Discover Cappella del Barolo

The Cappella del Barolo, previously known as the Cappella di Santissima Madonna delle Grazie and also called the Cappella delle Brunate, stands among the vineyards in the comune of La Morra, in the Langhe, province of Cuneo.

It is a building that was never consecrated. It was put up in 1914 on the initiative of farm workers in the surrounding countryside and vineyards, who used it as a place of refuge and temporary shelter in the event of storms or other weather. It was given the name of a chapel at the start, but it was never made a place of worship.

In 1970 the structure and the land around it were bought by the Ceretto family. It fell out of use and went through years of abandonment.

In 1999 it was restored by two artists: Sol LeWitt, who handled the remaking of the exterior, and David Tremlett, who repainted the whole of the inside. Since then the building has been marked, inside and out, by a style of colour — chromatic play, a many-coloured weave of curved and geometric lines.

The hills it stands in were inscribed by UNESCO on 22 June 2014 as part of the Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont, of which the Langa of Barolo is one of three components.

Architecturally this is a vineyard shelter, and it is important not to dress that up. A single small volume, built in 1914 for workers caught in the weather, in the ordinary fabric of Langhe farm building.

What happened in 1999 was not an architectural intervention. Nothing was extended, nothing was re-planned. Two surfaces were painted — the outside by Sol LeWitt, the inside by David Tremlett — and that alone converted the building into something people drive across a region to see.

The resulting style is described as colouristic: various chromatic plays, a variegated weave of curved and geometric lines. Curves and geometry together, not one or the other.

The honest way to read it is as a painted object in a landscape. Its scale is agricultural, its siting is agricultural, and only its surface is art — which is precisely why it works at a distance, against vine rows, in a way a larger or more architectural gesture would not.

It was built twice, in the sense that matters.

The first build, 1914, was done on the initiative of the farm workers themselves. This was not a commission: people who worked the land put up a shelter where they needed one, and the record is explicit that its use was refuge during storms.

The naming followed: it was called a chapel of the Santissima Madonna delle Grazie. The consecration never did.

The second build, 1999, was a restoration after years of abandonment, and the division of labour is recorded precisely. Sol LeWitt took the exterior; David Tremlett repainted the interior in its entirety. The owner since 1970 was the Ceretto family, who had bought the structure and the land around it.

No part of this sequence involved the Church, which is the unusual thing about it: a building called a chapel for a century, restored by two contemporary artists, that was never at any point a place of worship.

Is it a real chapel? No. It was named the cappella di Santissima Madonna delle Grazie, but it was never consecrated as a place of worship. It was built in 1914 as a shelter from storms for people working the vineyards.

Who painted it? Sol LeWitt did the exterior and David Tremlett repainted the entire interior, both in 1999. The idea was Tremlett's — the owner says he worked out how to revive the building and then brought LeWitt in.

Why was it painted at all? It had fallen into disuse and suffered years of abandonment after being bought, with the land around it, by the Ceretto family in 1970. The 1999 work was a restoration.

Can you go inside? The interior is Tremlett's and is a separate scheme from the outside. No opening hours are published, so whether the door is open is a matter of the day.

Does it cost anything? No admission charge is published. It stands in open vineyard.

What are the other names for it? Cappella di Santissima Madonna delle Grazie, its original name, and Cappella delle Brunate, after the place it stands in.

Is it in Barolo? No — despite the name, it is in the comune of La Morra. The name refers to the wine and the landscape, not the village of Barolo.