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10 Cittaslow towns you can reach by train

Cittaslow certified comuni with an active railway station. 10 towns shown, smallest first.

Cittaslow certification asks a town to slow down on purpose. Arriving by rail extends the idea to the journey: no parking, no toll ring, no argument with a ZTL camera.

Every comune here holds the certification and keeps an active station. Smallest first, because slowness scales down better than it scales up.

  1. 1.Controguerra2,192 residentsTeramo · AbruzzoA 267-meter Val Vibrata wine village, seat of the Controguerra DOC since 1996, and a founding Cittaslow of the Teramo hills.
  2. 2.Bellano3,420 residentsLecco · LombardyAn eastern Lake Como town where the Pioverna cut a gorge through fifteen million years of rock before reaching the lake.
  3. 3.CapalbioCapalbio3,838 residentsGrosseto · TuscanyA walled hilltop borgo at 217 meters in the southern Maremma, donated to the Abbey of Tre Fontane by Charlemagne and home of Niki de Saint Phalle's Tarot Garden.
  4. 4.Acqualagna4,151 residentsPesaro e Urbino · MarcheThe Italian truffle capital at 204 meters in the Metauro valley, supplying two-thirds of the country's white truffle harvest from the surrounding limestone woods.
  5. 5.Teglio4,515 residentsSondrio · LombardyA Valtellina hilltown at 856 metres that gave its name to the whole valley (Vallis Tellina = Val di Teglio), home of the Renaissance Palazzo Besta with its frescoed Italian-Renaissance cycles, and the official birthplace of pizzoccheri pasta — recognised by the Accademia del Pizzocchero.

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  1. 6.Levanto5,140 residentsLa Spezia · LiguriaThe sixth Cinque Terre, a beach town and Cittaslow at the gateway of the national park, with a surf break and a striped Gothic church.
  2. 7.Caiazzo5,205 residentsCaserta · CampaniaA Cittaslow hill above the Volturno, turned by Franco Pepe's pizza into a destination for 800 covers a day in eighteenth-century rooms.
  3. 8.Borgo Val di Taro6,716 residentsParma · Emilia-RomagnaThe Cittaslow capital of the upper Taro valley at 411 meters, where the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP porcini has been protected since 1996.
  4. 9.Brisighella7,186 residentsRavenna · Emilia-RomagnaA Lamone-valley borgo at 115 meters under three selenite hills crowned by a fortress, a clock tower, and a sanctuary.
  5. 10.Chiavenna7,236 residentsSondrio · LombardyAn Alpine town at 333 meters on the Mera river, the historical Splügen Pass crossroads named for its key position and its rock-cellar crotti.

We write about towns like these every Sunday, one town a week, with the photo, the food, the festa. Free, from Pietrasanta.

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