic centre you find brick terraced houses, often on three or four floors; outside the walls there are small blocks of flats and detached houses, and in the surrounding countryside farmhouses in need of restoration. There is no railway, so people travel by car or by bus. Declared incomes are slightly below the provincial average.

In 2023 Istat, the national statistics office, counted 6,891 residents, down 2.6% on 2011. The average age of 46.1 and the share of over-65s, 24.5%, are just below the average for the province of Pesaro and Urbino. Foreign residents make up 10.3%. As the reference town for the valley it has 6 schools and more health facilities per head than the provincial average.

All 50 municipalities in the province are in seismic zone 2 under the Civil Protection classification. In Urbania the expected ground acceleration is about 0.176 g, a medium to high value in a seismically active part of the Apennines. For a masonry house in the centre, ask whether it has tie rods, whether the floors are tied into the walls and what work has been done in recent decades.

The Metauro wraps around three sides of the centre: near the banks the report checks flood hazard for the exact address, and on the clay hills around the town it checks landslide hazard. The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes cadastral maps, and the report traces each address to its land parcel.

Key points

  • The old Casteldurante, a majolica town on the Metauro.
  • About twenty kilometres from Urbino.
  • 6,891 residents, down 2.6% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.176 g.

Overview

Urbania is a municipality in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, in Marche. At the end of 2023 it had 6,891 residents, ranked 13 of 50 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Urbania is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. All 50 municipalities in the province are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.176 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Urbania, the building matters a great deal: ask for the design year, whether it met the 2008 seismic standards, and whether any seismic retrofit has been carried out.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has fallen by 2.6%. The estimated average age is 46 years, in line with the province. 25% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 26%). Foreign residents make up 10.3% of the population. On average, a household has 2.4 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Urbania declared an average taxable income of 22,076 euros, below the provincial average (23,718 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Urbania is in climate zone E, with 2,293 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 273 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Urbania has 6 schools and 2 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 6 grocery shops and supermarkets, 5 healthcare facilities, 7 sports facilities and 1 green area.

There are 0.3 pharmacies per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.4).

Public transport

We do not yet have open public transport timetables for this municipality: the report says so explicitly, without inventing distances.

How built-up it is

Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 5.0% of the land in Urbania, compared with 6.8% in the province and 7.0% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 0.6 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

Official databases list one contaminated site, or site still under investigation, in Urbania. 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 Urbania: 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 Urbania 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 44 inhabited census areas in Urbania. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 66 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 0.3%
  • fair 39.8%
  • good 59.9%

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

ISTAT code 041066. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.