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Like everything else in life, foreign buying in Italy is subject to the forces of fashion. Take Tuscany – long a byword for ultimate desirability to us Brits (but much lower-ranked by, say, German or Swiss buyers in Italy). There’s no denying Tuscany’s delights, but it’s certainly not the only Italian region with beautiful weather, rolling vineyard-clad hills, charming old farmhouses, stunning local wines, palpable prosperity, a solid travel infrastructure, and so on. Piedmont is particularly well-endowed with all these assets. |
| But in addition to the sunny hills, vineyards and farmhouses that have made Tuscany so beloved, Piedmont also possesses spectacular mountain scenery, world-class skiing, and elegant lakesides. Oh, and more Michelin-starred restaurants than anywhere else in Italy. It’s easily accessible, super-civilized, and has great holiday rental prospects. Only the whims of fashion can explain the fact that it hasn’t yet fully blossomed in the imagination of British buyers. |
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But Piedmont is making her first tentative steps down the catwalk. Canny buyers have started trickling in, and British interest in Piedmont is growing. Property prices in most areas are still attractive, but steadily climbing. The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin drew fresh attention to the region’s glorious Alpine heights, while the region’s immaculate rural south is just now being ‘discovered’ by the vine-loving and farmhouse-seeking set. |
Piedmont has some pricy spots, but it also has abundant locales offering great-value-for money – perhaps especially its lovely south. It’s this value-for-money that’s currently attracting growing numbers of savvy foreign buyers from both ends of the financial spectrum. Several Piedmont-specialist estate agents report that over the last year [from 2006 to 2007] they’ve seen a shift in popularity from homes under €250,000 to homes over €300,000. An awareness of good value-for-money means that people with the means to do so are inclined to spend more. Other agents, meanwhile, note a big recent increase in less wealthy people wanting to spend just €150,000-€200,000 on a holiday home in Piedmont – a change from the wealthy Swiss buyers who used to dominate the buying scene here. Clearly people are wising up to the fact that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a good deal in Piedmont. So this is a buoyant, evolving property market – expanding at both ends. Now is a very good time to buy, before the forces of fashion start to swell Piedmont’s prices more quickly.
Tucked up in the far northwest corner of Italy, Piedmont borders France, Switzerland, Lombardy and the ‘Italian Riviera’ region of Liguria. It has a dazzling array of landscapes. Together with the tiny Valle d’Aosta region on its northern edge, Piedmont offers magnificent mountain scenery, charming Alpine villages and some of Italy’s very best skiing. In its northeast, Piedmont encompasses pretty Lake Orta – the tiny ‘Cinderella’ of Italy’s elegant northern lakes – and the popular western shore of Lake Maggiore. Moving south, through a flat infinity of bright green rice-growing fields, Piedmont eventually buckles up again to form exceptionally beautiful hills and gentle ridges, awash with crops and greenery. Down here, in ‘Le Langhe’ and its neighbouring areas, it’s all white truffles and world-class wines – a gorgeous rural landscape draped in arcing vineyards and dotted with handsome little towns, where the golden seaside of Liguria is only ever about an hour away.
Piedmont settlements tend to be reassuringly small and friendly, but the region is home to one big city – Turin, with just under a million inhabitants. An often overlooked and underrated metropolis, Turin has wide boulevards, elegant Baroque facades and miles of arcaded pavements flanked by sleek boutiques. For all its hard-working industry (it’s the home of household names like Fiat and Lavazza), Turin’s air blows in clean and fresh from the surrounding Alps – making it a very liveable place. Property is much cheaper here than in Milan or Rome, although it can be almost double the price of property in Piedmont’s tinier cities. On average, one-bedroom apartments sell for about €120,000, and two-beds for about €200,000. Turin sees few tourists, so holidaymakers present no great source of rental income. Southern Italian migrants, however, are drawn to the city for its ample jobs, and together with students at Turin’s university, they create a good market for medium-term lets.
