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Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont:
Langhe-Roero and Monferrato, A UNESCO World Heritage Site
In 2014 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed a large portion (nearly 100,00 hectares) of the vineyard covered, hilly area of southern Piedmont as a cultural landscape World Heritage Site.
This “cultural landscape” designation means the area was selected, not only for its natural beauty, but also for the cultural and historical significance on a national and international level of its wine culture, which has shaped the landscape over the centuries.
The site encompasses the four most relevant wine-production systems of Piedmont and the world-class wines—Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera d’Asti and Asti Spumante—resulting from each system’s unique bond between grape variety, terroir and vinification technique.
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San Bovo di Castino Pleasant walks down country lanes
A series of country lanes and woodland paths snake along the hillside just above La Lepre Danzante along which you can enjoy some lovely walks through nature, spectacular views over the Belbo river valley and chance encounters with some of the donkeys, pigs and other farm animals that inhabit the local farms along the routes.
A five-kilometer walk from La Lepre Danzante to the 17th century Church of San Bovo of Castino is particularly rewarding. Besides the peaceful walk, the spectacular views and a visit to this charming church, you can treat yourselves to a delightful lunch at the Cafe d’Epoca, which is just off the courtyard in front of the church and an afternoon of horseback riding at the nearby stable.
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Mango The heart of Moscato country
The charming hilltop town of Mango can trace its origins to Roman times when it was a military settlement known as Mangiana Colonia. Its function was to supply food to veteran imperial soldiers who eventually founded a colony that gave rise to a larger village, which was permanently inhabited in the following centuries.
Mango is also known as the major Italian production area for Moscato wine. In fact, the Castle of the Marquises of Busca, which dominates the town is the seat of the Moscato Hills Regional Wine Shop.
The castle was built on the foundations of a strategic fortress around the end of the 13th century.
Around 1600 the Marquises of Busca acquired the castle, sumptuously furnished it and used it as their summer residence for several centuries.
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Alba The white truffle capital of the world
Alba is a small city in the Langhe that packs a big punch in the enogastronomic world. It supplies the world with prized white truffles and famous fine wines and, for the more modest budgets, is also home to Ferrero Roche and Nutella.
The city origins pre-date Roman civilization, though the town occupies the site of the Roman Alba Pompeia. Alba was hotly contested by warring factions from the fall of the Roman Empire to World War II. It was a republic twice briefly, in 1796 and 1944.
During October and November, the city hosts the International White Truffle Fair. The city also offers attractions year-round including: the Cathedral of Saint Lawrence, a Romanesque 12th century church in the center of town; the late-Baroque style Holy Mary Magdalen church with an unfinished, plain facade that contrasts with its refined, colorful interior; the Gothic San Domenico church that houses some of the city’s significant sacred artworks; Underground Alba, a guided tour of ruins under the city. The tour ends with a free visit to the Eusebio Museum that houses pre-historic, Roman and scientific artifacts; the Ferrero Foundation with its cultural events and art exhibitions; and the Wall of Sound Gallery that showcases fine-art music photography.
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Barbaresco Tower and citadel of Barbariscus
Barbaresco is perched on a vineyard covered hill overlooking a sea of vineyard covered hills where it presents a visual profile that perfectly illustrates the motto “Barbarisco turris et arx” (tower and citadel of Barbariscus) on the town’s coat of arms.
The tower was once part of the walls of the citadel, which was replaced by a Baroque church and the present-day castle in the 1700’s. The town of Barbaresco acquired the tower in 1982 and after a 30-year restoration project opened it to the public in 2015. Two glass elevators (one internal and one external) bring you to the top for a breathtaking view over the countryside. The tower also has a bistro for dining on a panoramic terrace at its base and hosts wine-tasting events and art exhibitions. The castle is privately owned. The Saint John the Baptist church is a real jewel decorated in fine monochromatic marble and boasting a choir in inlaid walnut.
Another church that must surely be visited is the deconsecrated Church of San Donato, which became the Regional Wine Shop of Barbaresco in 1986.
Numerous local wine-producers, including the prestigious “Produttori di Barbaresco, open their doors to the public for wine-tasting, or tours of their facilities for an up-close look at wine-making.
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Neive, Borgo Vecchio Turning back the clock to the Middle Ages
Like many of the small towns in this area, Neive was also a former Roman settlement. In fact, it is thought its name is derived from gens Naevia, a Roman patrician family that once possessed it.
The center of the city retains a medieval layout with narrow, cobbled streets forming rings around the summit of the town, which is crowned with a 13th century clock tower and another building from the same period—the Casaforte of the Counts Cotti di Ceres.
The heart of the village is represented by Piazza Italia where outdoor jazz, opera or classical concerts are held during the summer.
Other notable sights in the town are: the 18th century Palazzo Borgese; the 14th century Palace of the Countess Demaria; Palazzo Bongioanni Cocito, from the 18th century; Palazzo dei Conti di Castelborgo, also from the 18th century; the Conti di Castelborgo Gardens and the Neo-classical Church of Saints Peter and Paul.
