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Villabate: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Palermo, Sicilia. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Villabate

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: Corso Vittorio Emanuele 1, Villabate.

Villabate, on Palermo's eastern doorstep

Between Palermo and Bagheria, just south-east of the city, Villabate is in practice part of Palermo's urban area. It is a small, heavily built-up municipality: almost half of its land is covered by homes, roads and warehouses, on the plain once filled with the citrus groves of the Conca d'Oro.

Many residents work in Palermo, and the main roads leaving the city eastwards are a few minutes away. Housing is mostly low-rise and multi-storey apartment blocks, with some older houses in the original core. In such a dense setting, look carefully at parking, orientation and road noise as well as the condition of the building.

Villabate is younger than the provincial average: the average age is 40.7 against 44.7, 16.8% of residents are over 65 and households are large, 2.70 members on average. Istat, the national statistics office, counted 19,521 residents in 2023, down 1.5% on 2011. Foreign residents are few, 2.1%, and declared incomes are below the provincial average.

There are 25 supermarkets, a lot for the population, but for healthcare people depend on Palermo, with 6 healthcare sites recorded in the town.

In the province of Palermo, 81 out of 82 municipalities are in seismic zone 2 of the national classification, and Villabate is one of them: zone 2, with expected ground acceleration of about 0.179 g. If you are buying in a block from the decades of rapid expansion, ask for the final inspection certificate (collaudo), the condition of columns, balcony edges and balconies, and whether any assessment has been done. On the plain, with so much sealed ground, heavy storms can flood streets and ground floors; the report checks the official maps for the address and uses the Revenue Agency's cadastral maps to find the plot.

Key points

  • Dense town on Palermo's edge, towards Bagheria.
  • Average age 40.7, households of 2.70 people on average.
  • 19,521 residents in 2023, down 1.5% since 2011.
  • Seismic zone 2, expected acceleration about 0.179 g.

Overview

Villabate is a municipality in the province of Palermo, in Sicilia. At the end of 2023 it had 19,521 residents, among the most populous in the province (8 of 82).

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Villabate is in seismic zone 2, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible. Most municipalities in the province (81 of 82) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.179 g, a medium-high value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

For anyone buying in Villabate, 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 1.5%. The estimated average age is 41 years, lower than the province average (45). 17% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 23%). Foreign residents make up 2.1% of the population. On average, a household has 2.7 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Villabate declared an average taxable income of 17,943 euros, below the provincial average (21,337 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Villabate is in climate zone B, with 766 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 1 December to 31 March, for up to 8 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 47 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Villabate has 15 schools and 6 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 25 grocery shops and supermarkets, 6 healthcare facilities, 11 sports facilities and 1 green area.

There are 0.3 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, fewer than the province average (0.7).

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 49.1% of the land in Villabate, compared with 5.7% in the province and 6.6% in the region. In 2024 built-up land grew by 0.6 hectares.

Radon and contaminated sites

According to the ISPRA map, the estimated radon emission in the municipality is low. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Official databases list no contaminated sites in Villabate.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Villabate: 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 Villabate 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 41 inhabited census areas in Villabate. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 81 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 0.6%
  • good 29.3%
  • very good 70.1%

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 082079. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.