| For the foreign buyer, Piedmont clearly divides into four main market-areas: Turin, the Alps, the lakesides and the rural south. We’ve already discussed Turin. So what of the Alps? Piedmont and the tiny, adjacent Valle d’Aosta region offer world-class skiing and big-name resorts. The winter rentals scene up here is very strong, and summer hikers turn up too, although in much smaller numbers. |
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Despite the publicity of the 2006 Winter Olympics (plus the estimated billion-euro investment on improving ski-resort infrastructure), most of the villages and resorts up here remain picturesque and unspoilt, and have a laid-back atmosphere. Italy’s ski-culture is very stylish, but also very friendly and inclusive. Skiers take themselves less seriously in Italy than they do in, say, France, and the emphasis is on everyone having a good time.
Ski-oriented property is marginally cheaper to the west of Turin than to its north, and buyers are a mixture of Piedmont locals and foreigners. Average prices are perhaps summed up by a new holiday village currently being built with foreign buyers in mind. A company called Gruppo Norman hope to finish their complex of 460 ski-in apartments in Sansicario, west of Turin, by July 2008 [Time of writing is late 2007]. Studio apartments here are asking about €100,000, and large three-bed flats about €500,000. You could expect to rent one of these ski properties for about 14 winter weeks, asking around €600 per week for a studio, and €1,200 for a two-bed.
Italy’s smallest region, Valle d’Aosta, is also one of its most thinly-populated – and wealthiest. It has awesome mountain scenery, a huge national park popular with summer hikers, and, among other skiing-spots, Courmayeur – often voted Italy’s very best ski resort. This top ski-town is astronomically expensive for property, but because Italians like to be in the very heart of things, prices drop by up to two-thirds if you’re willing to buy just ten minutes further down the valley. Wealthy Italians also like fully-functioning, modern-built homes, so anything needing renovation in Valle d’Aosta can be a bit of a bargain. For example, a one-bedroom cottage needing work, five minutes’ drive from a ski lift, currently [in 2007] asks just €80,000. Ready-converted properties a short distance from resort-centres can be good value too. A three-bedroom home in timber and stone, walkable from the small resort of Gressan, asks €180,000. Or you could get a one-bed apartment right next to the piste in little Pila for €150,000. Rental prospects are great in Valle d’Aosta, as the region is hugely popular with skiers. British buyers are new here, and there is currently just one estate agent geared specifically to this market: La Casa Alpina, run by Englishwoman Helen Thomson.
Italy’s fabulously beautiful northern lakes are among the most desirable and expensive places in the whole country. Here green mountains plunge into glittering blue water, their slopes dotted with fruit-coloured villas, their watersides strung with elegant little towns. Piedmont is blessed with two of these lovely lakes – one large and famous, the other small and little-known. The long western half of Lake Maggiore, and all of tiny Lake Orta, lie in Piedmont. Maggiore is an old favourite of British visitors, especially those of post-retirement age. There are lots of apartments available in converted period villas here. One-bedroom apartments go for about €150,000, two-beds for about €200,000 [in 2007]. Summer rental prospects are excellent, and you could expect to garner about €650 a week for a one-bed apartment, €800 for a two-bed. Charming Lake Orta has slightly lower property prices, and sees slightly fewer visitors.
Perhaps Piedmont’s greatest property success-story of recent years is its rural south – in particular the southeast areas Le Langhe, Roero and Monferrato. Over the last five years [2002-2007], prices have gone up by as much as 25%, with the Swiss and German buyers who have traditionally sought country houses here meeting with stiff competition from Brits, Scandinavians and a few Americans. 2007 was a booming year, with some agents struggling to find enough properties to keep up with demand.
