The Underground Cathedrals of Canelli, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
The historic Coppo cellars run beneath the hill of Canelli, in Piedmont, northern Italy, and since 2014 they have formed part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “The Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato”. These are the Coppo Underground Cathedrals: more than 5,000 square metres (54,000 sq ft) of tunnels carved into the tufa, reaching 40 metres (130 feet) below ground, open to visitors all year by appointment.
Why they are called Underground Cathedrals
The name comes from their extraordinary beauty and singularity. Tunnels, passages, long corridors and broad vaults, brought to life by a careful play of light and shadow that reveals the sheer scale of the excavation and, here and there, exposes the Canelli tufa itself — the bare heart of the hill. Cathedrals, for the scale and the silence of the vaults; underground, because all of this happens beneath the hillside, where our wines have rested for more than a century.
Three centuries of digging, from the 18th century to today
They most likely began in the 18th century as small storage cellars. The 19th and 20th centuries reshaped and enlarged them, up to the modern restoration work. From the second half of the 1800s, several kilometres of tunnels were dug beneath the town of Canelli: the subsoil became a genuine monument to wine, and proof of how architecture can adapt the places of winemaking to the demands of production.
Canelli calcareous stone: a constant 12–14 °C (54–57 °F) all year
The calcareous tufa of Canelli is more than beautiful. Hard to cut and remarkably stable, it works as a natural thermal insulator, holding humidity steady and the temperature between 12 and 14 °C — ideal conditions for ageing great wine. This is where our Barbera d’Asti, our Nizza DOCG, the Chardonnay Monteriolo, the Gavi DOCG La Rocca, our Barolo and the Alta Langa Metodo Classico sparkling wines rest. [Explore all Coppo wines →]
A working cellar, not a museum
The tunnels were never only for storage and ageing. The entire winemaking process took place down here, and what remains of it — presses, filtering systems, vats, barrels, machinery — is still in place today. The Cathedrals are still the working heart of the estate: the wines you taste at the end of your visit aged in the very tunnels you have just walked through. [Book a visit to the Underground Cathedrals →]
