What is Candelo known for?

Best-preserved medieval fortified shelter in Piedmont, two hundred cellule on a pentagonal plan of 13,000 square meters. 5,000-hectare lowland savanna on the plateau west of town, protected as the Riserva Naturale delle Baragge. Regional wine showcase inside the Ricetto, focused on the wines of the Biellese, Coste della Sesia and northern Piemonte.

Candelo is a comune in the province of Biella, Piedmont region of Italy, about 54 kilometers from Novara.

Piedmont · Biella

Candelo

A Biellese communewhose Ricetto, a 13th-century fortified shelter of two hundred stone cellule, is the best-preserved in Piedmont.

54 km / 34 mi

Nearest hub (Novara)

7,228

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Candelo sitson 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.

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Gallery

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Known for

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.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the Baraggia into bloom and the Ricetto walls dry enough for the swallows. September and October are the harvest months on the Cervo plain, with vineyards on the Coste della Sesia turning to gold. July and August can sit humid in the river basin; the cellule, half-underground in places, hold cool inside even when the piazza is hot. November through March is quiet. Many of the Ricetto's small workshops close, but the structure stays open, and winter fog along the Cervo gives the perimeter wall its strongest profile.