High ground
Inland towns built on ground too steep to spread
A great many Italian towns are where they are because somewhere below them was not safe, and the ones that went uphill mostly stayed the size the rock allowed. That is why a hill town reads the way it does: it never got the room to sprawl, so the medieval footprint is still the whole footprint. These lists separate the hills from the mountains from the high ones, because the three are different holidays.
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The best small mountain towns within 90 minutes of BolzanoMountain villages an easy drive from Bolzano, where larch and stone houses sit under limestone walls, the kitchens run to canederli and speck, and the valleys stay busy with hay, snow and church bells rather than coach parties.
The best mountain towns inside a national park within 90 minutes of PescaraInland from Pescara the Adriatic flatness gives way to limestone: the Gran Sasso, the Maiella and the high plains of the Abruzzo national park, with stone villages, sheep-cheese, saffron and snow that lasts into spring.
The best mountain towns that eat well in the province of PotenzaMountain cooking in the province of Potenza runs on lamb, pork and cured peperoni cruschi, eaten in stone villages high in the Lucanian Dolomites and the Pollino. These towns sit at altitude and each has a table a national dining guide has picked out.
The best mountain towns in the province of IserniaMountain towns in the province of Isernia, in upper Molise: beech forest and high pasture, stone houses, bell foundries, sheep tracks and snow that lingers into spring. Agnone, Capracotta, Castel San Vincenzo, Frosolone, Pescopennataro, Pizzone and Roccamandolfi.
The best hill towns on a walking route within 90 minutes of PerugiaInland Umbria, where limestone hill towns sit on the old pilgrim and Roman routes between the Tiber valley and the Apennine ridge, walkable stage by stage, with olive oil pressed in November and truffles from the Alta Valle del Tevere.
The 9 best hill towns with a World Heritage site in PiemontePiemonte's inland hills carry World Heritage recognition in several forms: royal residences ringing Turin, the terraced vineyard landscapes of the Langhe and Monferrato, and the painted sacred mountains of the Alpine foothills. These are the hill towns where that recognition sits, away from the wine-tasting circuit.
The 10 best hidden hill towns you can reach by train within 90 minutes of TerniInland Umbria and northern Lazio, where hill towns built of grey travertine and volcanic peperino sit above olive terraces and spring water, all of them reachable from Terni by regional train and a short climb on foot.
The best hill towns worth staying overnight within 90 minutes of FirenzeInland Tuscany within easy reach of Florence, where hill towns built of pietra serena and warm brick keep their own restaurants, their own evening passeggiata and hotels that a guidebook has actually stood behind. Good for travellers who would rather wake up in the hills than commute back to the city at dusk.
The 9 best hill towns that live slowly in ToscanaInland Tuscan hill towns built of pietra serena and sandstone, where the bar opens before the shops and lunch closes everything. Each has signed the international slow-living charter, a commitment to keeping the pace of the place as it is.
The best hill towns with a food festival within 90 minutes of TerniInland Umbria and the Tuscia hills south of Terni run on one ingredient at a time: black truffle, chestnut, olive oil pressed in November, hazelnut from the volcanic soil around the Cimini hills. Each of these hill towns builds a recurring autumn or spring festival around a single local product, served in the street from trestle tables.
The best hill towns inside a nature park within 90 minutes of RomaInland from Rome, volcanic lakes, beech woods and chestnut ridges sit inside regional nature parks, and the hill towns within them keep porchetta counters, tufa cellars and Etruscan roads going within an easy drive of the city.
The best hidden hill towns within 90 minutes of TarantoInland from the Ionian, the ground rises into limestone ridges, dry-stone walls and whitewashed towns built on rock, where the food runs to broad beans, bitter greens, orecchiette and Primitivo. These are the hill settlements within easy reach of Taranto, where fewer people go.
The best small hill towns inside a national park in AbruzzoHill towns of pale limestone and stone-vaulted alleys set inside Abruzzo's national parks, where beech woods climb to bare summits and the kitchen runs on mountain lamb, saffron and hand-drawn pasta.
The 6 best hidden hill towns with a serious restaurant in MarcheInland Marche is brick and travertine ridges, black truffle in autumn, vincisgrassi baked until the edges catch, and hill towns where a kitchen worth the drive sits behind a plain door on the main square. These are the smaller places, each holding a table the strictest guides bother to list.
