Il ricetto di Candelo

We will be having lunch at the historic ricetto in Candelo at 13:00 (1pm) at the taverna del Ricetto, rua Vª del Castello, Tel 015 253-6066. Please feel free to join us for lunch and for any subsequent activities (probably a walk or a visit to the Burcina gardens, depending on the weather and general interest).

About the ricetto

The ricetto is a very well preserved medieval fortification dating from the XII-XIV century, which was built by the community for defensive purposes in time of wars. During battles the inhabitants of Candelo would close themselves inside of it, while at peacetime the ricetto would be utilized primarily as a deposit for foodstuff and as a community cellar. Splendidly conserved, the ricetto, built with fluvial stones laid out in a fishbone pattern, is laid out on a pentagonal area of about 13,000 m² (140,000 square feet) and is enclosed by a wall with towers at the corners; after going through the squared entry torrione, wits its large portal and postern, a small piazza opens out from which you note a building that is larger than the others, with three floors. It was built under orders of Sebastiano Ferrero at the end of the 1400s, and as such called the Prince's Palace. The other buildings are collected in blocks of two rows separated by a narrow interstice (riana), and follow an identical construction plan: two rooms one on top of each other without internal stairways. The room on the ground floor was used as a cellar, while the room on top, which was reached with an external ladder laid against the wooden balcony (lobbia), housed cereals and agricultural products.

Five longitudinal streets and three transversal ones (rue) go trough the ricetto, and their slope allow the waters to flow out towards the torre di cortina at the end of the central rua. Today the Ecomuseum of winemaking occupies some of the cellars. The outside walk around the walls allows one to feel the importance of the complex, which dominates the plains below. The tranquil and absorbed atmosphere that pervades in the streets of the ricetto and the distance from the noises of the city contributes to render the visit a true jump into the past.

Text from Biella e Provincia, Guida d’Italia, Touring Club Italiano, 2002 (own translation)