Chiesa di San Martino, La Morra

Because a village of two and a half thousand people got a real Savoy-court architect, and because the building has survived a Sub-prefect and a fire.

It is the first church built in the territory of La Morra, and it is a work of Michelangelo Garove (1650–1713), whose brief was to compose a sacred building on a public space in an elevated position over the village. The altarpiece over the high altar is Giovanni Carlo Aliberti's, 1715; the paintings on the nave vault are Luigi Morgari's, 1879–1880, and they are there because the church burned on 11 January 1874.

The friction is that it is a working parish church without published visiting hours, so whether you get in depends on the day.

The tactic: it is on the little square at the top of the village, a few steps from the Torre Campanaria and the terrace. Take all three together — you are not making a trip for this church alone.

This is a parish church, not a monument. No ticket, no attendant: quiet, covered shoulders, nothing during a service.

The village built it and still maintains it. The fabric went up at the expense of the community, and a church with no admission charge is kept up by a parish of a few thousand people. The offertory box is how a visitor contributes.

The paintings are fragile and have burned once. The fire of 11 January 1874 destroyed the organ and the tribune. Morgari's vault is the replacement. No flash.

The square is small and residential. The casa canonica on it is a house. Park below and walk up.

Where. On the small square at the top of the village of La Morra, in the Langhe, province of Cuneo. The village stands at 513 metres.

Admission and hours. It is the working parish church of the village. No visiting hours and no admission charge are given for it in the record, and there is no booking.

Getting in. Around a service is the dependable way. A village parish church is open when it is in use.

How long. Ten to fifteen minutes. Look at the high altar pala of 1715, then up at Morgari's nave vault, and the church has given you most of what it has.

Combine it with what is on the same square and the next: the Torre Campanaria is a few steps away, and the panoramic terrace is at the top of the village. The Cappella del Barolo is a short drive below, at Brunate.

No visiting hours are given for this church, so the question is the circumstance rather than the hour. Around a service is the answer that works.

11 November is San Martino — the patron of the village as well as the church. A patronal feast is the one day of the year when a parish church of this kind is certain to be open and in use.

Autumn fills the Langhe. La Morra's own pressure is at the terrace rather than in the church, so the building is usually quiet even when the village is not.

Winter is cold inside and the fog can take the view that brought you up the hill — but the church is indoors and does not care.

Pair it with the terrace's light. The church takes five minutes more than you expect and the view takes longer; do the church first and finish outside.