This species is mainly found in forests with dense undergrowth in hilly and mountainous areas. Only females of this species are aquatic during the short oviposition phase, for which well-oxygenated waters, slow-running streams (usually with rocky beds), drinking troughs and residual pools in stream beds are used. It appears to avoid seriously modified habitats. Little information is available on the ecology and reproductive biology of this species.

This species is endemic to southern peninsular Italy in the Apennine Mountains (where it is widespread) and other hilly areas, south of Caserta province (Campania region) along the Tyrrhenian slope and south of the Daunia Apennines along the Adriatic slope. North of this it is replaced by Salamandrina perspicillata. It is usually found at elevations between 200 and 900 m asl, but can occur between 50–1,555 m asl (A. Romano pers. comm. September 2019). The EOO is 50,434 km²; the AOO has not been estimated due to the lack of representative georeferenced locality data.

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species is protected by law in several provinces in Italy, and it is listed in Appendix II of the Bern Convention and in Annex II and IV of the Habitats Directive. It occurs in several protected areas, including most national parks in southern Italy.

Conservation Needed
There is an urgent need for a EU (European Union) wide coordinated approach and implementation of the Bsal Action Plan by Gilbert et al. (2020), which was commissioned by the European Commission.

Research Needed
If an outbreak of Bsal was to occur within this species' range, population monitoring would need to be carried out immediately and this species would need to be reassessed.