Piemonte · Cuneo
Racconigi
A Po-plain town south of Torino built around the UNESCO Castello Reale, the Carignano Savoy residence whose park holds Italy's largest white-stork colony.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Racconigi is on our list
It holds UNESCO.
Subscribe and you get Racconigi's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- By car
- 49 min from Turin
- By train
- Station in the comune
- Population
- 9,628
- 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
Racconigi sits on the Po plain, 35 kilometers south of Torino. The town passed in turn through the hands of the marquises of Saluzzo, the princes of Acaia and the Savoia-Carignano, and it was this last line that shaped what stands today. Duke Carlo Emanuele I granted the estate in 1620 to his son Tommaso Francesco, founder of the Carignano branch, and the fortress that resulted was later opened out into a country residence set within its own designed landscape rather than confined behind walls.
The park was remade twice, first on French lines in 1755, then reworked eighty years later by a German landscaper into the lakes, canals and follies that surround the building now. The center for stork reintroduction occupies a farmhouse next to this park, so the estate and the breeding site share ground rather than sitting apart in different parts of town. The old center, between the castle and the station, is where the smaller scale of daily Racconigi meets the scale of the estate that gives the town its name recognition. What holds these pieces together is that Racconigi's identity was built from the outside in: a noble residence and its grounds first, a town organized around servicing and adjoining it second.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 7 min by car.
Genoa (GOA) is about 2 h 7 min away.
By car from the center of Milan 2 h 22 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? Racconigi is about 48 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Castello Reale di Racconigi
Eleventh-century fortified core remodelled by Guarino Guarini in the late seventeenth century, its pagoda-roofed central pavilion the mark of that conversion, restored continuously since 1980.
Parco Reale
170-hectare romantic park laid out in 1755 by the French gardener Molard on Le Nôtre's designs, redrawn in 1835 by Xavier Kurten with lakes, canals and follies.
Centro Anatidi e Cicogne LIPU
Farmhouse site beside the park where the reintroduction program was run, now the country's largest stork colony descending from the birds released there.
Centro storico
Old town lying between the castle and the rail station, the setting into which the 1909 agreement's participants, Vittorio Emanuele III and Nicholas II, would have arrived and departed.
Living here
Could you live here?
Racconigi meets all 3 of our rules for a small town.
- 9,628 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Moncalieri, a city of 55,439, 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 9,628, down 4.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Moncalieri, 34 min drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest national health service hospital Carmagnola, 10 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €800 to €1,200 per m² to buy, €3.00 to €4.30 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
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 37% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Cuneo airport (CUF), 35 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 49 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
12% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Morocco, Romania and India, against 9% across Italy. There are 207 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 21% 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 Carmagnola, 10 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Turin, 33 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Savigliano, 17 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Turin, 28 km as the crow flies.
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 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.
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. 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
CASTELLO REALE
UNESCO Savoy residence of the Carignano branch, the country estate that with Govone, Agliè and Pollenzo framed the rural Sabauda circuit.
WHITE STORKS
LIPU breeding center opened in 1985, the site that re-established the white stork as a nesting species in Italy after its mid-twentieth-century extinction.
RACCONIGI BARGAIN
Secret agreement signed in the castle on 24 October 1909 between Vittorio Emanuele III and Tsar Nicholas II, dividing Italian and Russian spheres of influence.
Common questions
- What is Racconigi known for?
- Racconigi is a Po-plain town south of Torino built around the UNESCO Castello Reale, the Carignano Savoy residence whose park holds Italy's largest white-stork colony.
- Where is Racconigi?
- Racconigi is a comune in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte, at 262 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Racconigi?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Cuneo (CUF), about 35 min by car.
- Can you get to Racconigi 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 Racconigi?
- About 2 h 22 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Racconigi?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 17 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Racconigi?
- Montagnana, Busseto and Pizzighettone.
- How many people live in Racconigi?
- 9,628 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Racconigi a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Racconigi is a small town that meets all 3 of our rules. The nearest city, Moncalieri, is 34 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Carmagnola, 10 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 37% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 262 m
- Population: 9,628
- Surface area: 48.06 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 Racconigi appears in
- The best hidden towns with a World Heritage site in PiemontePiemonteWorld Heritagehidden7 towns · smallest 506 residents
- The best towns with a World Heritage site within 75 minutes of TurinNear Turinwithin 75 minWorld Heritage7 towns · smallest 506 residents · closest 28 min away
- The best towns you can reach by train that hold a World Heritage site in PiemontePiemonteby trainWorld Heritage7 towns · smallest 1,102 residents
- The best towns you can reach by train within an hour of TurinNear Turinby trainwithin 60 min7 towns · smallest 5,840 residents · closest 28 min away
Similar
Towns like Racconigi
What all six share with Racconigi: between 3,000 and 10,000 people · have a railway station in the comune
The letter
Read a sample letter
Chioggia | Everyone is wrong about this town
It’s not an alternative to Venice
Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.