Piemonte · Asti
Canelli
The Asti Spumante town in the Belbo valley, where 20 kilometers of underground tuff cellars hold millions of bottles at constant temperature.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Canelli is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione, Spighe Verdi and Città del Vino.
Subscribe and you get Canelli's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 22 min from Turin
- Population
- 9,998
- J8°
- F12°
- M14°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O19°
- N12°
- D7°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Canelli sits on the Belbo, in the south-east corner of the Asti hills where the Langhe and Monferrato meet. The town is the birthplace of Italian sparkling wine: Carlo Gancia produced the first Asti Spumante here in 1865, on the model of Champagne. Underneath the centro storico runs a network of cellars cut into the tuff by pickaxe and chisel from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, descending as deep as 32 meters and extending about 20 kilometers through the hill below town.
They are called the Cattedrali Sotterranee, and they were inscribed in the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont in 2014. Above ground, the Sternia, a steep stone street, climbs from the Borgo Villanuova past the Torre dei Contini to the Castello Gancia, a medieval fortress transformed into a noble residence by the Scarampi in the early 1600s and still occupied by the Gancia family. The Belbo grows Moscato Bianco, Barbera and hazelnut.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 28 min by car.
Turin (TRN) is about 1 h 39 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 1 h 55 min.
Coming from Turin, Genoa or Milan?
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Canelli is about 1 h 21 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Cattedrali Sotterranee
Network of tuff-cut cellars under the centro storico, 20 km of tunnels descending to 32 meters, part of the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape since 2014.
Castello Gancia
Medieval castle on the Sternia hill above town, transformed into a Scarampi residence in the 1600s and now home of the Gancia family.
La Sternia
Historic stone-paved street climbing through Borgo Villanuova to the castle, the original access road to the hilltop fortress.
Torre dei Contini
Viewpoint tower at 371 meters on the Sternia route, with a panorama over the Belbo valley and the south Langhe.
Chiesa di San Tommaso
Medieval church rebuilt in the seventeenth century with a richly decorated Baroque façade and frescoes of Saint Thomas and the Assumption.
From the guides
Where to eat
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
Enoteca di Canelli - Casa CrippaRistorante
Enoteca di Canelli - Casa Crippa holds one Gambero Rosso fork (78/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
San MarcoRistorante
One Gambero Rosso fork (78/100) for San Marco, and a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Civico 15Ristorante
Civico 15 carries one Gambero Rosso fork (78/100).
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Canelli meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 9,998 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Asti, a city of 73,440, is 38 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.
We measured every town in the region on these rules, by its drive to Turin, the city we moved to: Moving to Turin and Piedmont.
- Population 9,998, down 5.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Asti, 38 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Acqui Terme, 15 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €530 to €790 per m² to buy, €3.90 to €5.40 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 73% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Cuneo airport (CUF), 1 h 15 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 1 h 22 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
16% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from North Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria, against 9% across Italy. 26 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 248 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 24% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Asti province ranks 54th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Acqui Terme, 15 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Alessandria, 35 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Verduno, 28 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 51 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Alexandria International School, 34 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Working from here
Poste Italiane has finished a coworking room in the comune, on its register of 30 September 2026. Check that it is open on Poste's booking site before you count on it.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.03% 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, with nothing due on income under €7,500. 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 Piemonte spends about €2,240 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €467 a year for water, on the Piemonte average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 4% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 3% 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
ASTI SPUMANTE
Birthplace of Italian sparkling wine; Carlo Gancia produced the first bottle here in 1865 from Moscato Bianco on the Champagne model.
CATTEDRALI SOTTERRANEE
Twenty kilometers of tuff-cut wine cellars under the town, descending to 32 meters; UNESCO World Heritage component since 2014.
CASTELLO GANCIA
Hilltop castle on the Sternia, fifteenth-century fortress turned Scarampi residence in the 1600s, still privately occupied.
DOCG ZONES
The commune also lies inside the Alta Langa, Barbera del Monferrato Superiore and Canelli DOCG production zones.
Common questions
- What is Canelli known for?
- Canelli is the Asti Spumante town at 157 meters in the Belbo valley, where 20 kilometers of underground tuff cellars hold millions of bottles at constant temperature.
- Where is Canelli?
- Canelli is a comune in the province of Asti, in Piemonte.
- What is the nearest airport to Canelli?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cuneo (CUF), about 1 h 15 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Canelli?
- About 1 h 55 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Canelli?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Canelli?
- Cividale del Friuli, Certaldo and Ovada.
- How many people live in Canelli?
- 9,998 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Canelli a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Canelli is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Asti, is 38 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Acqui Terme, 15 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 73% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 157 m
- Population: 9,998
- Surface area: 23.43 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 Canelli appears in
Similar
Towns like Canelli
What all six share with Canelli: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people
The letter
Canelli 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: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Canelli comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Camogli, 80 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.