Piedmont’s south is an exceptionally beautiful part of Italy, with spectacular food and wine, and it’s not hard to see why foreign buyers have been taking such an interest – especially as the area still offers excellent value-for-money by comparison with rural Tuscany or Umbria. And it remains completely unspoilt. Angelika Smith-Aichbichler of Piedmont Properties points out that “South Piedmont is a destination for seekers of the true Italian experience. The ex-pat community is still tiny, and custom villa and pool developments simply don’t exist.”
Richard Edwards of Piemonte Property is optimistic, too, that things will stay that way: “Whether southern Piedmont will ever have the kudos of Tuscany is questionable, but this has to be a positive thing. We feel certain the area will keep its identity without us foreigners overrunning it and forcing everyone to speak English!”
Le Langhe, with its rolling hills and endless vineyards, is currently the south’s most popular area, with prices in or near Alba (white truffle capital of the world) highest of all. Monferrato, another wine-producing area, can also be pricy. Basically, buyers love views of vines and the climate that goes with great wine-production (hence the popularity of the Chianti area of Tuscany). Independent, habitable homes with land in any of southern Piedmont’s great wine-producing areas go for €200,000 and upwards. The same sort of property outside a wine-producing area tends to go for €120,000 and upwards. Clearly, it pays to look around and explore the wider area. Southern Piedmont has an evolving market, with various pockets remaining undiscovered or newly rising in popularity. For example, Clive Wisbey of Piedmont Property notes that the Alta Langhe area towards Ceva is currently the subject of growing interest and considered a good investment. Country houses to restore here start at €70,000, while a fully restored stone house might ask €350,000-€450,000.
Note that homes needing full restoration in Piedmont’s south are becoming few and far between. There are still plenty of places needing only a little work, and also a good number of properties already converted into holiday homes – usually by Milanese or Torinese. Don’t forget the considerable charms of southern Piedmont’s many small towns, of course. There’s more to this area than farmhouses, and a charming old townhouse can be a great investment.
Rentals-wise, Piedmont’s south offers excellent prospects. Eli Anne Langen of Case in Piemonte and Richard Edwards of Piemonte Property both note that beyond Barolo and Barbaresco country, there’s a serious shortage of self-catering properties down here (and not many hotels either). Southern Piedmont is becoming much better known to visitors, especially of the gastro-tourist type, and thanks to the weather and to various wine and truffle festivals, the visiting season starts in March and goes on till October. Angelika Smith-Aichbichler of Piedmont Property points out that “With gourmet tourism a growing phenomenon, a 20-week-per-year rental occupancy is not difficult to achieve.”
With Piedmont more than most other Italian regions, the singular excellence of local food and wine demands special mention. The subject deserves to have to last word in any discussion of the region. Piedmont’s pinnacle of gastronomic excellence is the Langhe area discussed above. But the dizzying standards set in this small area definitely radiate outward to influence the whole region. Le Langhe has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other similarly-sized area in the world. It is the world capital of the white truffle. It produces what’s generally agreed to be one of Italy’s two very finest wines: Barolo (the second being Tuscany’s Brunello). It produces Italy’s finest hazelnuts, Italy’s finest polenta maize… The list goes on. Ideal growing conditions, top-quality produce and utterly ingenious cooking all combine to make Le Langhe a foodie paradise of the highest order.
But all across Piedmont, the food is spectacular. Expect creamy risottos, delectable lakefish, liberal use of porcini mushrooms, exquisite desserts. Wine-wise, you need only name-check Barolo, Barbera and Barbaresco to underscore the fact that Piedmont is Italy’s premium wine region. Piedmont’s sweet, sparkling white Asti (formerly ‘Asti Spumante’) may long ago have fallen from fashion in Britain, but it’s no less delicious a drink for that. Crowd-pleasers Cinzano and Martini are also Piedmontese, being made in Turin. And in an even more populist vein, famed chocolatier Ferrero (makers of Ferrero Roche among other things) has its HQ in Alba. Something here then for the palate’s every whim – from the most refined and sophisticated to the most light-hearted.
