Pescara (Italian: [pesˈkaːra] ^ⓘ; Abruzzese: Pescàrë; Pescarese: Piscàrë) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surrounding metropolitan area). Located on the Adriatic coast at the mouth of the River Aterno-Pescara, the present-day municipality was formed in 1927 joining the municipalities of the old Pescara fortress, the part of the city to the south of the river, and Castellamare Adriatico, the part of the city to the north of the river. The surrounding area was formed into the province of Pescara.

The main commercial street of the city is Corso Umberto I, which runs between two squares, starting from Piazza della Repubblica and reaching the seacoast in Piazza Primo Maggio. The rectangle that it forms with Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and Via Nicola Fabrizi is home of the main shopping district, enclosed in a driving restriction zone, where several of the best fashion shops are located. Corso Manthoné, the course of the old Pescara, has, for many years, been the center of the nightlife of the city. City hall and the administration of the province are in Piazza Italia, near the river, and in the area between here and the D'Annunzio University campus to the south, a business district has grown up over the years, while the Marina is situated to the immediate south of the mouth of the river. Pescara is also served by an international airport, the Abruzzo Airport, and one of the major touristic ports of Adriatic Sea and Italy, the Port of Pescara.

Pescara is situated at sea level on the Adriatic coast and has developed from some centuries BC onwards at the strategic position around the mouth of the Aterno-Pescara River. The coast is low and sandy and the beach extends, unbroken for some distance to both the north and the south of the river, reaching a width of approximately 140 metres (150 yd) in the area around a pineta (a small pine forest) to the north. To the south the pine forest that once gave shade to bathers along much of the Adriatic coast, has almost disappeared near the beach, but remains within the Nature Reserve Pineta Dannunziana.

The urban fabric of the city spreads over a flat T-shaped area, which occupies the valley around the river and the coastal strip. To the northwest and the southwest, the city is also expanding into the surrounding hills which were first occupied in the Neolithic period.

The whole city is affected by the presence of groundwater, the level of which varies by up to a metre, being at its highest in spring due to snow melting in the mountains inland.

The city is very close to the mountains, and the ski slopes of Passo Lanciano are a 30 minute drive away.

The city is set to expand on 1 January 2027, when neighboring towns of Montesilvano and Spoltore will be annexed into the city. The residents of the three towns voted in a referendum on the merger on 25 May 2014. 70.32% of Pescara voters approved the annexation, also 52.23% of Montesilvano and 51.15% of Spoltore voters. The regional law approving the merger was passed by the regional council on 8 August 2018, with the merger to become law on 1 January 2022. It was later delayed into 2023 and again into 2027.

Pescara has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with Mediterranean influences. The city's climate is characterized by hot summers and cool winters. Since its driest month has 34 mm (1.3 inches) of precipitation, the city cannot be solely classified as Mediterranean. Not to mention, although there is a dry tendency in early summer, August (late summer) is as wet as the winter month of February, which is unusual for the Mediterranean pattern.