What is Cella Monte known for?

Underground sandstone cells dug between 1830 and 1860 for storing wine; component of the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont. Local marine sandstone, 20-million-year-old, used as the construction stone for the entire village and its underground cellars. Ecomuseum of the pietra da cantoni inside Palazzo Volta, the village interpretive centre for stone, infernot and rural architecture.

Where is Cella Monte?

Cella Monte is a comune in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont region of Italy, about 58 kilometers from Novara.

Piedmont · Alessandria

Cella Monte

A 465-person Monferrato Casalese borgobuilt in pietra da cantoni, with infernot cellars listed under the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape.

58 km / 36 mi

Nearest hub (Novara)

465

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Cella Monte sitsin the Monferrato Casalese hills, ten kilometers south-west of Casale Monferrato. The commune holds 465 people. The defining material is pietra da cantoni, a soft sandstone formed when the Padana sea retreated more than 20 million years ago, which exists only here and which the village built itself out of: walls, arches, courtyards, retaining structures all the same yellow-grey block. Under those houses, the infernot. The infernot is a small underground cell dug entirely into the sandstone, usually adjacent to a wine cellar, where the constant temperature, the humidity, the absence of light and the absence of draught and noise gave optimal storage for the family's best bottles. Most date to between 1830 and 1860. The infernot of the Monferrato are listed as part of the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont. The Ecomuseo della Pietra da Cantoni is housed in Palazzo Volta, whose recent restoration uncovered a fifteenth-century loggia.

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Gallery

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Known for

Infernot di Cella Monte
Small underground cells dug into pietra da cantoni sandstone, mostly 1830-1860, used for storing the best wine bottles at constant temperature.
Ecomuseo della Pietra da Cantoni
Local stone and infernot museum inside Palazzo Volta, whose restoration uncovered a fifteenth-century arched loggia.
Palazzo Volta
Restored noble palazzo in the centro storico, home of the Ecomuseo, with a fifteenth-century loggia recovered under later masonry.
Chiesa di San Quirico
Parish church of the village, built in the local pietra da cantoni like every other principal structure in the borgo.
Centro storico
Small Monferrato Casalese borgo built entirely in pietra da cantoni, a member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the Monferrato vineyards into leaf and the borgo's stone into its full yellow-grey colour. September and October are harvest, the months the infernot fill again, and the Ecomuseo runs its strongest programme. July and August get hot on the south-facing slopes; the infernot, dug straight into sandstone at constant temperature year-round, are the natural refuge between two and five in the afternoon. November through March is quiet. Many small cellars hold tastings by appointment only, but the Ecomuseo stays open weekends, and the empty courtyards in winter give the pietra da cantoni its sharpest line.