What is Silvi known for?

Nine kilometers of Adriatic beach awarded the Bandiera Blu since 2008 for water quality and beach management. Anchor of Abruzzo's first marine protected area, a 1568 Spanish watchtower now ringed by the region's last intact dunes. Home of Saila Liquirizia since 1937, the factory built inside a converted Kursaal theater on the Silvi Marina seafront.

When is the best time to visit Silvi?

May–Sep. May through September is when Silvi Marina fills, the lidos open, and the nine-kilometer beach works as advertised. July and August bring heat, Italian school holidays, and the maximum crowd density between Pescara and Teramo. June and September are the better months: the sea warms enough to swim, the lidos still run, and the inland breeze keeps the evenings tolerable. October through April the beach empties almost entirely, the marine reserve becomes a place for migrant birds rather than swimmers, and Silvi Paese on the hill carries on at its own pace, restaurants thinning to weekend openings and locals walking the ridge for the view.

Silvi is a comune in the province of Teramo, Abruzzo region of Italy, about 16 kilometers from Pescara.

How do I get to Silvi?

From Pescara, Silvi is roughly 16 km by road.

Abruzzo · Teramo

Silvi

A split town on the Teramo coast, medieval Silvi Paese above a nine-kilometer beach that built itself on licorice in the 1930s.

Known for

BANDIERA BLU
Nine kilometers of Adriatic beach awarded the Bandiera Blu since 2008 for water quality and beach management.
TORRE DEL CERRANO
Anchor of Abruzzo's first marine protected area, a 1568 Spanish watchtower now ringed by the region's last intact dunes.
LICORICE
Home of Saila Liquirizia since 1937, the factory built inside a converted Kursaal theater on the Silvi Marina seafront.

When to visit

Best · May–Sep

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Why come

Silvi is two places held together by a hill. Silvi Paese, the medieval village, sits on a ridge overlooking the Adriatic, called Castrum Silvi in the Middle Ages and Matrinum in Roman times. Silvi Marina, nine kilometers of beach below, was a fishing strip until 1931, when the municipal seat moved down from the hill and the coast turned into a summer resort.

The town runs on two industries that have nothing to do with each other. Saila Liquirizia, founded in 1937 in the converted Kursaal theater in Silvi Marina, still ships Italian licorice from here. The beach holds a Bandiera Blu and forms the northern half of the Torre del Cerrano marine reserve, the first protected sea zone in Abruzzo, established in 2010 around a Spanish anti-pirate watchtower built in 1568. Pescara is fifteen kilometers south.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Silvi’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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What to see

Silvi Paese
Medieval upper town at 242 meters, the original Castrum Silvi, with stone alleys and a panoramic ridge over the Adriatic coast.
Torre del Cerrano
Coastal watchtower built by the Spanish in 1568 against Saracen raids, now the heart of the marine protected area between Silvi and Pineto.
Area Marina Protetta Torre del Cerrano
The first marine protected area in Abruzzo, established in 2010, covering a seven-kilometer stretch of coastline with intact dunes.
Spiaggia di Silvi Marina
Nine kilometers of Adriatic sand, awarded the Bandiera Blu for water quality and beach management.
Saila Liquirizia
Historic licorice factory founded in 1937 in the former Kursaal theater, now part of LEAF Italia and still operating in Silvi Marina.

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Living here

Population 15,361
Commuter belti
Pharmacy in town
High school within a 30-minute drive
Train station in the comune
Nearest airport Ancona / Pescara, 1 h 51 min drive
Regional capital L'Aquila, 1 h 26 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

Recognised as

The numbers

Elevation: 242 m
Population: 15,361
Surface area: 20.63 km²

On the map

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These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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