---
title: "Which Italian towns are seeing the biggest rise in foreign residents?"
deck: "From little-known towns to Lucca, Ostuni and Orvieto, here's what official figures reveal about changing communities in Italy, and what they can and can't tell you before you move."
author: "Caitlin"
published: 2026-10-18
updated: 2026-10-18
canonical: https://www.expatliving.it/articles/italy-towns-newcomers-arriving-fastest
status: published
license: "CC BY 4.0 — https://www.expatliving.it/terms#articles-license"
credit_required: true
cite_as: "“Which Italian towns are seeing the biggest rise in foreign residents?” by Caitlin, Expat Living Italy, 18 October 2026. https://www.expatliving.it/articles/italy-towns-newcomers-arriving-fastest"
---

Free to use with credit: cite Expat Living Italy and link to the article. Cite as: “Which Italian towns are seeing the biggest rise in foreign residents?” by Caitlin, Expat Living Italy, 18 October 2026. https://www.expatliving.it/articles/italy-towns-newcomers-arriving-fastest

# Which Italian towns are seeing the biggest rise in foreign residents?

From little-known towns to Lucca, Ostuni and Orvieto, here's what official figures reveal about changing communities in Italy, and what they can and can't tell you before you move.

Have you ever returned to a town in Italy that you loved on vacation, only to find it felt different the second time? Perhaps there were new shops, more people speaking different languages, or fewer people in the streets.

If you're thinking of retiring in Italy, it's worth knowing how a town is changing, not just what it looked like when you visited.

I was curious about which Italian towns have seen the biggest changes in their foreign-resident populations. So we looked at official ISTAT figures from 2019 to 2025, along with the latest figures for people registering as residents after moving from abroad.

Some of the biggest changes are happening in towns you rarely see in relocation guides. Meanwhile, several familiar favorites have changed very little by this measure. That doesn't tell us which towns are better places to live, but it does give us something useful to investigate before choosing one.

## What do we mean by a town's foreign-resident population?

At the start of 2025, Italy had 5,371,251 residents with a foreign citizenship, about 9.1% of the population, according to ISTAT. You can see how they spread across the country on our [map of foreign residents by town](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/foreign-residents-total).

Our [change in foreign share map](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/momentum) shows, town by town, how that share moved between 2019 and 2025, in percentage points. A town that went from 10% foreign citizens to 12% shows a change of +2 points.

Across the 7,829 Italian *comuni* with figures for both years, the typical town moved by less than half a point (the median is +0.47). In 2,507 of them, the share fell. Only one town in twenty rose by more than 3.6 points.

That makes an increase of five or nine percentage points over six years unusual.

## Which Italian towns have seen the biggest increase in foreign residents?

These are the ten towns of at least 5,000 residents where the share of foreign citizens rose the most.

**The ten Italian towns of 5,000+ residents where the share of foreign citizens rose most, 2019–2025**

| Town | Province, region | Residents | Foreign citizens | Change since 2019 (points) | Registrations from abroad per 1,000 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Portomaggiore](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/portomaggiore) | Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna | 12,162 | 23.0% | +9.22 | 28.0 |
| [Carapelle](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/carapelle) | Foggia, Puglia | 6,886 | 22.3% | +9.03 | 9.4 |
| [Monfalcone](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/monfalcone) | Gorizia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia | 30,360 | 32.4% | +8.84 | 18.9 |
| [Ostiglia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/ostiglia) | Mantua, Lombardy | 6,739 | 20.9% | +6.80 | 23.6 |
| [Chianciano Terme](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/chianciano-terme) | Siena, Tuscany | 7,096 | 21.3% | +5.91 | 22.5 |
| [Stornarella](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/stornarella) | Foggia, Puglia | 5,338 | 21.3% | +5.79 | 10.9 |
| [Prato](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/prato) | Prato, Tuscany | 197,057 | 25.7% | +5.66 | 13.2 |
| [Bondeno](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/bondeno) | Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna | 14,053 | 16.0% | +5.38 | 14.7 |
| [Capua](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/capua) | Caserta, Campania | 17,918 | 11.2% | +5.11 | 14.1 |
| [Fiscaglia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/fiscaglia) | Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna | 8,465 | 11.5% | +5.08 | 10.8 |

*Change in foreign share: Expat Living Italy from ISTAT resident population by citizenship, 1 January 2019 and 2025, all foreign citizenships. Residents and share of foreign citizens: ISTAT, 2025. Registrations from abroad: ISTAT, 2025, per 1,000 residents.*

A few things stand out to me.

Three of the ten towns, Portomaggiore, Bondeno and Fiscaglia, sit in the [province of Ferrara](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/ferrara), in the lowlands just south of the Po river. A fourth Ferrara town, [Tresignana](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/tresignana), comes in at number twelve.

Two more, Carapelle and Stornarella, are small towns on the plain around Foggia, in [northern Puglia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/foggia).

