Piemonte · Asti
Nizza Monferrato
The capital of Barbera in the upper Monferrato, founded 1225.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Nizza Monferrato is on our list
It holds Città del Vino.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 18 min from Turin
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 10,142
- 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
Nizza Monferrato sits in the south of the Asti province, thirty kilometers from Asti city. Its traditional founding date is 1225, when the people of seven nearby castles destroyed by Alessandria settled together here; it passed to the Marquisate of Monferrato in 1264, and grew through the 19th century as the commercial center of the Barbera-growing hills around it. The medieval grid from that 1225 founding still holds the centro storico together, with Renaissance and 18th-century palazzi lining Via Pio Corsi and Via Carlo Alberto, while the vineyards that made the town's fortune spread out beyond it at 200 to 400 meters.
That agricultural hinterland and the market town at its center still explain each other: the Foro Boario, the old cattle market on Piazza Garibaldi, is the physical record of a town that existed to move what the hills produced, and it still does that job as a multipurpose hall for the antiques market and for the November weekend known as Nizza è Bagna Cauda. At that gathering, long communal tables fill with the Cardo Gobbo, a hunchbacked cardoon grown only here and protected by a Slow Food presidium, alongside Barbera raised to DOCG status in 2014. A town built to trade a hillside's produce has ended up defined by two of that produce's most particular forms.
How to get there
From Genoa (GOA), about 1 h 23 min by car.
Turin (TRN) is about 1 h 35 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 1 h 43 min.
There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.
Coming from Turin, Genoa or Milan?
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Nizza Monferrato is about 1 h 17 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Genoa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Piazza Garibaldi and Foro Boario
Main square with the old covered cattle market, now a multipurpose hall used for antiques fairs and the November bagna cauda weekend.
Chiesa di San Giovanni in Lanero
Baroque parish church on the centro storico, with a tall bell tower visible across the surrounding vineyards.
Museo Bersano delle Contadinerie
Wine-and-farming museum in a former cellar, with one of the largest collections of historic Piemonte viticulture tools.
Vigne del Nizza DOCG
Surrounding Barbera vineyards at 200-400 meters, the ground the Nizza DOCG is drawn from, rows visible from the bell tower across town.
Centro storico
Medieval grid laid out at the 1225 foundation, with Renaissance and 18th-century palazzi along Via Pio Corsi and Via Carlo Alberto.
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.
I Cugini di TorinoWine Bar
Three Gambero Rosso bottles, at I Cugini di Torino.
Le Due LanterneRistorante
Le Due Lanterne carries a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
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?
Nizza Monferrato meets all 3 of our rules for a small town.
- 10,142 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Asti, a city of 73,440, is 34 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
- A station of its own. Trains are the overlooked way to get around Italy: no parking, straight into the center.
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 10,142, down 3.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Asti, 34 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Acqui Terme, 13 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €600 to €900 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 19% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 4, very low hazard
- Cuneo airport (CUF), 1 h 16 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 1 h 18 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
13% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from North Macedonia, Morocco and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 43 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are 233 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 23% 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, 13 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Alessandria, 28 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Alessandria, 28 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 52 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is Alexandria International School, 26 km away.
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 between 0.77% and 0.8% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €11,000. 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. 3% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 4% in a high or medium one. Under 1% 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
NIZZA DOCG
Barbera designation from 18 communes around Nizza, elevated to standalone DOCG in 2014, the most structured Barbera expression.
CARDO GOBBO
Hunchbacked cardoon grown only around Nizza, Slow Food presidium and the king of bagna cauda, harvested in November.
BAGNA CAUDA
Mid-November weekend Nizza è Bagna Cauda fills the Foro Boario with communal tables, the dish served in its traditional convivial form.
DOCG ZONES
The commune also lies inside the Asti and Brachetto d'Acqui / Acqui DOCG production zones.
Common questions
- What is Nizza Monferrato known for?
- Nizza Monferrato is the capital of Barbera at 146 meters in the upper Monferrato, founded 1225.
- Where is Nizza Monferrato?
- Nizza Monferrato is a comune in the province of Asti, in Piemonte.
- What is the nearest airport to Nizza Monferrato?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cuneo (CUF), about 1 h 16 min by car.
- Can you get to Nizza Monferrato without a car?
- Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
- How long is the drive from Milan to Nizza Monferrato?
- About 1 h 43 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Nizza Monferrato?
- 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 Nizza Monferrato?
- Sermoneta, San Severino Marche and Castiglion Fiorentino.
- How many people live in Nizza Monferrato?
- 10,142 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Nizza Monferrato a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Nizza Monferrato is a small town that meets all 3 of our rules. The nearest city, Asti, is 34 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Acqui Terme, 13 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 19% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 146 m
- Population: 10,142
- Surface area: 30.36 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 Nizza Monferrato appears in
- The best hill towns in the province of AstiAsti provincehill town6 towns · smallest 192 residents
- The best wine towns within 90 minutes of GenoaNear Genoawithin 90 minwine zone6 towns · smallest 192 residents · closest 47 min away
- The 10 best hidden wine towns that eat well within 90 minutes of TurinNear Turinwinewithin 90 mineats wellhidden10 towns · smallest 497 residents · closest 57 min away
Similar
Towns like Nizza Monferrato
What all six share with Nizza Monferrato: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people
Sermoneta
Province: Latina
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
San Severino Marche
Province: Macerata
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Castiglion Fiorentino
Province: Arezzo
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
- Written about. No. 72.
Todi
Province: Perugia
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Anagni
Province: Frosinone
both hill towns · both have a railway station in the comune
Canelli
Province: Asti
14 min apart by road
The letter
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