So if sunshine, landscape, and superb food and wine are your prime ingredients for la dolce vita, Piedmont offers you a fantastic opportunity for living the good life. Take your pick from dramatic mountains, elegant lakesides, vine-clad hills, charming small towns or one slick city. But do it sooner rather than later, perhaps, as this is a region whose popularity can only go from strength to strength.
[All quoted prices accurate in 2007]
With its beautiful Alpine backdrop and its wide, elegant boulevards, Turin is an attractive and much under-rated city. Switched-on and techno-savvy, Turin prospers on its car-manufacture and hi-tech industries. Its glossy bars and cafés are lively with students, and its miles of arcaded pavements glitter with sleek boutiques. Some of the city outskirts can be fairly characterless, dominated by uninspiring apartment blocks, but the more central areas are very likeable indeed. While property in Turin can be almost double the price of similar accommodation in Piedmont’s other towns and small cities, the city is still much cheaper than nearby Milan – northern Italy’s other economic powerhouse. One-bedroom apartments go for about €120,000 on average; two-beds for about €200,000. The rentals scene is dominated by southern Italian migrants who’ve come to Turin to work, and students at the university here. So, think mid-to-long-term rentals rather than short-term holiday lets.
West of Turin, Piedmont’s spectacular Alpine area spreads to the border with France. It’s a skier’s paradise, with the busy ‘Milky Way’ network of resorts offering together about 400km of excellent slopes. The unspoilt, picturesque villages round here flank thoroughly modern ski facilities – made even better by an estimated billion-euro investment in the run-up to 2006’s Winter Olympics. Sestriere, just 60 miles from Turin, draws a metropolitan crowd at the weekend. It was Italy’s first purpose-built ski resort, and it’s still a fashionable and well-equipped place. Nearby lie attractive towns-cum-resorts like Pinerolo, Pragelato, Claviere, Cesana and Sauze d’Oulx. Bardonecchia is especially loved by snowboarders, and family-oriented Sansicario is best known for its challenging runs. Property in Piedmont’s Alpine area is popular with local buyers as well as with foreigners. Ski-oriented studio apartments ask about €100,000. Holiday rental prospects are excellent. In addition to the eager snow-crowd, smaller numbers of summer walkers are drawn to the area, making year-round rentals a possibility. You could reasonably expect to rent out a ski property for 14 weeks in the winter, garnering €600 a week for a studio apartment and €1,200 for a two-bed.
With 100,000 inhabitants spread across 8,500 square kilometers, Valle d’Aosta is Italy’s smallest region and one of its most thinly-populated. It’s a very wealthy and contented place, however, tucked up against the border with Switzerland and enjoying a mixed Swiss-French-Italian culture. With such celestial mountain scenery, it’s fitting that the huge national park up here (Italy’s oldest) is named the Gran Paradiso. Valle d’Aosta’s skiing is amongst the best in Italy, with stylish Courmayeur regularly acclaimed as the country’s superlative ski resort. Summer hikers are much less numerous than winter visitors in Valle d’Aosta, but they still offer some potential for year-round holiday rentals. Property in Courmayeur is hugely expensive, with villas here asking more than a million euros, but a little cottage needing work five minutes away from a lesser-known ski resort can cost as little as €80,000. Prices tumble just a short distance from resorts, with ready-converted 3-bedroom properties asking less than €200,000. A small apartment right next to a ski slope, meanwhile, might ask €150,000.
