The Ricetto di Candelo, the fortified village where wine was kept safe

There are villages you walk through and villages you step into. The Ricetto di Candelo, at the foot of the Biella pre-Alps, belongs to the second category. From outside it is a ring of walls with towers and a single gateway; inside, it is a maze of narrow alleys, paved with river pebbles, flanked by hundreds of small stone buildings pressed against one another. It is not a reconstructed set: it has come down to us almost intact.

What a ricetto is

The word "ricetto" says it all. It was not a place where people lived, but where they "took shelter". Built between the late 13th and early 14th century, it served the community to keep safe its most precious asset, the harvest, and to take refuge in case of attack. The little houses, called "cells", number around two hundred, arranged along orthogonal streets that here bear the French name of "rue". Each family had its own: two stacked floors, the lower one cooler and used as a cellar for the wine.

Among the rue

Walking among the rue today means exactly this: reading a peasant organisation seven centuries old that has remained legible in the stones. Many cells are still privately owned and used to store wine or as a weekend gathering spot. You visit on foot, without haste, looking up towards the beams and the balconies. A couple of hours are enough, but it is worth lingering: here there is nothing to be ticked off in a hurry from a list.

Compared with the more celebrated villages of northern Italy, Candelo remains a side destination, frequented above all by Piedmontese and by lovers of slow travel. Entry to the ricetto is free and the surrounding town is alive and inhabited, not a shell for visitors. It is best chosen on weekdays and in the shoulder seasons, avoiding the busiest events.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the best periods: golden light on the stones, vineyards all around and a mild climate. In December the village comes alive for the festive season, atmospheric but more visited. From Biella it is just a few minutes away, and all around there are hills, trails and wineries to discover at leisure.

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Getting there

The Ricetto is in Candelo, a few kilometres east of Biella. By car, you exit the motorway at Carisio and continue on the SS230 main road towards Benna and Candelo, with free car parks near Piazza Castello. The reference station is Biella, from which you continue by bus or a few minutes by car. The most convenient airports are Turin Caselle and Milan Malpensa.