Food designations
10 food designation towns with a station, an easy reach from Milan
Ten towns: what each is best for, what a home costs, and the catch. A square meter runs from €460 in Ovada to €6,200 in Sestri Levante.
Comuni holding a wine, oil or truffle designation, with an active railway station, within two and a half hours of Milan by road. 10 towns shown, nearest first.
Table no. 37 · Ranked by min · 10 towns
Milan's food weekend does not require a car. These comuni hold a wine, oil or truffle designation, keep an active railway station, and sit within a comfortable reach of the city.
Nearest first. The designations mean the product is the town's actual business, not a menu translation, and the train home forgives the second bottle.
- 1.Casale Monferrato78 minAlessandria · PiemonteBest for everyday life on foot. Nine of the ten everyday services we look for are mapped within 500 meters of the center.homes €560 to €840 a m² in the center · 32,428 peopleThe historic capital of the Marchesato del Monferrato at 116 meters on the Po, where the Paleologi castle and the Baroque synagogue still stand.
- 2.Ovada85 minAlessandria · PiemonteBest for a wine weekend. It belongs to the national association of wine towns.homes €460 to €690 a m² in the center · 10,816 peopleThe Monferrato town at 186 meters where the Orba meets the Stura, one of the first two Dolcetto DOC zones in Piemonte and now DOCG.
- 3.Lonato del Garda93 minBrescia · LombardiaBest for a long lunch. A food guide lists Da Oscar here.homes €1,450 to €1,850 a m² in the center · 17,062 peopleA hilltop commune on the southwestern Garda morainic ridge, with a Visconti castle and a private library of 52,000 volumes.
- 4.Nizza Monferrato103 minAsti · PiemonteBest for a wine weekend. It belongs to the national association of wine towns.homes €600 to €900 a m² in the center · 10,142 peopleThe capital of Barbera at 146 meters in the upper Monferrato, founded 1225.
- 5.Acqui Terme105 minAlessandria · PiemonteBest for a soak. The comune has thermal baths.homes €560 to €840 a m² in the center · 19,005 peopleA Roman spa town at 156 meters on the Bormida, where a sulphurous spring still surfaces at 74.5 degrees under an 1879 pavilion.
- 6.Castagnole delle Lanze109 minAsti · PiemonteBest for a slow weekend. The Touring Club gives it its orange flag for small inland towns.homes €500 to €750 a m² in the center · 3,642 peopleAn Asti hill town at 298 meters between Langhe and Monferrato, with two Baroque churches and a nineteenth-century astronomical tower.
- 7.Alba114 minCuneo · PiemonteBest for truffle season. It belongs to the national association of truffle towns.homes €1,700 to €2,550 a m² in the center · 30,987 peopleThe Langhe capital at 172 meters on the Tanaro, world reference for white truffle and Nebbiolo, headquarters of Ferrero.
- 8.Chiavari123 minGenova · LiguriaBest for a swim. The comune's beach holds a Blue Flag.homes €2,500 to €3,700 a m² in the center · 27,452 peopleThe Tigullio capital between Portofino and the Cinque Terre, a 27,000-person Genoese trading town built around a thirteenth-century grid of porticoed streets.
- 9.Lavagna136 minGenova · LiguriaBest for olive oil. It belongs to the national association of olive oil towns.homes €2,300 to €3,400 a m² in the center · 12,367 peopleThe Tigullio town that gave its name to slate, and its counts to a line of popes.
- 10.
Sestri Levante136 minGenova · LiguriaBest for a swim. The comune's beach holds a Blue Flag.homes €3,800 to €6,200 a m² in the center · 17,240 peopleThe Tigullio town of two bays, split by a peninsula where a river once silted an island to the shore.The catch: Homes in the center cost up to €6,200 a m².
SIX OF THE TOP TEN ARE IN PIEMONTE
We write letters from the Italian towns we visit: the town, what is worth eating there, and when to turn up. It is free, and you can leave whenever you like.