[Prato](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/prato), just outside Florence, is the only large city on the list. Of all the Italian cities with more than 100,000 residents, it changed the most, and about one in four of its residents now holds a foreign citizenship. [Genoa](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/genova) came second among the large cities, at +2.50 points.

[Monfalcone](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/monfalcone), near Trieste, stands out in a different way. Almost a third of its residents hold a foreign citizenship, the highest share in the table, and the town's population grew by 8.51% between 2019 and 2025.

[Chianciano Terme](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/chianciano-terme), the spa town in southern Tuscany, is probably the one name on the list that many readers will know from a visit.

Our data shows the change, but it cannot tell you why it happened. Behind these numbers there may be jobs in farming, industry or care work, students, families joining relatives, or retirees. I would not guess at the reason for any one town without asking the people who live there.

## Where are people moving to Italy from abroad?

The second measure looks at a single year. ISTAT records every person who registers as a resident of an Italian town after moving from abroad. In its 2025 figures, that came to 383,465 people, about 6.5 for every 1,000 residents. You can explore them on our [map of new registrations from abroad](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/foreign-registrations-flow).

This figure includes everyone who arrived from abroad, Italian citizens coming home as well as foreign citizens, because ISTAT publishes it at town level without a breakdown by citizenship.

By province, [Ragusa](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/ragusa) in southeastern Sicily had the highest rate, at 13.8 registrations per 1,000 residents. [Imperia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/imperia), on the Ligurian coast near France, came next at 12.1, followed by [Prato](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/prato) at 11.9. At the other end, the province of [Catania](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/catania) had 2.7, and Barletta-Andria-Trani in Puglia had 2.5.

Among towns of at least 5,000 residents, the highest rates came from Calabria. [San Lucido](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/san-lucido), on the Tyrrhenian coast west of Cosenza, registered 504 people from abroad, about 68 for every 1,000 residents, and its population grew by 26.86% between 2019 and 2025. [Nicotera](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/nicotera), in the province of Vibo Valentia, registered 250 people, about 35 per 1,000.

In San Lucido, Brazilian and Argentine citizens are the two largest groups among the citizenships we track. In Nicotera, Argentine citizens are.

If you're considering one of these towns, it's worth looking at how the numbers change over several years. In a smaller town, even a temporary increase in arrivals can make quite a difference. Looking at a longer period would help us understand whether more people are consistently choosing to move there.

## How have popular towns like Lucca, Ostuni and Orvieto changed?

Then I looked at the towns that come up most often in our messages and comments.

**Familiar Italian towns: change in the share of foreign citizens and in population, 2019–2025**

| Town | Region | Residents | Foreign citizens | Change since 2019 (points) | Population change since 2019 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Lucca](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/lucca) | Tuscany | 89,002 | 11.1% | +1.28 | +0.61% |
| [Lecce](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/lecce) | Puglia | 94,187 | 8.8% | +0.99 | +0.75% |
| [Noto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/noto) | Sicily | 24,612 | 4.4% | +0.97 | +3.83% |
| [Siena](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/siena) | Tuscany | 52,990 | 10.4% | +0.90 | -2.48% |
| [Ostuni](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/ostuni) | Puglia | 29,943 | 5.1% | +0.63 | -2.55% |
| [Florence](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/firenze) | Tuscany | 361,705 | 15.6% | +0.09 | -2.21% |
| [Orvieto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/orvieto) | Umbria | 19,196 | 9.4% | -0.03 | -5.93% |
| [Cortona](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/cortona) | Tuscany | 20,834 | 9.4% | -0.49 | -4.28% |
| [Todi](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/todi) | Umbria | 15,481 | 9.9% | -0.63 | -1.73% |
| [Spoleto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/spoleto) | Umbria | 35,983 | 9.5% | -0.71 | -4.38% |

*Change in foreign share and population change: Expat Living Italy from ISTAT resident population, 1 January 2019 and 2025. Residents and share of foreign citizens: ISTAT, 2025. National median change in foreign share: +0.47 points.*

Lucca, Lecce, Noto, Siena and Ostuni saw modest increases in their share of foreign citizens, all above the national median of +0.47 percentage points.

Florence's share changed very little.

The Umbrian towns, and Cortona just across the Tuscan border, moved the other way. In Orvieto, Todi and Spoleto, the share of foreign citizens stayed flat or fell slightly, and each town lost residents overall. Orvieto's population fell by 5.93% in six years.

None of this means these towns are less welcoming or less pleasant than before. A small fall in the foreign share could reflect people moving away, or residents becoming Italian citizens and no longer appearing in this count. And a falling overall population doesn't tell us whether a town feels quieter or older. Those are things I'd want to see for myself on another visit.

## What does this mean if you're thinking of moving to Italy?

An increase in the share of foreign citizens isn't automatically good or bad. And it doesn't tell us how many newcomers are retirees. It may reflect work opportunities, family moves, changes in citizenship or other factors.

If I were considering a town, I'd want to know whether its overall population is growing or shrinking, and what that might mean for the services I would use every day. The numbers are a starting point for those questions, not an answer on their own.

