Piedmont · Biella
Candelo
A Biellese commune whose Ricetto, a 13th-century fortified shelter of two hundred stone cellule, is the best-preserved in Piedmont.
Known for
RICETTO
Best-preserved medieval fortified shelter in Piedmont, two hundred cellule on a pentagonal plan of 13,000 square meters.
BARAGGIA
5,000-hectare lowland savanna on the plateau west of town, protected as the Riserva Naturale delle Baragge.
ENOTECA REGIONALE
Regional wine showcase inside the Ricetto, focused on the wines of the Biellese, Coste della Sesia and northern Piemonte.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Candelo sits on the right bank of the Cervo torrent, ten kilometers from Biella, with a third of its territory on the Baraggione plateau, a wild grassland of about 5,000 hectares now protected as the Riserva Naturale delle Baragge. The Ricetto is what people come for. It is a late-medieval fortified shelter built by the local farming community in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: roughly two hundred stone cellule arranged on a pentagonal plan of 13,000 square meters, crossed by five east-west rue and two transverse, the perimeter walls running 470 meters.
Goods, grain, wine and forage were stored here under the protection of the local lord. Only in extreme attack did the population itself withdraw inside. It is the best-preserved structure of its kind in Piedmont. Candelo joined the Borghi più belli d'Italia in 2002 and has held the Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club Italiano since 2007.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Candelo’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Ricetto di Candelo
Thirteenth- to fourteenth-century fortified shelter on a pentagonal plan, with about two hundred stone cellule and 470 meters of walls.
Rue del Ricetto
Five east-west streets and two transverse, paved in river stone, the cellule grouped along them for storing grain and wine.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
Parish church of Candelo next to the Ricetto, on the centro storico side of the town.
Riserva Naturale delle Baragge
Protected lowland savanna of about 5,000 hectares, the Baraggione, on the plateau west of town.
Torrente Cervo
65-kilometer torrent from the Biellese Alps that runs below the Ricetto on the east side of the commune.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 7,228
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Turin, 1 h 11 min drive
- Regional capital Torino, 1 h 11 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 350 m
- Population: 7,228
- Surface area: 15.12 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
More towns near Candelo
Biella
Province: Biella
A wool city at 417 meters in the Alpine foothills, where the medieval Piazzo sits above the modern Piano, connected by a funicular since 1885.
Gattinara
Province: Vercelli
The Alto Piemonte Nebbiolo town on volcanic soil between the Sesia and Monte Rosa, DOCG since 1990, with a tenth-century watchtower above the vines.
Ivrea
Province: Torino
Roman Eporedia on the Dora Baltea, Olivetti's twentieth-century industrial city, UNESCO since 2018, where every February three hundred tons of oranges are thrown.
Gozzano
Province: Novara
The town at the southern tip of Lake Orta, with a ninth-century basilica for Saint Julian and a twelfth-century signaling tower above the water.
Orta San Giulio
Province: Novara
A Lake Orta promontory facing an islet with a Romanesque basilica, plus a UNESCO Sacro Monte of twenty Francis-of-Assisi chapels on the hill above.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Piedmont
Barolo
Province: Cuneo
A Langhe borgo at 301 meters whose Castello Falletti gave its name to the wine the Marchesi turned dry in the 1830s with Cavour's help.
Castagnole delle Lanze
Province: Asti
An Asti hill town at 298 meters between Langhe and Monferrato, with two Baroque churches and a nineteenth-century astronomical tower.
Cella Monte
Province: Alessandria
A 465-person Monferrato Casalese borgo at 268 meters built in pietra da cantoni, with infernot cellars listed under the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape.
Cocconato
Province: Asti
A Monferrato ridge town at 491 meters with a microclimate mild enough to grow palms and olives this far north.
Garbagna
Province: Alessandria
A Val Curone borgo at 270 meters with tall Ligurian-style houses, home of the Ciliegia Bella di Garbagna cherry.