Villanova Biellese is the southernmost comune of the Biella area, on the right bank of the Cervo, and for much of its history it was no comune at all: it was a hamlet of Massazza and followed its fortunes. The village sits some thirty metres above the rice plain, on the edge of the Biella baraggia, a stony heath of ferns and broom with the Ottina channel running west to east at its foot. There are no outlying hamlets: people live in the village or in farmsteads among the paddies.
Rice still rules: Villanova lies in the area of Riso di Baraggia Biellese e Vercellese, the first and only protected designation of origin for rice in Italy. Vines were once grown here too, then given up because the damp spoiled the wine. The parish church of San Barnaba was rebuilt in the nineteenth century over a much older one, of which a fresco of Saint Liberata survives; a silver heron flies on the red field of the arms.
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 11 June
On 11 June Villanova Biellese, a municipality of 190 inhabitants in the province of Biella, celebrates its patron Saint Barnabas, to whom the parish church is dedicated.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Villanova Biellese, but an easy day trip away.