The best hidden hill towns with a medieval festival within 90 minutes of PerugiaInland Umbria and its Tuscan and Marchigian borders keep a summer calendar of crossbow contests, torchlit processions and quarter-against-quarter races, staged in stone hill towns built of local travertine and pale brick. Within an easy drive of Perugia, these are the smaller places where the medieval calendar is still run by the people who live there.
The best hill towns that eat well in Friuli-Venezia GiuliaInland Friuli is where the Adriatic plain buckles into vine-covered hills and the cooking turns Alpine, Slavic and Venetian at once: frico, cjarsons, prosciutto from San Daniele, ribolla gialla poured cold in stone-floored osterie. These hill towns each hold a table a national dining guide has singled out.
The best hill towns in the province of TerniHill towns in the province of Terni, southern Umbria, where the streets climb through tufa and limestone above olive terraces, oak woods and the Tiber valley. Ten inland settlements built on ground too steep to spread, from Amelia's cyclopean walls to Stroncone above the Nera.
The 8 best high-altitude villages within 90 minutes of BolzanoHigh meadows, larch woods and Ladin valleys above Bolzano, where the houses are timber and stone, the church spires are onion-domed, and the kitchen runs on speck, canederli and barley soup. Villages set well up the mountain, reachable in a morning's drive from the city.
The best high-altitude villages with a serious restaurant in Trentino-Alto Adige/SüdtirolMountain villages in Trentino-Alto Adige where the larch woods, the hay meadows and the smell of woodsmoke come with a kitchen that cooks at a level worth planning a night around. Alpine cooking here means canederli and speck, but also game, freshwater fish and pastry made by people who trained in Vienna and came home.
The 9 best small high-altitude villages that eat well in Trentino-Alto Adige/SüdtirolHigh in the valleys of Trentino and South Tyrol, larch-shingled villages sit above the treeline of the vines, where kitchens work canederli, speck, mountain cheese and game with the seriousness of places that eat well all winter. These are the smaller ones, each with a table a dining guide thought worth naming.
The best high-altitude villages in CalabriaCalabria's mountain villages sit high above the coast, in the Pollino, the Sila and the Aspromonte, built of grey stone and chestnut beams. Cool summers, snow in winter, pork, pecorino and porcini, and far fewer visitors than the beaches below.
Alternatives to San Gimignano: every hill town in Tuscany, in one listThe complete list of Tuscan hill towns in our catalogue as alternatives to San Gimignano. Towers, walls and a Wednesday market, without the coach park.
Alternatives to Cortina d'Ampezzo: every alpine town in the north above a thousand metresThe complete list of alpine towns above 1,000 metres in Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli, Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta, as an alternative to Cortina.
Alternatives to Assisi: every hill town in Umbria, in one listAll the Umbrian hill towns in our catalogue as alternatives to Assisi and Orvieto. Spello, Montefalco, Trevi, Bevagna, Norcia and the rest of the green heart, best-recognised first.
The best small mountain towns in Italy above 500 metres, all of themEvery mountain town above 500 metres in our catalogue, from the Alps to the Aspromonte, ordered by outside recognition. Ski villages, high pastures, Apennine stone.
Every town in our catalogue above 1,000 metresThe complete list of Italian towns above a thousand metres in our catalogue, from Valle d'Aosta to the Sila and the Etna villages, best-recognised first.
The best hill towns within 75 minutes of VeronaNorth and west of Verona the plain breaks up into moraine hills, Valpolicella terraces and the first slopes of the Trentino valleys, where towns sit on high ground above vineyards, olive trees and lake water. Amarone cellars, brick and river-stone houses, cherry orchards and Friday markets, all within an easy drive or train ride of the city.
The best mountain towns within two hours of VeronaNorth of Verona the plain gives out and the road climbs into the Lessini, the Giudicarie and the Val Camonica, where hay meadows, spruce and stone-and-timber houses replace vineyards, and the kitchen turns to polenta, malga cheese and cured pork.
