Anywhere Italy

Food designations

The 10 highest wine towns in Italy

Città del Vino comuni ranked by elevation. Mountain viticulture, by the numbers. 10 towns shown, highest first.

Vines stop where the cold wins, and these towns farm the boundary. Every one holds the Città del Vino designation; every one sits higher than most of Italy's wine country thinks possible.

Ranked by elevation. Mountain wine is a small-batch argument between altitude and sugar, and the tasting rooms come with radiators.

  1. 1.San Giovanni in Fiore1,049 mCosenza · CalabriaThe capital of the Sila Grande at 1,049 meters, grown from the abbey Gioacchino da Fiore founded in 1188, Italy's most populated commune above a thousand.
  2. 2.Mormanno840 mCosenza · CalabriaA Pollino mountain borgo at 840 meters between the Costa and Vernita ridges, known for lentils, white poverelli beans and the bocconotto pastry.
  3. 3.Acerenza833 mPotenza · BasilicataA walled ridge town at 833 meters in the north Lucanian hills, archbishopric since 1068 under a Romanesque cathedral begun in 1080.
  4. 4.Brentonico692 mTrento · Trentino-Alto Adige/SüdtirolThe Monte Baldo plateau town between Lake Garda and the Vallagarina, with chestnut groves, war trenches and a botanical garden of the Garden of Italy.
  5. 5.Aymavilles646 mAosta Valley · Aosta ValleyGateway to the Gran Paradiso at 646 metres, with a four-towered Challant castle and a 3 BC Roman aqueduct above the Grand'Eyvia.

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  1. 6.Mamoiada644 mNuoro · SardiniaThe Barbagia village where the Mamuthones come out on January 17, twelve men in black sheepskins carrying thirty kilos of cowbells.
  2. 7.Ripalimosani640 mCampobasso · MoliseA sandstone-ridge village at 640 meters above the Biferno valley, the historic land of the funai rope makers and a Tintilia wine commune.
  3. 8.Castiglione di Sicilia621 mCatania · SicilyA hill town on the north flank of Etna at 621 meters, base camp for the Alcantara valley and the volcano's most serious red wines.
  4. 9.Montegiordano619 mCosenza · CalabriaA 619-meter Alto Jonio hill town with a Pignone del Carretto hunting castle and more than two hundred murals across its centro storico.
  5. 10.Saracena606 mCosenza · CalabriaA 606-meter Pollino borgo named for its Saracen souk and protected by Slow Food for a passito Moscato traced to the sixteenth century.

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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From elsewhere in Italy

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