Foglio HPart. 332Scala 1:2000
Cuneo, Piemonte

Ostana

By the 1980s Ostana had five year-round residents. Its recovery made restored hamlets and living Occitan culture part of the same project.

Stone houses and a mountain lane in Ostana beneath Monviso
Ostana, Piedmont, beneath Monviso. Silvia Pasquetto / Comune di Ostana, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped for layout.
Residents
78
Region
Piedmont
Best time
June to September, when the road is easiest and more services are open.

Why it is worth the drive

By the 1980s Ostana had fallen to five year-round residents; a century earlier it had reached about 1,200. The revival associated with the municipal administration that began in 1985 centred on restoring the village fabric and treating Occitan language and culture as living infrastructure.

The municipality documents stone-and-wood restoration across the hamlets, the recovery of a cultural centre in Miribrart, and a path network rebuilt with local volunteers. Its own oral-history project presents residents, Occitan, architecture, common land and tourism as parts of the same story.

Getting there

Turin (TRN). The municipality gives the distance as seventy-five kilometres. No railway reaches Ostana itself: the official public-transport routes combine a train or bus with local buses, ending at Ostana Bivio, 1.5 kilometres from the centre.

The honest part

Seventy-eight residents means limited rooms and services. Public transport requires connections and a final climb from the Bivio stop, so check current timetables; winter road conditions can make access harder.

Last checked 2026-09-13. Opening hours and festival dates change: confirm with the town before you travel.