All things you need to know about living in Potenza
Potenza, in the province of Potenza, is home to 23 Brazilians: 0.04% of its 63,864 residents.
That is the 3522nd-highest concentration of Brazilians among the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents.
Within Basilicata it ranks 46th.
ISTAT counts 1,901 residents with a foreign citizenship in Potenza, 2.98% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Brazilians (23), Argentinians (12), Spaniards (11).
On ISTAT's well-being measures, the province of Potenza scores in the top quarter of Italian provinces for urban green and electricity from renewable sources.
It scores in the bottom quarter for density and importance of museums' heritage and average disposable income per capita.
These figures describe the province, not the town. A comune can sit some way from its province's average.
Summers average a high of 29.0°C (84°F) and winters a low of -0.2°C (32°F), measured over 2015 to 2024.
Potenza sees about 29 days a year above 30°C (86°F).
It gets about 773mm of rain a year, spread across roughly 118 days.
These come from ERA5-Land reanalysis at the comune itself, not from the nearest weather station.
OMI puts residential purchase prices in Potenza at about €1,141 per square meter in the second half of 2025.
At those figures, buying costs about 22.3 years of renting the same property.
Potenza population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 339 | 0.53% |
| Ukraine | 102 | 0.16% |
| Bulgaria | 44 | 0.07% |
| Poland | 29 | 0.05% |
| Albania | 24 | 0.04% |
| Brazil | 23 | 0.04% |
| Argentina | 12 | 0.02% |
| Spain | 11 | 0.02% |
| Greece | 8 | 0.01% |
| Venezuela | 7 | 0.01% |
| France | 5 | 0.01% |
| Russia | 5 | 0.01% |
| United States | 5 | 0.01% |
| Hungary | 4 | 0.01% |
| Belgium | 3 | 0.00% |
| Lithuania | 3 | 0.00% |
| Portugal | 3 | 0.00% |
| Netherlands | 2 | 0.00% |
| Germany | 1 | 0.00% |
| Croatia | 1 | 0.00% |
| Japan | 1 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 1 | 0.00% |
| Latvia | 1 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 1 | 0.00% |
| Slovakia | 1 | 0.00% |
| Austria | 0 | 0.00% |
| Australia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Canada | 0 | 0.00% |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0.00% |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0.00% |
| Czechia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Denmark | 0 | 0.00% |
| Estonia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Finland | 0 | 0.00% |
| United Kingdom | 0 | 0.00% |
| Ireland | 0 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 0 | 0.00% |
| Malta | 0 | 0.00% |
| Mexico | 0 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 0 | 0.00% |
| Sweden | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 60,898 | 95.36% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 760 | 1.19% |
| Born outside the EU | 2,206 | 3.45% |
Brazilians over time
Quality of life in Potenza
Full BES profile for Potenza →Potenza on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Property prices
Buying in Potenza is well above the Potenza average of €665/m². Averaged across 11 OMI micro-zones, which can differ substantially within the same town.
22.3 years of rent here equal the purchase price, close to 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 94% more than ordinary condition — €2,218/m² against €1,141.
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 €1,469/m², against €1,141 for an apartment.
Compared street for street — houses and flats priced in the same neighborhood — a house costs 55% more per square meter.
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 meter, but in 450 comuni it costs less — worth checking rather than assuming.
Seismic zone
Potenza is in seismic zone 2 (the Region labels it 2a). Of the four zones, zone 1 is the highest hazard and zone 4 the lowest. The Department of Civil Protection describes zone 2 as a zone where strong earthquakes are possible.
This is the legal classification the Region gave the comune, used for planning and for control of building works. It is not a forecast, and it says nothing about the building you are looking at: since the 2018 building code the design load of a new building comes from site-specific hazard, not from the zone. Have any specific property checked by a qualified engineer.
Not to be confused with the “seismic” routes of the 7% pensioner regime. Those turn on whether the comune was in the 2009 L’Aquila or 2016–17 central-Italy earthquake areas, not on its zone, and being in zone 1 does not make anyone eligible for that regime, or for any tax treatment.
See every comune on the map →Hospital, airport and daily-needs distance
Nearest hospital: Ospedale San Carlo di Potenza, about 3 km / 6 minutes by road from Potenza (the main town).
Nearest emergency department: Ospedale San Carlo di Potenza (DEA level II), about 3 km / 6 minutes by road from Potenza (the main town).
Nearest airport: Salerno Costa d'Amalfi Airport (QSR), about 90.5 km / 60 minutes by road from Potenza (the main town).
Nearest supermarket (OpenStreetMap): Pick Up, about 0.5 km / 1 minute by road from Potenza (the main town).
Nearest pharmacy: Farmacia Marchesiello, about 1.8 km / 3 minutes by road from Potenza (the main town).
Nearest railway station (OpenStreetMap): Potenza Città, about 1.5 km / 2 minutes by road from Potenza (the main town).
Measured by road from the main town of the comune (its OpenStreetMap place point; the geographic center for the few comuni with none), at free-flow speeds with no traffic. It is approximate. For Potenza, a trip from your own address can take longer or shorter. Drive the route before you rely on it, and ask the local health authority which hospital serves the town. Shops, pharmacies and stations are the nearest to the main town, not to your address.
Nearby comuni
← See Potenza on the interactive map
This page, as data
Every figure above sits behind the page as a value with its source, its date and its coverage attached. Your assistant reads the same record, gaps included.