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Bossolasco Village of Roses
Perched on the top of a hill that rises from the Belbo River valley, Bossolasco, at almost 750 meters above sea level, is one of the towns with the highest elevation in the Langhe. Like most hilltop towns in the area, the choice of an elevated location by the early settlers was for defense.
The town reach the height of its splendor between the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1324 a Ligurian lord, Manfredo Del Carretto, had an imposing, moated castle with a defensive wall and a drawbridge built. Between 1431 and 1432 the town was elevated to a marquisate.
The castle fell into ruin and was replaced in the mid-1600’s by the present-day Palazzo Balestrino, which had been commissioned by the marquis Domenico Donato Del Carretto di Balestrino, Lord of Bossolasco. The moat was filled in and is today a tree-lined avenue that is known as The Rare and Ancient Rose Park.
In early 1950’s the town government decided to give a rose cutting to all the inhabitants of Via Umberto I to embellish their homes. Now—after years of carefully tending these cuttings—in the late spring Bossolasco turns into a kaleidoscopic open-air garden that has earned it the name Village of Roses.
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Barolo The king of wines, the wine of kings
Barolo’s setting is unusual compared to other towns in the Langhe. Instead of being on a hill, or along a ridge, it sits on a low plateau at the end of a valley surrounded by hills on three sides like an amphitheater.
Also, unlike many of the other area towns, Barolo does not seem to have ever been Roman. The first recorded settlement is of barbarian origin in the Middle Ages. Afterwards Barolo shared the same history as its neighbors—being passed from one rich family to another. Barolo became a marquisate in 1730. The first Marquis was Gerolamo IV Gabriele Falletti di Barolo. The Falletti castle was originally a defense structure Italian king, Berengario I had built in the 10th century. This fortress—along with the rest of the town—was bought by the Fallettis in the 13th century and restructured to make their family home. Today’s castle is the product of centuries of renovations and expansions and now houses the Wine Museum (WI.MU.).
The fame of the town’s namesake wine turned Barolo into a pilgrimage site for wine-enthusiasts from all over the planet—and the town does not disappoint. Every few meters along its narrow streets you can find a wine shop—many owned by the producers themselves—that offers wine tasting for free, or for a modest fee. It’s a perfect way to sample many of the varied expressions of the Nebbiolo grape.
Barolo also has a corkscrew museum where you can discover the evolution of this humble—but essential—utensil.
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La Morra Stunning views of the Lange hills
The city of Alba Pompeia (today’s Alba) decided to initiate a program of tilling the surrounding hills in the later part of the 11th century. The workers established a small settlement that was known as Murra, a Benedictine toponym indicating "closed place", surrounded by stone walls, where livestock (especially sheep and goats) were kept. By 1269 La Morra became a municipality in its own right—complete with a castle. Like its neighbor, Barolo, La Morra came under the dominion of the Falletti family in 1340 and in succeeding centuries changed hands a number of times until it eventually passed to the House of Savoy in 1631 where it remained until the end of the monarchy in 1946.
La Morra has a belvedere that offers spectacular views over Barolo and the seemingly endless, rolling, vine covered hills of the Langhe. The Bell Tower that was built in 1710 from the ruins of the castle stands majestically on the city-side of the belvedere. Down the street to the left of the tower is where you will find the Municipal Cellar of La Morra, a wine-shop created by an association of about 50 winegrowers and producers to showcase their wines. Beside the cellar stands the Baroque Church of Saint Martin, which is dedicated to the town’s patron saint and just across the road, the charming Church of San Rocco that was built in the early 1700’s by the Confraternity Turchini as a votive offering for sparing La Morra from the plague.
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Roccaverano Home of a famous cheese,
Robiola di Roccaverano
Roccaverano is one of the small towns with the highest elevation in the Lange. The hills are not as rolling, nor covered with vineyards like most of the Langhe, but are steep and covered with dense woods. This dominant position on the first stretch of the Bormida Valley made Roccaverano hotly contested by various powers competing for dominion of the Ligurian Apennine passes over the centuries.
You can see remains of what must have been a very imposing castle, all but destroyed in the 18th century. A large part of one wall is still standing along with a 30-meter tall, circular tower with a splendid view.
Across the square from the castle stands the Church of Santa Maria Annunziata. The architecture is very different from the others in the Langhe. Since its building was commissioned by 1509 by Bishop Enrico Bruno, a native son and treasurer of Pope Julius II, it is thought that perhaps the bishop persuaded famed architect Donato Bramante to design the church. The Greek-cross floor plan and the style of the facade strongly suggest Bramante played a role.
At the foot of the hill leading to the town there is another artistic jewel—the Church of San Giovanni Battista. Nearly every centimeter of every wall and the entire vault is covered in colorful frescoes done by different unknown artists.
