There is one record that none of Italy’s more than 7,800 municipalities can match. The Italian municipality with the longest name is San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore, a small hill village in the province of Pescara. Its name contains 34 characters, including spaces.
Here is why it is called that, where it is, how to get there, which other Italian towns have particularly lengthy names and, by contrast, which municipality has the shortest name.
Which municipality has the longest name?
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore holds the title of Italian municipality with the longest official name. Rankings of this kind can change, however. In recent years, many municipalities have merged, creating new combined names that are sometimes rather long. So far, though, no merger has produced a name longer than that of this village in the Pescara area.
For neighbours and residents, it is simply “San Valentino”. Its full name is largely reserved for official documents, road signs and, naturally, geographical trivia rankings.
Why is it called San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore?
The first part of the name is fairly straightforward. The town is linked to the cult of Saint Valentine, a figure venerated throughout Italy and recognised around the world as the patron saint of lovers.
After Italian unification in 1861, the new state had to manage thousands of municipalities, many with identical names. To avoid confusion in post, registers and administration, numerous local authorities added a geographical qualifier to their names during the 1860s.
It was in this context that San Valentino became San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore.
But what does Citeriore mean? It comes from the Latin citerior, meaning “on this side”. The point of reference was Naples, then the capital: Abruzzo Citeriore was the nearer part, on “this side” of the Pescara River, while Abruzzo Ulteriore lay “beyond” it.
Where it is and how to get there
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore lies in the inland part of the province of Pescara, on hills rising towards the Majella massif. It is around 35 kilometres from Pescara, in an area that connects the Adriatic coast with the uplands of Majella National Park.
A car remains the most convenient way to reach the village and get around the surrounding area.
- Take the A25 Torano–Pescara motorway.
- Leave at Scafa-Alanno or Torre de’ Passeri, depending on the direction of travel.
Those travelling by train can use the Rome–Pescara line, which stops at Scafa-San Valentino-Caramanico Terme station in the valley below the village. It is then only a few kilometres uphill to the village, so arranging a taxi or lift, or checking local bus timetables, is advisable.
Some Italian towns with long names
Italy has plenty of municipalities with long and complex names, often combining a saint’s name, a geographical reference or the names of two settlements joined into one.
Municipality | Region | Characters, including spaces |
|---|---|---|
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore | Abruzzo | 34 |
Castelvecchio di Rocca Barbena | Liguria | 30 |
Trinità d’Agultu e Vignola | Sardinia | 26 |
Castiglione delle Stiviere | Lombardy | 26 |
San Giovanni in Persiceto | Emilia-Romagna | 25 |
San Benedetto del Tronto | Marche | 24 |
Castelnuovo Bocca d’Adda | Lombardy | 24 |
Montescudo-Monte Colombo | Emilia-Romagna | 24 |
Which Italian municipality has the shortest name?
The Italian municipality with the shortest name is Ne, in the province of Genoa, Liguria. Ne is in the inland area behind Chiavari, in Val Graveglia, a green and secluded valley with old manganese mines, some of which can still be visited. Until a few years ago, Ne shared its place at the top of this particular ranking:
- Ro, in the province of Ferrara, became part of the new municipality of Riva del Po in 2019.
- Lu, in the province of Alessandria, merged with Cuccaro Monferrato in the same year to form Lu e Cuccaro Monferrato.
Other very short names still in use include Vo’ in Veneto, made up of two letters and an apostrophe, along with several three-letter municipalities such as Rho, Bra and Ala.
Living in San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore
San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore has the pace of a small town in inland Abruzzo. It has just under 2,000 residents, a compact historic centre and surroundings of farmland, olive groves and woodland.
As in much of inland Abruzzo’s smaller municipalities, the cost of living and house prices are generally lower than on the coast and in larger cities. The town covers everyday basic needs with shops, primary schools and municipal offices. Hospitals, universities and supermarkets are found in the valley towns, especially Pescara and Chieti, both reachable in under an hour.