## Four things to check before deciding on a town

If you have a particular Italian town in mind, these are the questions I would look at first.

**Would you like to know who else has moved there?** Each town page on our site lists the foreign citizenships we track, and our [nationalities map](https://www.expatliving.it/articles/nationalities-in-italy-map) shows where Americans, British citizens and Germans live. You may want an established international community, or you may prefer somewhere with fewer newcomers. The figures can't tell you how easy it will be to make friends.

**Is the town growing or losing residents?** A town that is losing people may have lower house prices. Over time, it may also have fewer shops, schools and bus routes.

**Will the services follow?** In a fast-growing town, it is worth asking how easy it is to register with a family doctor, find a school place or rent an apartment, because demand may be rising faster than supply.

**When did you last see the town?** If your picture of a place comes from a visit years ago, it may be worth going back, ideally out of season, before you decide.

## What these figures can't tell us

**The data measures citizenship, not birthplace.** Someone born abroad who became an Italian citizen counts as Italian. In a town where many long-time residents have naturalized, the foreign share can fall even when the community itself has stayed.

**Small towns can show big percentage changes.** In a village of a few hundred people, even a few arrivals or departures can have a noticeable effect. That's why the rankings above only include towns with at least 5,000 residents.

**Towns without figures are left out, not counted as zero.** ISTAT sent no total of foreign citizens for some towns in 2019 or 2025, so 7,829 of Italy's roughly 7,900 *comuni* appear on the map.

**The registrations figure covers one year and every citizenship.** It includes Italian citizens returning from abroad, and a single year can include one-off events.

**The breakdown by country covers the citizenships we track.** In some towns, the largest group of foreign citizens may hold a citizenship outside that list, so it will not appear on the town page.

## A note on the numbers

The change in foreign share compares ISTAT's resident population by citizenship on 1 January 2019 and 1 January 2025, using ISTAT's own total for all foreign citizenships. Registrations from abroad come from ISTAT's 2025 figures, and population change from ISTAT's resident population for 2019 and 2025. The share of foreign citizens in each table divides ISTAT's 2025 total of foreign citizens by the town's 2025 resident population. We extracted all four series in October 2026. ISTAT's town-level series start in 2019, so six years is the longest window we can measure.

Have you gone back to an Italian town after a few years and found it changed? Or does the place you know still feel just the same? I would love to hear about it.

## Data behind this piece

- [Map layer — Change in foreign share, by comune](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/momentum) — 2019–2025 (1 January). Comune (~7,900) / province
- [Map layer — New foreign registrations from abroad, by comune](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/foreign-registrations-flow). Comune (~7,900) / province
- [Map layer — Foreign residents by citizenship, by comune](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/foreign-residents-citizenship) — 1 January 2025 (history 2019–2024). Comune (~7,900) / province
- [Map layer — Population change, by comune](https://www.expatliving.it/data/map/italy/population-trend). Comune (~7,900) / province

## Places in this piece

- [Portomaggiore](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/portomaggiore) — comune, code 038019
- [Carapelle](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/carapelle) — comune, code 071010
- [Monfalcone](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/monfalcone) — comune, code 031012
- [Ostiglia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/ostiglia) — comune, code 020038
- [Chianciano Terme](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/chianciano-terme) — comune, code 052009
- [Stornarella](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/stornarella) — comune, code 071055
- [Prato](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/prato) — comune, code 100005
- [Bondeno](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/bondeno) — comune, code 038003
- [Capua](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/capua) — comune, code 061015
- [Fiscaglia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/fiscaglia) — comune, code 038027
- [Tresignana](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/tresignana) — comune, code 038030
- [Genova](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/genova) — comune, code 010025
- [San Lucido](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/san-lucido) — comune, code 078122
- [Nicotera](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/nicotera) — comune, code 102025
- [Lucca](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/lucca) — comune, code 046017
- [Lecce](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/lecce) — comune, code 075035
- [Noto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/noto) — comune, code 089013
- [Siena](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/siena) — comune, code 052032
- [Ostuni](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/ostuni) — comune, code 074012
- [Firenze](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/firenze) — comune, code 048017
- [Orvieto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/orvieto) — comune, code 055023
- [Cortona](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/cortona) — comune, code 051017
- [Todi](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/todi) — comune, code 054052
- [Spoleto](https://www.expatliving.it/data/comune/spoleto) — comune, code 054051
- [Ferrara](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/ferrara) — province, code FE
- [Foggia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/foggia) — province, code FG
- [Ragusa](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/ragusa) — province, code RG
- [Imperia](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/imperia) — province, code IM
- [Prato](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/prato) — province, code PO
- [Catania](https://www.expatliving.it/data/province/catania) — province, code CT

---

Free to use with credit: cite Expat Living Italy and link to the article. Cite as: “Which Italian towns are seeing the biggest rise in foreign residents?” by Caitlin, Expat Living Italy, 18 October 2026. https://www.expatliving.it/articles/italy-towns-newcomers-arriving-fastest