Italy's most beautiful village of 2017 has been chosen: it is Venzone, elected during the programme Il borgo dei borghi, which aired on Easter Sunday on Rai3 and was presented by Camila Raznovich. For several editions now, the election has been closely tied to the television programme Il Kilimangiaro, and the winning village is voted for by the public and a jury that this year comprised Michelin-starred chef Cristina Bowermann, art historian Philippe Daverio and geologist Mario Tozzi.

The villages that competed for the title in 2017 are: Arquà Petrarca (Veneto), Canale di Tenno (Trentino Alto Adige), Castel Gandolfo (Lazio), Castelmezzano (Basilicata), Castiglione di Sicilia (Sicily), Conca dei Marini (Campania), Fiumefreddo (Calabria), Gressan (Valle d'Aosta), La Maddalena (Sardinia), Montecassiano (Marche), Montegridolfo (Emilia Romagna), Orta San Giulio (Piedmont), Otranto (Puglia), Panicale (Umbria), Rocca San Giovanni (Abruzzo), Suvereto (Tuscany), Tellaro (Liguria), Vastogirardi (Molise), Venzone (Friuli Venezia Giulia), Zavattarello (Lombardy).

This year the occasion is all the more significant because the Ministry of Cultural Heritage has declared 2017 the Anno dei borghi.

Here is the presentation video for the village of Venzone in the Province of Udine, which was featured during the programme Il Kilimangiaro di Rai3.

The rankings and the winning village

Last year the winner was the municipality of Sambuca in Sicily; this year it is Venzone in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Here is the complete 2017 top ten:

1. Venzone (Friuli Venezia Giulia)
2. Arquà Petrarca (Veneto
3. Conca dei Marini (Campania)
4. Otranto (Puglia)
5. Castiglione di Sicilia (Sicily)
6. Fiumefreddo (Calabria)
7. Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
8. Montecassiano (Marche)
9. Vastogirardi (Molise)
10. Castel Gandolfo (Lazio)

Venzone

Venzone is an ancient town razed to the ground by the 1976 earthquake and rebuilt exactly as it was in the Middle Ages. Declared a national monument, it is one of the most extraordinary examples of architectural and artistic restoration. Today it is the only remaining example in Friuli Venezia Giulia of a fortified fourteenth-century town.

Among the unmissable wonders are the imposing medieval walls, the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea, and the mysterious ancient Cappella di San Michele, home to the famous mummies: their story dates back to 1647, when the mummy of the "hunchback" came to light — the first of around forty extracted from the tombs of the Cathedral. The town hall, meanwhile, is a splendid example of Gothic-Venetian architecture.

Venzone and the Sentieri Stagionali

To find out more about the village of Venzone, a jewel of the Parco regionale delle Prealpi Giulie, you can visit Sentieri Stagionali, the project that tells the story of Italy's most beautiful parks, season by season.