Recognitions
The 10 northernmost Borghi più belli d'Italia
Ten towns: what each is best for, what a home costs, and the catch. A square meter runs from €500 in Frisanco to €5,000 in Kastelruth.
Borghi più belli d'Italia comuni, ranked by latitude, north to south. 10 towns shown.
Table no. 28 · Ranked by lat · 10 towns
The Borghi più belli list thins as the latitude climbs, into valleys where the town names turn German and the recognition shares wall space with Tyrolean civic seals.
These are the northernmost members in our catalogue. Half sit above villages that were Austrian within living memory.
- 1.Sterzing46.90° NBolzano · Trentino-Alto AdigeBest for a slow weekend. The Touring Club gives it its orange flag for small inland towns.1 h 8 min from Bolzano · homes €2,500 to €3,200 a m² in the center · 7,032 peopleA bilingual mining town at 948 meters on the Brenner road, where a 46-meter tower built in 1472 still divides the old town from the new.The catch: The nearest airport, Verona, is 2 h 47 min away by road.
- 2.Glurns46.67° NBolzano · Trentino-Alto AdigeBest for walks in a national park. Part of the comune lies in a national park.1 h 25 min from Bolzano · homes €2,400 to €2,700 a m² in the center · 933 peopleA ringed sixteenth-century circuit of walls encloses a city of 933 inhabitants near the Swiss border.The catch: The nearest airport, Verona, is 3 h 2 min away by road.
- 3.Kastelruth46.57° NBolzano · Trentino-Alto AdigeBest for a ski week. There is a mapped ski area in the comune.44 min from Bolzano · homes €3,000 to €5,000 a m² in the center · 7,053 peopleSouth Tyrolean village on a shelf below the Sciliar, eighty-two-metre bell tower over the square, home of the Kastelruther Spatzen.The catch: January nights average 7 degrees below zero.
- 4.Sappada46.56° NUdine · Friuli-Venezia GiuliaBest for a small town. 1,320 people live here.1 h 33 min from Udine · homes €2,200 to €3,200 a m² in the center · 1,320 peopleA German-speaking alpine village at 1,250 meters near the source of the Piave, settled from East Tyrol in the eleventh century and Italian since 1866.The catch: January nights average 10 degrees below zero.
- 5.Rocca Pietore46.43° NBelluno · VenetoBest for a ski week. There is a mapped ski area in the comune.1 h 31 min from Bolzano · homes €1,400 to €1,600 a m² in the center · 1,126 peopleAn Agordino borgo at 1,143 meters under the Marmolada, where the Pettorina cuts a two-kilometer gorge through 100-meter rock walls.The catch: January nights average 6 degrees below zero.
- 6.Caldes46.37° NTrento · Trentino-Alto AdigeBest for a small town. 1,111 people live here.53 min from Trento · homes €1,200 to €1,400 a m² in the center · 1,111 peopleA scattered commune on the Noce, six hamlets gathered around a thirteenth-century tower-house castle that once belonged to the Thun family.The catch: January nights average 3 degrees below zero.
- 7.Venzone46.33° NUdine · Friuli-Venezia GiuliaBest for a trip without a car. The train stops in the commune.41 min from Udine · homes €650 to €950 a m² in the center · 1,935 peopleA 230-meter walled medieval town in the Tagliamento valley, leveled by the 1976 earthquakes and rebuilt as it had been, winner of Borgo dei Borghi 2017.
- 8.Ossana46.31° NTrento · Trentino-Alto AdigeBest for a long lunch. A food guide lists Antica Osteria here.1 h 13 min from Trento · homes €1,600 to €1,800 a m² in the center · 820 peopleA small borgo at the foot of a 25-meter stone keep, with Christmas nativity scenes filling its streets every December.The catch: January nights average 7 degrees below zero.
- 9.Frisanco46.21° NPordenone · Friuli-Venezia GiuliaBest for a slow weekend. The Touring Club gives it its orange flag for small inland towns.1 h 8 min from Udine · homes €500 to €750 a m² in the center · 588 peopleA 588-resident commune in the Val Colvera whose frazione Poffabro, at 525 meters, became a model of Prealpine stone-and-wood vernacular architecture.
- 10.Spilimbergo46.11° NPordenone · Friuli-Venezia GiuliaBest for everyday life on foot. Eight of the ten everyday services we look for are mapped within 500 meters of the center.39 min from Udine · homes €830 to €1,150 a m² in the center · 11,773 peopleA 132-meter Friulian town on the Tagliamento, home since 1922 to the Scuola Mosaicisti.
FIVE OF THE TOP TEN ARE IN TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE
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.
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