Most Beautiful Villages of Northern Italy
Note: I've decided to add villages in these sections that are not included in the listings of the Borghi Piu Belli. I will keep my website live while working through this process. please forgive the incompleteness of the information, understanding that this site is a constantly evolving work in progress!
Included in this section are the Most Beautiful Villages of the regions of Valle d'Aosta, Piemonte, Lombardia, Trentino/Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli, Liguria, Emilia Romagna.
​
Because we will continue to add to this section as we visit more towns, they will be arranged loosely on this page without a specific order.
Cervo, Liguria
If we had to choose a favorite, among all of the Most Beautiful Villages of Italy, it might be Cervo. Cervo, meaning dear, is a lovely village hugging a steep hillside above the Mediterranean Sea just five minutes away from our mills a Borgata Tre Molini. It is the greets us many times each day as we are out running errands in our local market town, San Bartolomeo al Mare, as we are entering the autostrada heading east, and as we drive back home from the west.
​
But, Cervo isn't our favorite just because it is the closest. It is also just simply lovely. From the pastel-colored maneristic church that dominates the center of town to its lovely little winding streets, Cervo is perfect.
Canale di Tenno
Canale, Comune di Tenno, is a lovely old mountain village just north of Lake Garda in the Trentino/Alto Adige region. Having a feel that is a meeting of mountain and old Italian architecture, the village is delightfully different from any of the other villages we've visited.
Vernazza, Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre, or "Five Lands," are five fishing villages hugging the rugged cliffs of Liguria roughly between Sestri Levante and La Spezia. In recent years the villages have been "discovered" by tourists to the extent that fishing is just a minor part of their economy. All five villages retain their lovely setting and beauty, though souvenir shops and many many tourists may be a deterrent to some, depending on when you choose to visit. Vernazza is on the list of Most Beautiful Villages, though it is debatable which of the Cinque Terre is the most lovely.
Verezzi
In contrast to the Cinque Terre, Verezzi, or Borgio Verezzi, is mostly unknown to foreign tourists. This lovely little village, clinging to the steep hillside high above the Mediterranean has retained a quaint charm of its own.
