Liguria · La Spezia
Brugnato
The medieval ecclesiastical capital of an inland Ligurian valley, seat of a diocese from 1133 to 1820, with a co-cathedral built over a Columban monastery.
By Peter Benei
Written about. No. 57.
The letter
Brugnato got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 2 min from Genoa
- Population
- 1,280
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M21°
- J25°
- J29°
- A29°
- S25°
- O20°
- N16°
- D12°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Brugnato sits in the Val di Vara, the broad inland valley that runs from the Apennine ridge down toward the La Spezia coast. The town grew around a monastery dedicated to Saint Columbanus, the Irish missionary who founded Bobbio in 614, and the settlement that formed around it took its shape from the monks' presence long before it took its later civic form. The centro storico is laid out on a rare medieval grid for Liguria, straight lanes of pastel houses inside a walled perimeter, set on a low rise inside a meander of the river.
The layout and the site both point back to the same origin: a religious foundation that outgrew its walls and organized a town around itself, one that later carried authority over the surrounding valley as a bishopric until 1820. Brugnato holds Borghi più belli, Bandiera Arancione, and Infioritalia, the last for the Corpus Domini flower-petal carpets that cover the streets each year. The town's present character, an inland valley seat with a monastic and diocesan past now expressed mostly through architecture and a single yearly ritual, follows directly from that founding order having outlasted the institutions that built it.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 11 min by car.
Pisa (PSA) is about 1 h 17 min away.
By car from the center of Pisa 1 h 8 min or Parma 1 h 37 min.
Coming by train into Genova Piazza Principe? Brugnato is about 1 h 8 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Concattedrale dei Santi Pietro, Lorenzo e Colombano
The building rises over the foundations of the older monastery, its eleventh and twelfth century stonework the visible layer above what the monks left underneath.
Museo Diocesano
Diocesan museum housed in the former Episcopal Palace next to the cathedral, with sacred art and documents from the long bishopric.
Centro storico
Walled medieval grid of pastel houses, a rare orthogonal layout in Liguria, set on a low rise inside a meander of the river.
Infiorata del Corpus Domini
Carpets of flower petals laid across the streets of the centro storico each Corpus Domini, the basis for the Infioritalia membership.
Living here
Could you live here?
Brugnato is at the end of the road.
- A village of 1,280. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Santo Stefano di Magra, is 24 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- La Spezia, a city of 92,706, is 32 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 1,280, down 0.8% since 2015
- Nearest city La Spezia, 32 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital La Spezia, 16 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €950 to €1,400 per m² to buy, €4.00 to €6.00 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Genoa airport (GOA), 1 h 11 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Genoa, 1 h 2 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
7% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Ukraine, Romania and China, against 9% across Italy. There are 275 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 36% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. La Spezia province ranks 42nd of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in La Spezia, 16 km as the crow flies. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest major one is in Genoa, 71 km away. The nearest IB school is The International School in Genoa, 61 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Liguria spends about €2,230 a month, €490 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €552 a year for water, on the Liguria average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 6% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 7% in a high or medium one. 4% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
DIOCESE 1133-1820
Seat of an independent bishopric for nearly seven centuries, suffragan of Genova, with spiritual authority over the middle and upper Val di Vara.
COLUMBAN MONASTERY
Built on a seventh-century monastery dependent on Bobbio Abbey, founded by Saint Columbanus, the Irish missionary who reached Liguria via Lombardy.
INFIORATA
Corpus Domini flower-petal carpets along the streets of the centro storico, the only Ligurian commune in the Infioritalia network.
Common questions
- What is Brugnato known for?
- Brugnato is the medieval ecclesiastical capital of an inland Ligurian valley, seat of a diocese from 1133 to 1820, with a co-cathedral built over a Columban monastery.
- Where is Brugnato?
- Brugnato is a comune in the province of La Spezia, in Liguria, at 115 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Brugnato?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 11 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Pisa to Brugnato?
- About 1 h 8 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Brugnato?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Brugnato?
- Badalucco, Volpedo and Arquà Petrarca.
- How many people live in Brugnato?
- 1,280 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Brugnato a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Brugnato is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Santo Stefano di Magra, is 24 min away. The nearest city, La Spezia, is 32 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in La Spezia, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 115 m
- Population: 1,280
- Surface area: 11.9 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Brugnato appears in
- The prettiest villages inside a nature park in LiguriaLiguriainside a parkprettiest villages6 towns · smallest 389 residents
- The prettiest villages in the province of La SpeziaLa Spezia provinceprettiest villages7 towns · smallest 553 residents
- The best hill towns within 75 minutes of GenoaNear Genoahill townwithin 75 min8 towns · smallest 626 residents · closest 41 min away
- The 10 best hill towns within 90 minutes of GenoaNear Genoahill townwithin 90 min10 towns · smallest 192 residents · closest 41 min away
- The best small towns inside a nature park in LiguriaLiguriainside a parksmall10 towns · smallest 351 residents
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 54.
Monterosso al Mare
Province: La Spezia
The westernmost and largest of the five villages, where Eugenio Montale spent the childhood summers that became Ossi di seppia in 1925.
12 km away
- Written about. No. 56.
Vernazza
Province: La Spezia
The middle village of the coast, the only one with a natural harbor, buried under four meters of mud in October 2011.
12 km away
- Written about. No. 55.
Riomaggiore
Province: La Spezia
The easternmost of the five villages, 1,287 people stacked above a fishing inlet, terraced vineyards climbing 250 meters straight off the sea.
15 km away
The letter
Brugnato got its letter. One town at a time, free. The photo, the food, the festa.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.