Lake Maggiore’s long and popular western shore – including its number one resort, Stresa – lies in Piedmont. So does all of tiny Lake Orta. Both lakes have the exquisite landscapes, elegant atmosphere and pretty buildings you’d expect from Italy’s northern lakes, and both are blessed with villa-studded islands that greatly enhance their charm. Maggiore is much better known than little Orta, and is today particularly popular with older British visitors. As befits a long-loved holiday destination, property prices on Lake Maggiore can be quite high, with one-bedroom apartments going for about €150,000 on average, and two-beds for €200,000 or more. But many of the properties on offer are charming, with plenty of apartments available in converted period villas. Rental prospects are excellent, and in the summer you could charge about €650 a week for a one-bed apartment, €800 for a two-bed. Lake Orta’s property prices are a bit lower than Lake Maggiore’s, and slightly fewer visitors find their way here. Piedmont’s lakesides are within easy daytripping distance of certain ski resorts. If you were to choose to buy halfway between a lake and a piste, you could have access to summer and winter entertainment, and/or rent your property to two kinds of holidaymaker.
Southern Piedmont is a super-fertile realm of teeming agriculture and wonderful foodstuffs. The pancake-flat Po Valley area grows tons of rice, its bright green paddyfields stretching for miles into the distance. Further south, hills and ridges start to appear and eventually dominate the landscape. Lushly green and meticulously farmed, these beautiful hillsides produce some of the best food and wine in Italy. It’s down here in hilly southern Piedmont that the property market is really going to be something to watch over the next couple of years. Foreign buyers have started to ‘discover’ the place – with the lovely area called Le Langhe being particularly prized. Vine-clad Le Langhe produces the stunning Barolo wine, as well as the world’s best white truffles. Its property prices are the highest in southern Piedmont, yet remain great value for money. Habitable country homes with several bedrooms here go for about €200,000. Beyond Le Langhe and the other wine areas of Piedmont’s hilly south, similar properties ask only about €120,000. But prices down here have risen steadily over the last few years and will surely keep doing so as foreign buyer interest grows further. Note that there’s not a lot for sale in the south that needs major restoration. Old properties are generally well-maintained. Holiday rental prospects are very good. There’s a shortage of self-catering accommodation across much of Piedmont’s south, and the holiday season is very long thanks to good weather and popular autumn food festivals.
Sarah Glasscock and her fiancé Ed moved to southern Piedmont in September 2007. She’d been based in Reading and he in Ireland, and they’d understandably grown tired of flying across to see each other at weekends. But why did they choose Italy as the place to set up home together?
“We both thought England and Ireland were over-developed, and property here too expensive,” Sarah explains. “Living together in either place we knew we’d both end up in the rat race every day, commuting to work, hardly ever seeing each other. I said to Ed, ‘if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?’ and straight away he said ‘northern Italy.’ He’d lived there for two years in his late teens and absolutely loved it – the people, the culture, the scenery. I’d never spent much time in Italy, but I loved the sound of it. So I said let’s just go over for a long weekend and see what properties and prices are like. We flew to Milan and drove to Cortemilia in Le Langhe. We’d never heard of Le Langhe before, but the views on the journey were so lovely we just fell in love with the area.”
The couple met with Richard Edwards of Piemonte Property, and soon found an old country house they couldn’t resist. “It’s in the Bormida Valley,” Sarah says. “Quite a big place with four bedrooms and twelve acres of land. It was excellent value for money. Structurally it’s perfectly sound; it’s got good floors, a good roof. But it needs re-wiring, and it hasn’t got central heating or hot water. I found the buying process much easier in Italy than in the UK. Everyone said ‘oh the bureaucracy and the problems!’ but actually the Italian process made more sense and wasn’t as stressful. Richard was really helpful in giving us tips on doing things the Italian way.
“The local people have been amazing. The sense of community out here is lovely. The house has been empty for five years, and they’re so happy we’re bringing it back to life and looking after the land. They also love the fact that we’re young (we’re in our early thirties). A lot of the young people here have moved to the city.
“For me, it’s great not to be commuting to London every day and always being in a rush. We both like being more self-sufficient and using our land. We plan to grow organic food and set up environmentally-sound heating. There are inconveniences too, like not yet having hot water at the flick of a switch, and having to chop wood to get the heat going. It’s a big change from city to rural living, but I was really ready for it.” |
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