Piedmont Real Estate Market Overview

Geography

Located in the north-west of Italy, Piedmont (translated: the foot of the mountains) is surrounded on three sides by ridges, from the north and west by the Alps, and from the south on the border with Liguria and Emilia-Romagna by the Appennines. From the courtyard of the house, for example, in Roero, you can see several famous peaks at once: Mont Blanc, Matterhorn, Klein Matterhorn, Monte Rosa, Monte Viso (peak with the Paramount film company logo).

The region borders with France, Switzerland, as well as the mentioned Italian regions of Liguria, Emilia-Romagna and also Lombardy and the Aosta Valley.

From west to east, Piedmont is crossed by the largest river in Italy, the Po. Many small rivers flow into it. The largest lake – Lago Maggiore – lies on the border with Lombardy. Two neighboring countries, Italy and Switzerland, divide it among themselves in the proportion of 80:20%. The second largest lake is Horta.

Climate

There are two types of climate in Piedmont. In the mountains – alpine: cold snowy winters and cool summers, and in the flat part – continental: cool winters and hot, humid summers. Warm weather on the plains and in the foothills begins in April (15 °C). In May, the air warms up to 20 °C, in June, July, August to 28-35 °C. The first months of autumn are a particularly pleasant time of year in these places.

Provinces and zones

Piedmont consists of 8 provinces: Cuneo, Turin, Asti, Alessandria, Vercelli, Biella, Novara and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

In addition to the administrative structure, there is also a historically established division into three main wine-growing zones: Lange, Roero and Monferrato. Of course, these names are well known to connoisseurs of fine drink from all over the world. In Lange (Cuneo province) is the town of Barolo, the birthplace of the famous Nebiollo grape wine. The equally famous Barbaresco is also made from the same variety. The town of Asti is located in Monferrato. Sparkling wines produced here are sold all over the world.

The hills covered with vineyards are incredibly picturesque. It is not for nothing that the vineyards of Lange, Roero and Monferrato are included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List.

Piedmont is not only a wine region, but also a gastronomic one. The city of Alba, which is known for its truffles, including rare and expensive white truffle, deserves a special mention. In this part of Italy, hazelnuts are grown, cheeses are made «castelmagno», «robiola», «gorgonzola», «taleggio», «grana padano». And it was also here that they first guessed to add nuts to chocolate.

Capital

The main city of Piedmont is Turin. It is a major industrial and cultural center of Italy, which for some time after the unification of the country in 1861 was its capital. In addition, for several centuries it was the capital city of the Savoy dynasty. Luxury residences of dukes and kings of the House of Savoy – decoration of the region. The magnificent Baroque Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Madama and other palaces are included in the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List. One of the symbols of Turin is the original eclectic "memorial tower" by the architect of the mid-19th century Alessandro Antonelli.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist houses an important Christian shrine - the famous Shroud of Turin.

The football glory of the capital of Piedmont is thundering around the world thanks to the teams "Juventus" and "Torino". Turin hosted the Olympic Games in 2006, and the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022.

According to economic indicators, Turin is on the 3rd place in the country after Rome and Milan. The plants of the FIAT concern produce up to 80% of the total output of Italian cars.           

People

The people of Piedmont are open and friendly. They speak not only Italian here. Depending on the locality, Occitan, Franco-Provencal, French and Welsh languages and dialects are in use, as well as rare Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard and Emilian. So many adverbs for one relatively small region are a consequence of the geographical location and the vicissitudes of history.     

Active recreation

There are a lot of options for outdoor activities in Piedmont. First of all, of course, downhill skiing. From almost anywhere in the region, you can get to the top in a couple of hours. The sea is also not so far from these places. Approximately 1.5 hours by car from the southern province of Piedmont – and you are on the Mediterranean coast of Italy, in 3-4 hours – on the French Riviera or in Monaco. From sports activities, cycling, hiking in the mountains, motorcycles are popular.

Let's sum up everything that captivates Piedmont: pleasant people and a convenient location, magnificent landscapes and the charm of small towns, fine wine and gastronomic traditions, fresh quality products and opportunities for active pastime. At the same time, real estate prices in the region are significantly lower on average than in the more hyped Tuscany.        

Piedmont Real Estate Market

By the beginning of 2020, the Piedmont real estate market had stabilized after a long, 5-year decline. Since then, housing prices have been kept approximately at the same level with slight fluctuations. In April 2023, the average cost per square meter, according to Immobilare.it , amounted to 1,334 euros, which is almost equal to the figures of a year ago (+0.08%). If we analyze by province, the highest asking prices were in Verbania (1748 euros per sq. m.) and Turin (1563 euros per sq. m.).And, conversely, the lowest price was noted in the province of Biella (in average of 619 euros per sq. m.), Alessandria (785 euros per sq. m.) and Vercelli (790 euros per sq.m.).

The region is popular with foreign real estate investors, as evidenced by the statistics provided by the Quotidiano Piemontese resource. So, in 2021, the share of property purchases by non-residents was 14.6%, which is almost twice as high as in Milan (7.9%) and almost three times as in Rome (5%). Most often citizens of Switzerland, Benelux countries, Northern Europe, Great Britain, USA are interested in houses and apartments in Piedmont. Russian buyers in the Italian market as a whole have become much smaller due to the difficulties with conducting transactions (however, in most cases calculations are possible).