Piemonte · Asti
Moncalvo
Italy's smallest city by title, 2,773 residents on a Monferrato ridge, with a five-hundred-year truffle tradition and Guglielmo Caccia's home churches.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Moncalvo is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione and Città del Vino.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 14 min from Turin
- Population
- 2,773
- J8°
- F12°
- M14°
- A18°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S24°
- O19°
- N12°
- D8°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Moncalvo sits on a Monferrato ridge, forty-five kilometers east of Torino. It carries the title of smallest city in Italy, granted by Duke Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga in 1705 and confirmed by Victor Amadeus III of Savoy in 1775. The town was the first capital of the Marquisate of Monferrato, founded by the Aleramici in the 10th century.
Guglielmo Caccia, the Counter-Reformation painter known as il Moncalvo, was born here in 1568 and left major canvases in the churches of San Francesco and Sant'Antonio, alongside works by his daughter Orsola. The synagogue on Piazza Carlo Alberto is the only one in the world built directly on a city's main piazza, a remnant of the Jewish community recorded here since the 1500s. The Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo, documented for more than five centuries, runs the last three weekends of October and pulls the truffle trade north of Alba into this ridge.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 20 min by car.
Genoa (GOA) is about 1 h 38 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 1 h 39 min.
Coming from Turin, Milan or Genoa?
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Moncalvo is about 1 h 14 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Chiesa di San Francesco
Conventual church holding major canvases by Guglielmo Caccia (il Moncalvo) and his daughter Orsola, both 17th century.
Sinagoga di Moncalvo
Synagogue on Piazza Carlo Alberto, the only one in the world built directly on a city's main square, with 18th-century interior.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonio
Smaller historic church preserving further works by Guglielmo Caccia and the Moncalvo school of his workshop.
Centro storico
Hilltop town with surviving medieval gates and Renaissance palazzi from its years as the first Monferrato capital.
Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo
October truffle fair documented for over 500 years, the second-largest white truffle market in Piemonte after Alba.
Living here
Could you live here?
Moncalvo is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,773. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Casale Monferrato, is 24 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Asti, a city of 73,440, is 28 min 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 · 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 2,773, down 10.3% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Asti, 28 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Asti, 16 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €380 to €570 per m² to buy, €2.40 to €3.40 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 82% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Turin airport (TRN), 1 h 20 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 1 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
12% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Albania and the Philippines, against 9% across Italy. There are 397 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 38% 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 Asti, 16 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Alessandria, 33 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Alessandria, 33 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 38 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Alexandria International School, 32 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.96% 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 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. Under 1% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, under 1% in a high or medium one. 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
SMALLEST CITY
Granted city status by the Gonzaga in 1705 and the Savoy in 1775; 2,773 residents now carry the title.
TARTUFO BIANCO
Five-century truffle tradition; the Fiera Nazionale del Tartufo runs the last three weekends of October.
IL MONCALVO
Guglielmo Caccia, the Counter-Reformation painter born here in 1568, left major canvases in San Francesco and Sant'Antonio.
DOCG ZONES
The commune lies inside the Barbera d'Asti and Barbera del Monferrato Superiore DOCG production zones.
Common questions
- What is Moncalvo known for?
- Italy's smallest city by title, 2,773 residents on a Monferrato ridge, with a five-hundred-year truffle tradition and Guglielmo Caccia's home churches.
- Where is Moncalvo?
- Moncalvo is a comune in the province of Asti, in Piemonte, at 305 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Moncalvo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Turin (TRN), about 1 h 20 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Moncalvo?
- About 1 h 39 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Moncalvo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 15 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Moncalvo?
- Agliè, Govone and La Morra.
- How many people live in Moncalvo?
- 2,773 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Moncalvo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Moncalvo is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Casale Monferrato, is 24 min away. The nearest city, Asti, is 28 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Asti, 16 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 82% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 305 m
- Population: 2,773
- Surface area: 17.42 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.
Similar
Towns like Moncalvo
What all six share with Moncalvo: inland, away from the coast · under 3,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Moncalvo 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 Moncalvo comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Camogli, 104 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.