Foreign residents in Cortona
Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, is home to 103 Britons — 0.49% of its 20,834 residents. That is the 88th-highest concentration of Britons of any of the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents, and 20th within Toscana.
Across the nationalities we track, Cortona counts 354 foreign residents in total, 1.70% of the population. The largest groups are Britons (103), Americans (56), Germans (37).
Over the period 2019–2025, the number of Britons in Cortona has fallen, from 119 to 103 (-13%).
Separately, ISTAT's census data shows 13.0% of Cortona's population was born outside Italy — 8.5% outside the EU and 4.4% elsewhere in the EU. ISTAT does not publish this broken down by specific country at comune level, so it isn't directly comparable to the per-nationality citizenship figures above.
Population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 103 | 0.49% |
| United States | 56 | 0.27% |
| Germany | 37 | 0.18% |
| Netherlands | 33 | 0.16% |
| Brazil | 23 | 0.11% |
| Russia | 22 | 0.11% |
| France | 17 | 0.08% |
| Belgium | 9 | 0.04% |
| Switzerland | 9 | 0.04% |
| Australia | 7 | 0.03% |
| Canada | 7 | 0.03% |
| Argentina | 5 | 0.02% |
| Greece | 5 | 0.02% |
| Spain | 4 | 0.02% |
| Japan | 4 | 0.02% |
| Denmark | 3 | 0.01% |
| Ireland | 3 | 0.01% |
| Finland | 2 | 0.01% |
| Portugal | 2 | 0.01% |
| Austria | 1 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 1 | 0.00% |
| Sweden | 1 | 0.00% |
| Mexico | 0 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 0 | 0.00% |
| Venezuela | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 18,131 | 87.03% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 922 | 4.43% |
| Born outside the EU | 1,781 | 8.55% |
Britons over time
Quality of life in Arezzo
Full BES profile for Arezzo →Arezzo on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Property prices
Buying in Cortona is well above the Arezzo average of €1,212/m². Averaged across 5 OMI micro-zones, which can differ substantially within the same town.
25.1 years of rent here equal the purchase price — above the national median of 22.2 years.
A ratio between two OMI prices, not a return on investment. It leaves out purchase taxes, IMU, maintenance, financing and the months a place sits empty — all of which push the real figure up. Useful for the question it does answer: whether this town looks expensive to buy relative to what renting in it costs.
Housing here in excellent condition costs 44% more than ordinary condition — €2,219/m² against €1,540.
That gap is what the market charges for a place you don’t have to work on. It is not what the work would cost you — OMI prices property, not builders.
A detached house here averages €1,970/m², against €1,540 for an apartment.
Compared street for street — houses and flats priced in the same neighbourhood — a house costs 33% more per square metre.
OMI prices “Ville e Villini” separately from the apartments every other figure on this page describes. Nationally a house costs about 14% more per square metre, but in 450 comuni it costs less — worth checking rather than assuming.