Lombardia · Bergamo
Cornello dei Tasso
A car-free medieval frazione of Camerata Cornello in the Val Brembana, reachable only on foot, built around the family that ran Europe's first integrated postal network.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Cornello dei Tasso is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 16 min from Brescia
- Population
- 50
- J7°
- F10°
- M10°
- A13°
- M17°
- J22°
- J25°
- A25°
- S20°
- O16°
- N11°
- D8°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Cornello dei Tasso is a frazione of Camerata Cornello in the upper Val Brembana, hung on a rocky terrace 691 meters above the Brembo river. There is no road into the village: cars stop at the church of San Bartolomeo on the valley road, and the rest is on foot, along a stone-paved mule path climbing through chestnut woods.
The family that gave the village its name was born here in the 12th century and, starting in the 1490s, built and operated its network from a base in Bergamo, eventually serving the Habsburg empire. The village itself sits as a single terraced street: stone houses with wooden balconies, vaulted alleys, and a small square in front of the parish church, all reached the same way, on foot, with the museum near one end of it.
What makes the place unusual is the mismatch between its size and its reach: a settlement small enough to cross on foot in minutes once ran the postal arteries of an empire, and its access still has not changed since.
How to get there
From Milan Bergamo (BGY), about 46 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 1 h 57 min away.
By car from the center of Brescia 1 h 16 min.
Coming by train into Bergamo? Cornello dei Tasso is about 41 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Milan Bergamo airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Museo dei Tasso e della Storia Postale
Museum tracing the Tasso family's postal network century by century, with original postal markings, route maps and uniforms on display.
Chiesa dei Santi Cornelio e Cipriano
12th-century parish church on the village's small piazza, dedicated to the two early-Christian martyrs whose names the village carries.
Mulattiera medievale
The only access to the village, a stone-paved medieval mule path climbing from the valley road through chestnut woods to the terrace.
Casa natale dei Tasso
The family's ancestral home, where the poet Bernardo Tasso and his son, author of Gerusalemme Liberata, trace their lineage.
Living here
Could you live here?
Cornello dei Tasso is at the end of the road.
- A village of 50. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Zogno, is 21 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Bergamo, a city of 120,389, is 39 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 50. Camerata Cornello, the comune it belongs to, is down 10.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Bergamo, 39 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital San Giovanni Bianco, 2 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center of Camerata Cornello: €700 to €900 per m² to buy, €3.60 to €4.80 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 71% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Milan Bergamo airport (BGY), 46 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Milan, 1 h 22 min drive
If you are moving here
Most figures here are for the comune of Camerata Cornello, which this town belongs to.
Who lives here
3% of residents are foreign citizens, against 9% across Italy. There are 276 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 59% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Bergamo province ranks 5th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in San Giovanni Bianco, 2 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Lecco, 18 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Bergamo, 22 km away. The nearest IB school is Bilingual British School, 20 km as the crow flies. There are 2 within 30 km.
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 Lombardia spends about €2,410 a month, €510 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €415 a year for water, on the Lombardia average. In Bergamo, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.25, a meal in a pizzeria €12.40 and a man's haircut €22.34.
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. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 16% in a high or medium one. They show no residents in a high landslide zone.
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
POSTAL ORIGINS
Birthplace of the Tasso family, founders of the first integrated European postal network from the 1490s, surviving as Thurn und Taxis until 1867.
CAR-FREE
No road into the village, reached only by a medieval stone-paved mule path from the valley below.
TORQUATO TASSO
Ancestral home of Bernardo and Torquato Tasso (Gerusalemme Liberata).
Common questions
- What is Cornello dei Tasso known for?
- Cornello dei Tasso is a car-free medieval frazione of Camerata Cornello in the Val Brembana, reachable only on foot, built around the family that ran Europe's first integrated postal network.
- Where is Cornello dei Tasso?
- Cornello dei Tasso is a hamlet of the comune of Camerata Cornello, in the province of Bergamo, in Lombardia, at 691 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Cornello dei Tasso?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Milan Bergamo (BGY), about 46 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Brescia to Cornello dei Tasso?
- About 1 h 16 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Cornello dei Tasso?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 25 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 25 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Cornello dei Tasso?
- Castel di Tora, Anversa degli Abruzzi and Fontainemore.
- How many people live in Cornello dei Tasso?
- About 50, by the latest count we hold.
- Is Cornello dei Tasso a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Cornello dei Tasso is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Zogno, is 21 min away. The nearest city, Bergamo, is 39 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in San Giovanni Bianco, 2 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 71% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 691 m
- Population: 50
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 Cornello dei Tasso appears in
Similar
Towns like Cornello dei Tasso
What all six share with Cornello dei Tasso: mountain-valley towns · under 1,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
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