This Is Italy
Italy has literally hundreds of small villages, tucked away behind hills and against mountains. Villages where everyone knows each other and small island communities where hardly anything has changed in the last 50 years. But there are only 55 real villages that have an independent municipality with its own mayor and yet have fewer than 100 inhabitants. There are also smaller places with only a handful of houses, but they usually form a larger municipality with other hamlets.
The smallest villages in Italy with their own municipality can be found in the northern regions of Lombardy and Piedmont. We base the rating 'smallest' on the number of people on the electoral list, not on the geographical surface.
Here are the 5 smallest villages in Italy.
1. Pedesina
This village has only 34 voting residents. It is located in the province of Sondrio in Lombardy. There is a coffee bar and a shop. And in the summer there is a real one festival as it should.
2. Morterone
Morterone is remote, about 50 kilometers from Milan and has 35 inhabitants. About a third of them work for the municipality. A few years ago, the village claimed the title of 'smallest municipality in Italy'.
But that was before a couple moved in that also reproduced. The children have to travel 15 kilometers to the nearest school. Over a beautiful mountain route, that is.
3. Moncenisio
About 73 kilometers west of Turin you will find the village of Moncenisio. It is located at 1.461 meters and the winters are severe. That is why there are only about 10 permanent residents during the coldest period of the year. When the weather improves in the spring, the other 40 eligible voters will also show up again.
4. Cervatto
At more than 1.000 meters above sea level you will find the village of Cervatto in Piedmont. Besides small in population, this village is also small in area. 37 families and 49 permanent residents live on about nine square kilometers. The village has a local shop (open from 7 am to 9 pm), its own pizzeria and a hotel. A good thing, because the village is beautiful and offers a panoramic view of the Alps. It is therefore not surprising that during Easter and around Ferragosto the population swells to a dizzying six hundred souls.
5. Ingria
We also find Ingria in Piedmont. It consists of a few small houses and is a paradise for nature lovers. The municipality has 49 permanent residents, but has many more visitors who enter the village via the many hiking trails through the Alps. However, there is no overnight accommodation option. For that, nature lovers should go 9 kilometers away, in Pont-Canavese.
70 ghosts
Finally, another bonus village with the smallest population. Only 67 people live in the village of Maccastorna (Lombardy), but there are 70 ghosts of people who were killed on July 24, 1406. murdered at the castle of Maccastorna.
On each anniversary of the massacre, the ghosts are said to make themselves heard. Pay a visit to the village on the 24th of July, if you dare!
Source: Italymagazine.com, photos: Wikimedia
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