Tourism: growing interest in villages – online searches up 13 per cent. Otranto tops the list
Telepass Observatory: Tropea is the most searched-for village by visitors from abroad
Key points
Travellers from the US are “obsessed with” Vernazza, the jewel of the Cinque Terre. Germans, on the other hand, dream of visiting Limone sul Garda. But it is Tropea that tops the list of international tourists’ wishes: the Calabrian resort leads the rankings in France, theUnited Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland. This is what emerges from the third edition of “Italian Villages Online 2026”, the study by Telepass Observatory (in collaboration with the company’s magazine Moveo, Seed Digital and Change Media): the study analyses trends in online searches for Italian villages, identifying the most searched-for locations and emerging trends.
The rankings: Otranto still in the lead
The analysis (now in its third edition) takes into account the 382 towns listed among the ‘Most Beautiful Villages in Italia’ and also monitors six international markets. The overall picture that emerges is the growing interest in Italian villages: over 106.4 million online searches in a year, 13 per cent more than in 2024.
In the overall rankings, Otranto (194,500 average monthly searches) retains its position as the national leader, whilst Tropea (188,300) and Limone sul Garda (173,400), driven by interest from abroad, occupy second and third place respectively. The top ten is rounded off by Locorotondo (158,200), Malcesine (149,600), Castel Gandolfo (125,900), Cefalù (114,000), Spello (112,000), Rasiglia (109,400) and Erice (106,000).
Umbria leads the way, whilst the search is concentrated in Puglia
Umbria is the most searched-for region overall, with 886,100 monthly searches spread across 33 villages, followed by Lazio (782,400). Puglia, on the other hand, is the region where each village attracts the highest average number of searches: with 14 localities analysed, it totalled 655,200 monthly searches – fewer than Umbria – but achieved an average of 46,800 per village, compared with Umbria’s 26,852.
The up-and-coming village: Militello in Val di Catania
There is also a ranking within the ranking: that of the towns and villages recording the biggest increases in search volumes. Militello in Val di Catania saw an average increase in search queries of 179 per cent: it was named ‘Borgo dei Borghi 2025’, which has boosted interest in this small village. Next come Lingueglietta (+163 per cent), in the Ligurian hinterland, and Corenno Plinio (+130 per cent), on Lake Como. Rounding off the top five are Ceriana, in Liguria, and Sottoguda, at the foot of the Marmolada.
