Palazzo Comunale di Alba

Because the paintings on the staircase of Alba's town hall were rescued from a church, and one of them is a Pietà of the late 1300s.

The building dates to the 14th century and stands on piazza Risorgimento, the historic heart of the city, opposite the cathedral. Inside, the council chamber holds a panel of the Virgin and Child by Macrino d'Alba, 1501, and a Concerto attributed to Mattia Preti.

The friction is real: this is a working town hall, not a museum. The pictures are on a staircase and in a room where the council meets, so access depends on the day and on business.

The tactic: treat it as part of the square rather than a separate visit. You are here for the cathedral anyway, and the same 19th-century architect — Giorgio Busca — worked on both.

People work here. This is the municipal seat of a town of 31,000, and the rooms holding the pictures are a staircase and a council chamber. Ask at the desk rather than wandering, and accept a no.

The frescoes are refugees. They were taken from the church of San Domenico and fixed to a stair wall. Displaced fresco is fragile and badly placed for conservation by definition — no flash, no touching.

Nothing here charges admission, so there is no mechanism by which a visitor contributes to the upkeep of what they are looking at. Spending in the town is the only one available.

Where. Piazza Risorgimento 1, 12051 Alba (CN), the historic centre, facing the cathedral.

What it is. A working town hall — the municipal seat of Alba — and not a museum. There is no ticket office.

Hours and access. The comune publishes no visiting hours or access terms for the building as a monument; its site is a news and services portal and carries no heritage pages. The number is the municipal switchboard, 0173 292111.

What you may actually see. The frescoes are on the main staircase, which is circulation space, and the panels are in the council chamber, which is a working room. Access to each depends on municipal business on the day.

How long. Fifteen minutes if the staircase is open to you; the exterior and the square take five.

Combine it with the cathedral of San Lorenzo on the same square and the surviving medieval towers between here and via Cavour.

Office hours, on a working day. This is a town hall, so unlike a church or a museum its life is the municipal week, and that is when the staircase is in use and lit.

Avoid assuming the council chamber. The Macrino d'Alba panel and the Concerto are in the room where the council sits. A room in use is a room you will not be shown.

October and early November bring Alba its busiest weeks, for the truffle fair. The square outside is the centre of that; the building itself is not on the tourist route and stays quiet.

The square is worth an evening pass whether or not you get inside. The cathedral facade opposite is the thing to be looking at, and it faces the light at the end of the day.