Castello Falletti di Barolo

Castello Falletti crowns the village of Barolo, the Langhe town that gave its name to the wine. A medieval stronghold reshaped over nine centuries, the WiMu wine museum opened there in 2010, and the regional wine cellar opened in 1982.

Why it matters

Barolo the wine takes its name from Barolo the village, and the castle is where the two stories meet. The Falletti family, who owned the castle for centuries, were central to the development of the wine in the nineteenth century, when their cellars helped define the dry, long-lived style that conquered Europe's courts. The building itself is a condensed history of the Langhe: a tenth-century defensive core, a Renaissance rebuild, a grand residence and finally a public museum. The Comune of Barolo purchased the castle in 1970.

What to notice

The keep and lower part of the eastern tower preserve traces of the original medieval fortification. The building preserves successive layers, including the sixteenth-century reconstruction after the wars of the era, then the nineteenth-century remodeling as a country residence of the last marchesi. The interiors reflect the Collegio Barolo years, when the structure was reworked for its life as a school. The terrace overlooks vineyard country around Serralunga, Monforte and La Morra. The vaulted cellars later became the home of the Enoteca Regionale del Barolo in 1982.

Context and history

The first record of a fortification here dates to the tenth century, when a local feudatory was authorized to build a defense against Hungarian raids. In the thirteenth century the castle passed to the commune of Alba before returning to the Falletti, whose branch was established here by 1325. Sacked during the sixteenth-century wars, it was rebuilt with significant changes under Giacomo and Manfredo Falletti. In the nineteenth century it became the country seat of the last marchesi, Carlo Tancredi Falletti and his wife Giulia Colbert; the writer Silvio Pellico, a family friend, managed the marchesi's library. When Giulia died in 1864 her legacy created the Opera Pia Barolo, a charitable institution, and from 1875 to 1958 the castle housed the Collegio Barolo, a boarding school that offered scholarships to local youth and reshaped the building's fabric. In 1970 the Comune bought the castle with a public subscription funded by citizens, local firms and former pupils; volunteer-led visits began in the 1970s and the Enoteca Regionale del Barolo opened in the cellars in 1982. The WiMu wine museum opened inside the castle in 2010.