La Morra, Piemonte
Coat of arms of La Morra

Piemonte · Cuneo

La Morra

The hilltop above the Barolo zone, more Nebbiolo acreage than any other commune.

Picked by Peter Benei

Letter to come

Why La Morra is on our list

It holds Bandiera Arancione and Città del Vino.

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Visiting

Best time
Apr–Oct
Population
2,658

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J6°
  • F10°
  • M12°
  • A16°
  • M20°
  • J25°
  • J29°
  • A28°
  • S23°
  • O17°
  • N11°
  • D6°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

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

Why come

La Morra sits at 513 meters on the western edge of the Barolo zone, fifty kilometers southeast of Torino, the highest of the eleven communes and the one with the widest view over the rest of them. The village itself gathers around the square and the tower; the working part of it, the crus, spreads downhill and outward, Brunate and Cerequio among them, with the Cantina Comunale pouring producers from across that spread under one roof in the old Marchesi di Barolo cellars. A kilometer outside the centro, below the village, the former abbey sits in the Marcenasco cru with its wine museum, and Renato Ratti bought his first parcel near it in 1965, drawing the first cru map of the zone a decade later. The village is compact and fixed in place; the vineyards around it are what the whole zone is measured against.

How to get there

From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 18 min by car.

Genoa (GOA) is about 1 h 55 min away.

By car from the center of Milan 2 h 4 min.

Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? La Morra is about 59 min away by road.

Every town within reach of Turin airport.

First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.

La Morra, Piemonte
La Morra, Piemonte

What to see

  • Belvedere di Piazza Castello

    The highest point of the village, with the 18th-century bell tower rising above the terrace.

  • Cappella del Barolo (Cappella delle Brunate)

    A small vineyard chapel among the vine rows of the cru, its two faces given over entirely to the artists' repainting, interior and exterior alike.

  • Cantina Comunale di La Morra

    Municipal wine cellar founded 1973 in the 18th-century palace of the Marchesi di Barolo, pouring 70+ local producers.

  • Torre Comunale

    The symbol of La Morra, standing over the square and visible as a marker from across the zone.

  • Abbazia dell'Annunziata

    Former abbey below the village in the Marcenasco cru, with a wine museum tracing the history of Barolo production.

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.

  • Osteria ArborinaRistorante

    Two Gambero Rosso forks (83/100) for Osteria Arborina, along with a place in L'Espresso's Top 300 and a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • ColtivareRistorante

    Coltivare has two Gambero Rosso forks (82/100) and a spot in the Michelin Guide.

  • Osteria VeglioRistorante

    Osteria Veglio carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand, plus a Gambero Rosso listing.

5 more places the guides name in La Morra

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.

Signature product

Barolo DOCG

One of eleven Barolo-producing communes; La Morra's vineyards face the village across the valley.

See the towns we cover in the zone of Barolo DOCG.

Living here

Could you live here?

La Morra is at the end of the road.

  • A village of 2,658. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Alba, is 20 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
  • Asti, a city of 73,440, is 42 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.

How we choose a town, and every town by these rules.

  • Population 2,658, down 3.1% since 2015
  • Nearest city Asti, 42 min drive
  • Nearest national health service hospital Verduno, 3 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
  • Homes in the center: €1,100 to €1,600 per m² to buy, €3.30 to €4.30 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 76% of homes
  • Primary school in the comune
  • Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
  • Cuneo airport (CUF), 44 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
  • Regional capital Turin, 59 min drive

If you are moving here

La Morra

Who lives here

14% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria, against 9% across Italy. 14 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 204 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 43% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Cuneo province ranks 27th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.

Health and schools

The nearest emergency room is in Verduno, 3 km as the crow flies. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest major one is in Cuneo, 40 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 42 km as the crow flies.

Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.

Taxes

A home that is not your main one pays 0.81% 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 0.6% 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 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. In Cuneo, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.34 and a meal in a pizzeria €12.38.

What it costs to live in Italy.

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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods. 7% 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

  • BAROLO

    More Nebbiolo acreage than any of the eleven Barolo communes and some 70 producers, with crus including Brunate and Cerequio.

  • CAPPELLA DEL BAROLO

    Tremlett and LeWitt repainted a 1914 vineyard chapel in the Brunate cru in 1999, paid in bottles for life.

  • BELVEDERE

    The terrace in Piazza Castello looks across the fan of Langhe crus toward Barolo, Monforte and the Alps on a clear day.

Common questions

What is La Morra known for?
La Morra is the hilltop above the Barolo zone, more Nebbiolo acreage than any other commune.
Where is La Morra?
La Morra is a comune in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte, at 513 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to La Morra?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cuneo (CUF), about 44 min by car.
How long is the drive from Milan to La Morra?
About 2 h 4 min by car.
When is the best time to visit La Morra?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 29 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 14 rain days.
Which other towns are like La Morra?
Monforte d'Alba, Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d'Alba.
How many people live in La Morra?
2,658 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
Is La Morra a good place to live?
By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, La Morra is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Alba, is 20 min away. The nearest city, Asti, is 42 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Verduno, 3 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 76% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 513 m
  • Population: 2,658
  • Surface area: 24.17 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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What all six share with La Morra: inland, away from the coast · hill towns

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