All things you need to know about living in Riomaggiore
Riomaggiore, in the province of La Spezia, is home to 8 Americans: 0.62% of its 1,287 residents.
That is the 8th-highest concentration of Americans among the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents.
Within Liguria it ranks 1st.
ISTAT counts 64 residents with a foreign citizenship in Riomaggiore, 4.97% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Americans (8), Germans (5), Spaniards (2).
On ISTAT's well-being measures, the province of La Spezia scores in the top quarter of Italian provinces for people with at least upper secondary education level (25-64 years old) and PM10 Annual average concentration.
It scores in the bottom quarter for electricity from renewable sources and urban green.
These figures describe the province, not the town. A comune can sit some way from its province's average.
Summers average a high of 26.0°C (79°F) and winters a low of 4.7°C (40°F), measured over 2015 to 2024.
Riomaggiore sees about 5 days a year above 30°C (86°F).
It gets about 1,417mm of rain a year, spread across roughly 138 days.
These come from ERA5-Land reanalysis at the comune itself, not from the nearest weather station.
OMI puts residential purchase prices in Riomaggiore at about €3,717 per square meter in the second half of 2025.
At those figures, buying costs about 28.4 years of renting the same property.
Riomaggiore population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Romania | 17 | 1.32% |
| United States | 8 | 0.62% |
| Germany | 5 | 0.39% |
| Ukraine | 3 | 0.23% |
| Albania | 2 | 0.16% |
| Bulgaria | 2 | 0.16% |
| Spain | 2 | 0.16% |
| Portugal | 2 | 0.16% |
| Argentina | 1 | 0.08% |
| Brazil | 1 | 0.08% |
| Canada | 1 | 0.08% |
| France | 1 | 0.08% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 0.08% |
| Ireland | 1 | 0.08% |
| Poland | 1 | 0.08% |
| Russia | 1 | 0.08% |
| Sweden | 1 | 0.08% |
| Austria | 0 | 0.00% |
| Australia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Belgium | 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% |
| Greece | 0 | 0.00% |
| Croatia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Hungary | 0 | 0.00% |
| Japan | 0 | 0.00% |
| South Korea | 0 | 0.00% |
| Lithuania | 0 | 0.00% |
| Luxembourg | 0 | 0.00% |
| Latvia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Malta | 0 | 0.00% |
| Mexico | 0 | 0.00% |
| Netherlands | 0 | 0.00% |
| Norway | 0 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Slovakia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Venezuela | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 1,165 | 90.52% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 35 | 2.72% |
| Born outside the EU | 87 | 6.76% |
Americans over time
Quality of life in La Spezia
Full BES profile for La Spezia →La Spezia on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Property prices
Buying in Riomaggiore is far above the La Spezia average of €1,690/m². Averaged across 3 OMI micro-zones, which can differ substantially within the same town.
28.4 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.
Seismic zone
Riomaggiore is in seismic zone 3. Of the four zones, zone 1 is the highest hazard and zone 4 the lowest. The Department of Civil Protection describes zone 3 as a zone where strong earthquakes are less likely than in zones 1 and 2.
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: ISTITUTO GIANNINA GASLINI - Sede Spezia, about 16.1 km / 18 minutes by road from Riomaggiore (the main town).
Nearest emergency department: Ospedale Sant`andrea La Spezia (DEA level I), about 16.1 km / 18 minutes by road from Riomaggiore (the main town).
Nearest airport: Pisa International Airport (PSA), about 98.3 km / 65 minutes by road from Riomaggiore (the main town).
Nearest supermarket (OpenStreetMap): Coop, about 0 km / 1 minute by road from Riomaggiore (the main town).
Nearest pharmacy: Succursale Farmacia Del Mare, about 5.6 km / 7 minutes by road from Riomaggiore (the main town).
Nearest railway station (OpenStreetMap): Riomaggiore, about 0.4 km / 1 minute by road from Riomaggiore (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 Riomaggiore, 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 Riomaggiore on the interactive map
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