The Quarelli Art Park, along the Provincial Road 24 leading into town, covers 30 hectares with 62 open-air artistic installations by 46 different artists. Here nature interacts with art in a succession of exceptional works and majestic landscapes.
The town also lends it name to a renowned soft, goat cheese produced in the area—Robiola di Roccaverano—allegedly described by the Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder in his writings from 50 AD.
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Asti The city of a 100 towers
Asti is the capital of the Piedmontese province of the same name and the former capital of the ancient Astesana, one of the "small homelands” that make up Piedmont. Asti was originally one of the settlements Ligurian tribes established in the Lange before becoming “Romanized” around 120 B.C. into a municipium known as Hasta. Through the centuries Asti was the seat of the duchy of Asti, the Longobard duchy of Neustria, a Middles Ages’ free commune with the right to coin money. Between the 12th and 13th centuries it became an important commercial center in Europe. During this period Asti earned the title of “the city of a hundred towers” as the noble families erected towers as a symbol of their economic - military power. By the end of the 13th century, 120 towers had been built. Only about 20 remain.
Asti is also known for its wine, in particular, Asti spumante. Each September Asti hosts the Douja d’Or, one of Italy’s most important wine competitions. September is also the month Asti celebrates its patron saint, San Secondo, with one of the oldest events in Italy—The Palio, a barback horse race that has been held each year without interruption since the 12th century.
There is a plethora of interesting sites in Asti. Parts of the Roman wall that once encircled the city are still visible on the north side. The northwest corner is rich in medieval palaces and merchants’ houses, many with monumental towers, among them: the Torre Comentina, the octagonal Torre de Regibus, the somewhat squat Torre Guttuari with its Ghibelline battlements, the majestic Torre Troyana and the ancient Torre Rossa, built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. There are many churches: the Romanesque-Gothic style Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, one of the biggest in Piedmont, with its ancient crypt and museum; and the Collegiate Church of San Secondo, one of the oldest in Asti, which is said to have been built on the site where San Secondo was martyred and buried. Among the museums are: The Territorial Paleontological Museum of Asti, also known as the Fossil Museum, in Palazzo dei Michelerio; the Civic Museum and the Pinacoteca in Palazzo Mazzetti; and the Alphierian Museum in Palazzo Alfieri, the residence of Asti’s most famous son, Italian dramatist and poet Vittorio Alfieri.
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Turin The first Italian capital
Beginning several centuries BC, the upper Valley of the Po River was settled by a Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, the Taurini, whose principal settlement was Taurasia. Around 28 BC, the Romans established a colony there, Julia Augusta Taurinorum (later, Taurinum). During the 1,385 years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 to the establishment of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861, control over Turin passed through many hands, primarily those of various Italian nobilities and the French Republic/Empire. With the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia was restored with Turin as its capital. The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia led the struggle towards the unification of Italy. Turin became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy and remained so until the capital was transferred to Florence in 1865.
One could spend a lifetime in this wonderful city and still not see all it has to offer, but fortunately for the hurried traveler, many of the main sites are clustered around the city center—Piazza Castello (Castle Square). The Acaja Castle, in the middle of the square, was originally the eastern gate to the Roman city and was modified many times to become the magnificent four-towered castle we see today. In the 1700s plans were drawn to turn the castle into a royal palace, but after completion of the forepart in 1721 nothing else was done. This white-stone baroque forepart, now part of the western side of the castle, is known as Palazzo Madama and houses the Civic Museum of Ancient Art. A sprawling palace complex—Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace)—is located along the northern side of Piazza Castello. This complex, housing museums, galleries and libraries, was the residences of the Royal House of Savoy until the 1946 fall of the monarchy. The western flank of the palace complex encompasses the Royal Church of Saint Lawrence, built in 1634, and a bit further to the north, the Turin Cathedral, which is dedicated to John the Baptist and is the seat of the Archbishop of Turin. At the rear of the cathedral is a large chapel that houses the Shroud of Turin. Across from the church stands Palatine Towers, the well-preserved northern Roman gate to the city. What was once the ancient Roman decumanus, now Via Garibaldi, exits Piazza Castello’s east side. This kilometer-long pedestrian street is lined with shops, restaurants and cafes. Via Roma, Turin’s upscale shopping street, leaves the piazza from the southwest corner and passes through the arcaded Piazza San Carlo with its elegant cafes. Leaving the piazza from the south side, Via Academia delle Science leads to the first parliament of the Kingdom of Italy, Palazzo Carignano, and to the Egyptian Museum, which houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities outside of Egypt. Via Po leaves the piazza from the east and leads to the heart of Turin’s nightlife, Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the largest Baroque square in Europe. The emblem of Turin, the Mole Antonelliana, is only a short distance away. This landmark was conceived as a Jewish synagogue, but when construction ground to a halt due to cost overruns, the people of Turin demanded the city take over and finish the building. Today the Mole Antonelliana is home to the National Museum of Cinema and at 165.7 meters, it is considered the tallest unreinforced brick building in the world.
