All things you need to know about living in Villafranca in Lunigiana
Villafranca in Lunigiana, in the province of Massa-Carrara, is home to 8 Britons: 0.17% of its 4,729 residents.
That is the 429th-highest concentration of Britons among the 5,872 Italian comuni with at least 1,000 residents.
Within Toscana it ranks 72nd.
ISTAT counts 637 residents with a foreign citizenship in Villafranca in Lunigiana, 13.47% of the population. The largest groups among the nationalities we follow most closely are Britons (8), Dutch nationals (6), Germans (3).
That is above the national average for an Italian comune, which is 7.30%.
On ISTAT's well-being measures, the province of Massa-Carrara scores in the top quarter of Italian provinces for road mortality in non-urban roads and people with at least upper secondary education level (25-64 years old).
It scores in the bottom quarter for hospital beds in high-care wards.
These figures describe the province, not the town. A comune can sit some way from its province's average.
Summers average a high of 26.4°C (80°F) and winters a low of 1.1°C (34°F), measured over 2015 to 2024.
Villafranca in Lunigiana sees about 7 days a year above 30°C (86°F).
It gets about 1,407mm of rain a year, spread across roughly 148 days.
These come from ERA5-Land reanalysis at the comune itself, not from the nearest weather station.
OMI puts residential purchase prices in Villafranca in Lunigiana at about €824 per square meter in the second half of 2025.
Villafranca in Lunigiana population over time
By nationality
| Nationality | Citizens | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Albania | 128 | 2.71% |
| Romania | 66 | 1.40% |
| Ukraine | 17 | 0.36% |
| United Kingdom | 8 | 0.17% |
| Netherlands | 6 | 0.13% |
| Germany | 3 | 0.06% |
| Poland | 3 | 0.06% |
| Russia | 3 | 0.06% |
| Venezuela | 3 | 0.06% |
| Brazil | 2 | 0.04% |
| Spain | 2 | 0.04% |
| France | 2 | 0.04% |
| United States | 2 | 0.04% |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 0.02% |
| Switzerland | 1 | 0.02% |
| Greece | 1 | 0.02% |
| Argentina | 0 | 0.00% |
| Austria | 0 | 0.00% |
| Australia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Belgium | 0 | 0.00% |
| Canada | 0 | 0.00% |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0.00% |
| Czechia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Denmark | 0 | 0.00% |
| Estonia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Finland | 0 | 0.00% |
| Croatia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Hungary | 0 | 0.00% |
| Ireland | 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% |
| Norway | 0 | 0.00% |
| Portugal | 0 | 0.00% |
| Sweden | 0 | 0.00% |
| Slovenia | 0 | 0.00% |
| Slovakia | 0 | 0.00% |
Country of birth
| Group | Residents | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Born in Italy | 3,875 | 81.94% |
| Born elsewhere in the EU | 118 | 2.50% |
| Born outside the EU | 736 | 15.56% |
Britons over time
Quality of life in Massa-Carrara
Full BES profile for Massa-Carrara →Massa-Carrara on cost vs quality of life (province-level) →
Property prices
Buying in Villafranca in Lunigiana is well below the Massa-Carrara average of €1,514/m². Averaged across 4 OMI micro-zones, which can differ substantially within the same town.
15.3 years of rent here equal the purchase price — well below 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.
A detached house here averages €1,175/m², against €824 for an apartment.
Compared street for street — houses and flats priced in the same neighborhood — a house costs 43% 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
Villafranca in Lunigiana is in seismic zone 2. 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: Osp. Civ. S.Antonio Pontremoli (ms), about 12.9 km / 14 minutes by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest emergency department: Osp. Civ. S.Antonio Pontremoli (ms) (Pronto Soccorso), about 12.9 km / 14 minutes by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest DEA (level I or II): Ospedale Sant`andrea La Spezia (DEA level I), about 46 km / 36 minutes by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest airport: Parma Airport (PMF), about 90.1 km / 63 minutes by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest supermarket (OpenStreetMap): Conad, about 0.2 km / 1 minute by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest pharmacy: Antica Farmacia Malaspina di Barani Chiara e Baldassini Luigi Snc, about 0.9 km / 1 minute by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (the main town).
Nearest railway station (OpenStreetMap): Villafranca-Bagnone, about 0.4 km / 1 minute by road from Villafranca in Lunigiana (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 Villafranca in Lunigiana, 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 Villafranca in Lunigiana on the interactive map
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