The best hill towns within 75 minutes of TrentoTerraced vineyards, chestnut woods and stone villages on high ground between the Adige valley and the Valsugana, all within easy reach of Trento by train or road.
The best hill towns within 90 minutes of TriesteInland from Trieste the karst gives way to vine terraces, oak woods and stone villages on high ground, where the cooking runs to prosciutto, frico and Friulian white wine. Hill towns close enough for a morning drive, with the Slovenian border never far off.
The best hill towns within 90 minutes of BolzanoVineyard terraces, porticoed streets and church towers on high ground between the Adige valley and the Valsugana, within easy reach of Bolzano by train or car. Speck, canederli, Lagrein and Teroldego, apple orchards below and larch forest above.
The best hill towns within 45 minutes of UdineNorth of the Friulian plain the ground begins to lift into moraine hills, vineyards and beech woods, and the towns up there deal in prosciutto, Friulano, mosaic and Longobard stone. All are within easy driving distance of Udine.
The best hill towns within 90 minutes of PaduaWest and north of Padua the Veneto plain breaks into volcanic cones, prosecco terraces and Valpolicella slopes, with towns of trachyte and warm brick standing above the flat land. Vineyard walks, thermal water, radicchio and Amarone, all within easy driving reach of the city.
The best hill towns within 75 minutes of BresciaHill towns rise out of the Lombard plain within easy driving distance of Brescia, built in limestone and brick, with moraine ridges above Lake Garda, Valpolicella vines and Franciacorta cellars close at hand.
The best mountain towns within two hours of BresciaNorth of Brescia the land climbs fast into the Val Camonica, Val Trompia and the Giudicarie, where stone-and-timber villages sit under limestone walls and the cooking runs to casoncelli, polenta taragna and alpine cheese. These are the mountain towns within easy driving distance of the city, from spa valleys to walled hill hamlets.
The best hill towns within 75 minutes of ParmaSouth of the Via Emilia the plain buckles into the Apennine foothills, where sandstone ridges carry castles, cherry orchards, chestnut woods and porcini, and the culatello cellars sit in valley damp. These are the towns on high ground, all within easy driving of Parma.
The best mountain towns within 90 minutes of PerugiaBeech woods, stone villages and high pasture within easy driving distance of Perugia, where the Umbrian hills stop rolling and turn into real mountains. Lentils, pecorino, chestnuts and a cold clear autumn that arrives weeks before it reaches the valley.
The best mountain towns within two hours of CataniaInland from Catania the road climbs fast, into lava-stone villages on the flanks of Etna, chestnut and beech woods on the Nebrodi, and sandstone hill towns on the Madonie ridges where the winter is cold and the pork, mushrooms and ricotta are the point of lunch.
The best hill towns within 90 minutes of CataniaInland from Catania the roads climb fast, into black lava stone and honey-coloured limestone, olive terraces, chestnut woods on Etna's flanks and towns built on ridges where the air cools by late afternoon. Baroque staircases, ricotta, thyme honey and sheep's cheese, within easy driving distance of the coast.
The best hill towns within two hours of CagliariInland Sardinia rises fast behind Cagliari, into basalt plateaus, limestone walls and villages built of dark trachyte where the cooking runs to suckling pig, sheep's cheese and Cannonau. These are the towns on the high ground, reachable in a morning's drive from the capital.
The 10 smallest villages in LiguriaLiguria packs three hundred kilometres of coast and mountain into the narrowest region in mainland Italy, and some of its villages have fewer residents than a single Milanese apartment block. These are the smallest of them, including two you have almost certainly heard of.
The 7 Aosta Valley villages above 1,000 metresThe Aosta Valley is the highest region in Italy and its villages sit under the four biggest mountains in the Alps. These are the ones above a thousand metres, from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn.
The best high-altitude villages in the province of IserniaHigh villages in the province of Isernia, all of them on the cool side of the Molise mountains: stone houses, beech woods, sheep tracks and winters that arrive early. Seven upland towns where fewer people go than in the ski resorts over the Abruzzo border.
The best high-altitude villages in the province of PotenzaHigh villages in the province of Potenza, in the Lucanian Dolomites and the ridges above the Agri and Sinni valleys, where the stone is sandstone and the summers stay cool. Peperoni cruschi, pecorino and mountain roads instead of the queue for the Sassi.
