Cappella del Barolo

Because it is a building farm workers put up to get out of the rain, and two artists turned it into the most recognisable object in the Langhe without changing a single wall.

It was built in 1914 by peasants working the surrounding fields and vineyards, as a refuge and temporary shelter during storms. It was called the cappella di Santissima Madonna delle Grazie — and it was never consecrated. In 1999 Sol LeWitt repainted the outside and David Tremlett the whole interior.

The friction is real and current: the owner says the chapel is temporarily inaccessible for works, due to reopen in autumn 2026 — which is now, so check before driving out. It stands among the vines at Brunate, below the village of La Morra; there has never been anything to pay, and visits go through +39 0173 268033.

The tactic is to come for the light rather than the hour. It is a work made of colour standing in an open vineyard, and it changes completely between an overcast morning and late afternoon sun.

You are standing in somebody's vineyard. The chapel has no grounds. Brunate is a working wine site and has been since long before 1999; stay on the track, and do not walk between the rows.

It is private property, and the Langhe are full of people who forget it. The structure and the surrounding land were bought by the Ceretto family in 1970 — six hectares of Brunate, with the little church on it — and the 1999 restoration happened because an owner paid for it. There is no ticket, which means the access you have is a courtesy and not a right, and at present the owner has withdrawn it for works.

Park where parking exists. These are narrow vineyard lanes serving tractors. A car left on a bend during harvest is a genuine problem for someone trying to work.

Treat the surfaces as the artwork they are. The whole value of the building is two painted skins by Sol LeWitt and David Tremlett. They are outdoors, unguarded and unticketed.

The landscape is inscribed, and it is a working one. The Langa of Barolo was listed by UNESCO on 22 June 2014 as a living agricultural landscape, not a park.

CHECK BEFORE YOU GO. As of this writing the owner states that "The Barolo Chapel is temporarily inaccessible due to ongoing work; it will be open again in autumn 2026" — and autumn 2026 is the present season, so the position may have changed in either direction this week. The number to settle it is below.

Where. At Brunate, in the comune of La Morra, in the Langhe, province of Cuneo — among the vineyards below the village. The owner gives the position as 44°37'41.3"N, 7°56'41.8"E. The village of La Morra itself stands at 513 metres.

Admission and contact. The chapel stands in open vineyard country and belongs to the wine house Ceretto, which bought six hectares of the Brunate vineyard in 1970 and the little church with it. Ceretto publishes no opening hours, no admission charge and no booking system; it handles visits on +39 0173 268033 and visit@ceretto.com, and that is the way to establish what is possible on a given day.

The exterior — Sol LeWitt's half of the work — stands in the open, which is why the building has always been seen more often than it has been entered.

Getting there. By car, and on small vineyard roads. There is no railway in these hills, the lanes are narrow, and the chapel is not in the village but below it.

How long. Fifteen to twenty minutes, plus however long you spend walking round it for the angle you want.

Combine it with the village above: the Torre Campanaria and the panoramic terrace are a few minutes up the hill, and the castle at Barolo is roughly ten minutes away.

Note on the interior. David Tremlett repainted the whole of the inside, and it is a different scheme from the outside. If the door is open, go in.

This is a colour work standing in the open, so light is the whole question. Flat overcast and raking late sun produce two very different buildings.

Autumn is the Langhe's busiest season and the vines are at their most photogenic, but it is also harvest: the lanes around Brunate carry working traffic, and the vineyards are a workplace.

Spring and early summer give green rows and long light with far fewer people on the roads.

Winter strips the vines bare, which some prefer — the chapel's colour has nothing to compete with — but the fog that is characteristic of these hills can erase the whole landscape, and the chapel with it.

No hour is published, because no hours exist to publish — but the owner currently reports the chapel inaccessible for works until autumn 2026, so the first question is not the hour but whether it is open at all. Ring +39 0173 268033. If it is open, it is the right thing to put at the end of a day when the castle at Barolo has already shut at 19:00.