Most beautiful villages in Italy
 

I Borghi più Belli d'Italia is an association that awards a certificate to the small towns that meet its criteria for being judged among "the most beautiful villages in Italy". People looking for beautiful places to visit off the beaten tourist trail should definitely consult the list.

http://www.borghipiubelliditalia.it/en/

If you click on "Villages" at the top of the page, you'll see a map of Italy, divided into North, Central, and South, with outlines of the regions within each section. Hovering your cursor over any of the regions brings up the name of the region. Clicking on a region brings up a page which shows all the towns in that region. Finally, clicking on a town brings up a description of the town, not always translated well, I'm afraid.

Very few of the well-known tourist meccas are on the list, because this is an association that values above all harmony, livability, and natural beauty in very small towns. The maximum population for the historic center of the town must be no more than 2000 inhabitants. There are some famous towns that might meet the criteria but don't want to bother going through the evaluation process, since they get plenty of publicity through other channels.

All of the towns I know that have the certificate certainly deserve it. They have to apply for admission to the association. A group from the organization visits the town and judges it on many factors, such as livability of the town, pedestrianized centers, the presence of a tourist office and the possibility of guided tours, harmonious architecture, adequate lodgings for tourists, a preponderance of old buildings as opposed to new ones, and the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside.Some towns are ruled out altogether for lack of natural beauty and harmonious architecture. Towns that don't make the cut on other grounds are given list of things that need to be improved and another chance to get approved. Once in the club, the towns are revisited periodically to make sure they still merit the certificate.

I was reminded of this association yesterday when I recommended Buonconvento, in Tuscany, to someone looking for a small town in Tuscany. It was reinforced today, when, at a meeting in our town about tourism, someone mentioned that the association was collecting funds for Amatrice, one of its members, which was very badly damaged in one of the recent earthquakes.

On the website, there is an online shop which sells typical products. They seem to deliver to outside Italy, but I don't know if there are exceptions for some products.

Wonderful post. Been to many villages, but for us, there is never enough time to visit the hundreds that we would so enjoy.

Thank you so much for this incredibly helpful link. We have been to many of them but are always for looking for new towns and villages to explore.
Last year we were Umbria so I clicked on it and was heartbroken to be reminded of beautiful Norcia which was damaged so badly in the earthquake.

I agree, this is a wonderful post. We love nothing more than traveling off the beaten path in Italy. Leggerò ogni parola, grazie!

Norcia has suffered a terrible loss in the collapse of the Basilica di San Benedetto, and damage to the town wall. However, damage to other structures was limited. Amatrice was practically totally destroyed. Also some very small mountain settlements in Umbria and Le Marche were completely lost. Of the other towns in the association of "most beautiful villages", Preci and Visso had very extensive damage.

Castelluccio di Norcia, is almost completely gone. It isn't in the association, probably because it's an outlying village in the territory of Norcia.

thank you for the link, bvl, and for the reminder about the fundraising for the earthquake affected areas. Let's hope that the current earthquake season has come to and end and that nowhere else has to go through what befell those villages recently.

though I may not live somewhere quite that beautiful, it always makes me feel grateful that I'don't live in an area which is prone to such disasters.

That would make a very special trip to Italy: village hunting. Certainly more rewarding than the usual Florence-Cinque Terre-Amalfi Coast trip.

There was another fairly strong quake yesterday, near Norcia, I think.

Traveller1959,

I was hoping that this list of villages would help those people who say they want to get off the beaten path. Usually, just the drive from one village to another would be rewarding. All of these villages have been evaluated also on their hospitality to tourists. All have a tourist office and some sort of lodging. The association promotes an idea called "albergo diffuso", which roughly means "distributed hotel". Because a brand new hotel would be out of place in most of these villages, the idea is that rooms for guests could be set up in existing structures in the town, with a central reception area where guests check in and where they can go for typical hotel services, including breakfast.

However, keep in mind that these are mostly tiny towns; the smallest has a population of 60 permanent residents. So you can't expect to find a tourist office open 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, with a multilingual staff.

The Beautiful Villages site is helpful for planning visits to regions that are often overlooked in U.S. travel guides. We could not find much info on Abruzzo in guidebooks, but we were inspired by the site to visit Pacentro, Penne, Anversa degli Abruzzi, Castelli, Scanno and Bugnara. All were charming.

i wish I'd seen it before we visited Sicily though to be fair, we did find our way to a couple of them without its help. Palazzolo Arcreide was very nice and probably did warrant the accolade but I'm not sure about Castelmolo [up above Taormina]; but my view is probably tainted by the dreadful drive we had to get to it.

It's a bit like the town of Norma, in Lazio. Norma isn't one of the "most beautiful", but it has an extensive (and poorly cared for) archaeological site. But it's high on a steep cliff, and the hairpin turns were frightening. At one point, we had to back up around a hairpin turn, and the only reason I didn't call off the trip was that there was no place to turn around.

the only reason I didn't call off the trip was that there was no place to turn around.>>


bvl - I know that feeling. the only reason that we carried on up to Castelmolo was because we'd booked a hotel up there and if we cancelled we were going to have to pay for it].

[correction, as DH reminded me more than once as I drove up, and up, and up...I'd booked the hotel up there].

Thank you for posting this site. If, Lord willing, we are able to return to Italy, it will be very useful!

Lee Ann

what fun to see someone recommending off-the-beaten track travel in Europe! It's pooh-poohed, and I don't understand why, since the argument that "tourist places are famous and croweded for a reason" -- implying that everybody has the same reasons to travel -- is pretty unsatisfying. Anyway, there are so many guidebooks that supply information for head-to-the-top-ten-destinations-and-see-the-top-ten-tourist-attractions for those who haven't seen those places yet, so surely the internet is at its most useful informing people about what's not in those books.

Fair warning to people that a lot of very beautiful places off the beaten track are hard to get to. If at all possible, plan to walk at least part of the way rather than drive. Even if you manage the dodgy roads, usually there's not much in the way of parking in medieval European villages except what's already taken by the residents.

Buonconvento is a wonderful town. And it has a train station, plus a big parking lot.

Buonconvento is a nice place, but must be pushing at the 2000 inhabitants limits.

While not in the same league as Italy in this regard, Britain in Bloom tries to bring out some of these features

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_in_Bloom

At the meeting in our town last week, an official from the association said, if I remember correctly, that the limit applied to residents "inside the walls". This would mean inside the historic centre. Many Italian towns have very large territories, comprising a number of villages or hamlets, called "frazioni". Buonconvento has two frazioni, Bibbiano (with a castle of the same name), and Ponte d'Arbia. If you count them, the population would surely be over 2000.

Thanks bvlenci for such a wonderful link. Will keep it for future reference. I have already decided that some of these places will be included in the next trip.

Bookmarked.
Thank you bvlenci for the most useful link. I'll head there when the weather becomes warmer.