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00 Candelo
Stemma di Candelo

Piedmont · Biella

Candelo

A Biellese commune whose Ricetto, a 13th-century fortified shelter of two hundred stone cellule, is the best-preserved in Piedmont.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
1 h 11 min from Turin
Population
7,228

Known for

  • RICETTO

    Best-preserved medieval fortified shelter in Piedmont, two hundred cellule on a pentagonal plan of 13,000 square meters.

  • BARAGGIA

    5,000-hectare lowland savanna on the plateau west of town, protected as the Riserva Naturale delle Baragge.

  • ENOTECA REGIONALE

    Regional wine showcase inside the Ricetto, focused on the wines of the Biellese, Coste della Sesia and northern Piemonte.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J8°
  • F11°
  • M12°
  • A16°
  • M20°
  • J25°
  • J27°
  • A27°
  • S22°
  • O17°
  • N11°
  • D8°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

Why come

Candelo sits on the right bank of the Cervo torrent, ten kilometers from Biella, with a third of its territory on the Baraggione plateau, a wild grassland of about 5,000 hectares now protected as the Riserva Naturale delle Baragge. The Ricetto is what people come for. It is a late-medieval fortified shelter built by the local farming community in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: roughly two hundred stone cellule arranged on a pentagonal plan of 13,000 square meters, crossed by five east-west rue and two transverse, the perimeter walls running 470 meters.

Goods, grain, wine and forage were stored here under the protection of the local lord. Only in extreme attack did the population itself withdraw inside. It is the best-preserved structure of its kind in Piedmont. Candelo joined the Borghi più belli d'Italia in 2002 and has held the Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club Italiano since 2007.

The Sunday letter

Candelo is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Candelo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.

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Read on

Candelo in our articles

How to get there

From Turin (TRN), about 1h 11m by car.

Milan (BGY) is about 1h 51m away.

By car from the centre of Brescia 2h 13m.

Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Candelo is about 1h 8m away by road.

Every town within reach of Turin airport.

Candelo, photo 1
Candelo, photo 2

What to see

  • Ricetto di Candelo

    Thirteenth- to fourteenth-century fortified shelter on a pentagonal plan, with about two hundred stone cellule and 470 meters of walls.

  • Rue del Ricetto

    Five east-west streets and two transverse, paved in river stone, the cellule grouped along them for storing grain and wine.

  • Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore

    Parish church of Candelo next to the Ricetto, on the centro storico side of the town.

  • Riserva Naturale delle Baragge

    Protected lowland savanna of about 5,000 hectares, the Baraggione, on the plateau west of town.

  • Torrente Cervo

    65-kilometer torrent from the Biellese Alps that runs below the Ricetto on the east side of the commune.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Candelo fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Living here

  • Population 7,228, down 6.4% since 2015
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Nearest public hospital Ponderano, 6 km as the crow flies
  • Full fibre reaches 35% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
  • Nearest airport Turin, 1 h 11 min drive
  • Regional capital Torino, 1 h 11 min drive

Could you live here?

Candelo meets 1 of our 1 rules for a small town.

  • 7,228 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
  • Biella, a city of 42,619, is 21 minutes by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.

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. The rest of the series, and the best towns to move to, arrive in the Sunday letter.

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Common questions

What is Candelo known for?
Candelo is a Biellese commune at 350 meters whose Ricetto, a 13th-century fortified shelter of two hundred stone cellule, is the best-preserved in Piedmont.
Where is Candelo?
Candelo is a comune in the province of Biella, in Piedmont.
What is the nearest airport to Candelo?
Turin (TRN), about 1h 11m by car.
How long is the drive from Brescia to Candelo?
About 2h 13m by car.
When is the best time to visit Candelo?
Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 27 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
Which other towns are like Candelo?
Cherasco, Dogliani and Guarene.
How many people live in Candelo?
7,228 at the 2023 count.
Is Candelo a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Candelo is a small town that meets 1 of our 1 rules. The nearest city, Biella, is 21 minutes away by car. The nearest public hospital is in Ponderano, 6 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 35% of homes.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 350 m
  • Population: 7,228
  • Surface area: 15.12 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.

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