The best hill towns in the province of NuoroInland Nuoro is Sardinia at its steepest: granite and limestone villages stacked on slopes above the Barbagia and Ogliastra, with Cannonau vineyards, sheep's milk cheese and stone streets that climb rather than spread.
The best hill towns in the province of AstiHill towns in the province of Asti, where Barbera vineyards climb slopes too steep for anything else and the villages sit on the ridge lines above them. Six inland places built of brick and tufo, best in autumn.
The 10 best high-altitude villages in the province of TrentoHigh villages in the province of Trento, on the pasture terraces and forest plateaux above the valley floors, where the houses are stone below and larch above and the winter lasts a long time. Ski areas, spruce woods, canederli and Trentino cheese, and fewer people than the resorts that draw the crowds.
The best hill towns in the province of TrevisoHill towns in the province of Treviso, where the Prosecco vineyards climb slopes too steep for tractors and the villages are built of river stone, brick and Istrian marble. Asolo, Cison di Valmarino, Follina, Valdobbiadene and more.
The best hill towns in the province of CosenzaInland Cosenza is a province of steep stone villages set above river valleys, between the Pollino massif and the Sila. These hill towns sit on ground too sharp to build wide, and they eat, drink and keep time accordingly.
The best mountain towns in the province of CosenzaSix mountain towns in the province of Cosenza, set between the beech forests of the Pollino and the granite uplands of the Sila, where stone houses stack up steep lanes and the cooking runs to pork, chestnuts and mountain cheese.
The best mountain towns in ToscanaToscana has high country as well as vineyards: the Apennine passes above Pistoia, the chestnut valleys of the Garfagnana, the Lunigiana, and the wooded flanks of Monte Amiata. These are the stone-built mountain towns, with beech forest, snow, chestnut flour and cold-water streams.
The best high-altitude villages in LombardiaHigh villages in the Lombard Alps, from the Valtellina and Valchiavenna to the Val Camonica and the Presolana, where the houses are stone and larch and the kitchen runs on buckwheat, rye and mountain cheese.
The best hill towns in the province of FirenzeHill towns in the province of Firenze, from the Mugello ridges to the Elsa valley and the Chianti road south, where stone villages sit on ground too steep to build out. Olive oil, Sangiovese, brick towers and long views.
The 8 best high-altitude villages in SiciliaSicilia has a cold, stone-built interior above the citrus belt, where villages sit high in the Madonie and the Nebrodi and the Iblei. These are the ones worth the drive inland, chosen because each stands well above the coast.
The best mountain towns in PiemontePiemonte's mountains run from the Walser larch houses under Monte Rosa to the stone villages of the Valle Maira, and most of the valleys hold towns that see far fewer visitors than the ski resorts on the French border. A guide to mountain towns across Piemonte, from Monte Rosa to the Ligurian Alps.
The best mountain towns in LazioLazio is not only coast and capital. Beyond Rome, the Apennines rise into limestone ridges, beech woods and stone villages where the cooking runs to mutton, pecorino, chestnuts and hand-rolled pasta. These mountain towns sit in the Simbruini, the Sabina and the Comino valley, and fewer people go.
The 9 best hill towns in the province of MateraHill towns across the province of Matera, from the clay badlands around Aliano and Craco to the wheat plateaux above Irsina and the oak woods of Accettura, where houses are cut from the same tufa and sandstone they stand on.
The best hill towns in the province of PisaInland from the Arno plain, the province of Pisa rises into ridges of sandstone and clay where towns sit on ground too steep to spread. A guide to the hill towns worth the drive, from white truffle country above the Arno to the alabaster ridges and geothermal valleys of the Val di Cecina.
The 6 best hill towns in the province of AlessandriaSix inland hill towns in the province of Alessandria, from the pale stone cellars of Cella Monte to the cherry orchards of Garbagna, the white wine slopes of Gavi and the peach country around Volpedo.
The best small mountain towns in CampaniaCampania away from the sea: beech woods, limestone ridges and hill villages in Irpinia, the Sannio and the Cilento interior, where the cooking runs to chestnuts, caciocavallo and Aglianico. Ten small mountain towns worth the drive inland.