Mesmerized by Le Langhe
Driving across Le Langhe is a soul-healing experience. The roads gently wind through vines-striped slopes rising up to 800-meter heights, creating majestic scenery. The place feels different from anything else in Italy- the hills are nothing like the narrow, spiky-tipped hills of Le Marche or the rolling low hills of Tuscany. In Le Langhe they look more like wide, dune-shaped heaps conferring a sweeping grandness to the landscape. Beauty surfaces all around you. As you travel along, a sun-lit castle springs up high from a tuft of white farmhouses; then behind a corner an hamlet crops up lying along the far-reaching ridges of a could-soft hill.
Beauty surfaces all around you. As you travel along, a sun-lit castle springs up high from a tuft of white farmhouses, then behind a corner a hamlet crops up lying along the far-reaching ridges of a cloud-soft hill.
Serralunga D’Alba
Ponzano di Monferrato
How to get to the Langhe
You wonder why scores of tourists aren’t flocking to the place. There is no reason why they shouldn’t, really! Perhaps the area is too precious to have rail tracks, highways, or modernity for that matter. Whatever the case, this lack of transportation is Langhe’s fortune. On the flip side it drives the hands of the international travel industry away.
The closest city to the Langhe is Turin, the capital of Piedmont, but this city is not well served by airlines from Canada. The only feasible alternative is Milan. You can fly there and then head west to Piedmont on a two-hour drive. , it wouldn’t hurt stopping off in Turin though (read more here) ….
Trains can also be an option though. You can board one in Milan that takes you to Turin and after that just make sure you head for Asti, in Piedimont. This little town is at the heart of Langhe and gives you a bus company that takes you virtually anywhere in the area.
Places to visit, things to do
When you arrive in this southeast part of Piedmont you are simply spoiled for choice. The area teems with gorgeous places.
Monforte D’Alba is a village you want to visit. Like most small places in this area Monforte D’Alba is a heart-warming sight. it has all the features of the picture-perfect Piedmont village: the stone houses that snuggle up around the main church, the hilltop position and the glorious undulated countryside fanning out on all sides and replete of vineyards, white farms and hazelnut groves.
Monforte D’Alba
Serralunga d’Alba lies just a few kilometers away from Monforte. This place is none other than a cloud of red-tiled roofs huddled under an imposing castle overlooking majestic, green hillsides.
Then there is La Morra. The main striking thing about this town is its main square atop a hill giving you breathtaking views. On August 25, it hosts one of the most interesting food festivals out here. it’s called Mangialonga (long eating) and for just 50 euros it gives you access to a 4 K hike blessed with food stands from where you can have local gourmet food and taste red and white wine.
La Morra
Another village that deserves your attention is Neive. Neive is a quaint medieval town rated as one of the most beautiful small towns in Italy. It is also renowned for its many trattorie scattered along its cobbled streets, and a wine festival held the first week of September.
NEIVE
Then there is Bergolo, an all-stone village with “Cavea” an all-stone theater that in Summer comes to life with concerts, food events and exhibitions.
Meandering in the silence-dominated streets of these villages is a peace-inducing bliss. You never hear the rumbling noise of an engine here. But you can hear the steps of your shoes echoing against the walls of an alley or the creaking sound of shutters someone above you has pushed wide open. This absence of noise is evened out by the kitchen-staff-made clinks and tings coming from the many restaurants you get there. Sit at their table and have brasato a beef braised in a full-bodied wine, and order handmade crumbly meliga biscuits dipped in barolo for dessert.
Besides, underneath all this land lies the actual, local treasure of Piedmont - the white truffle. Its cost can make your mouth go dry or make you feel dizzy. It floats around the region of a staggering $700 per 100 gr. But you only need a few ounces on your dishes and it is awfully good. All over Le Langhe you can take part in truffle hunts that are organized by Consorzio Turistico Langhe Monferrato Roero.
If you want to give a purpose to your walks, you can opt for wine tasting, in some cases followed up with guided tours to wine cooperatives and to their vineyards. If you end up in one of them, you will be explained that Barolo, Barbera and Nebbiolo grapes are so magic for the area that people worship them. And not without a reason. You will also find out that back in the day they even used them to cure diseases or keep away bad luck.
Langhe, Roero, Monferrato
the three areas in south of Piedmont
If the Langhe has won your heart, you should know that Roero is no less. Roero is an area bordering north with the Langhe and it has more than 250 km trails running across the ridges and the slopes of this stretch of land. If you are an active person, then here is where you want to be. You can test your legs and your stamina in a rich program with guided hiking tours and mountain bike trails immersed in sheer beauty.
Roero
Places, events and shindigs you really shouldn’t miss
Every year a string of events nicely busts the proverbial calm of the Langhe, Roearo and Monferrato.
Asti and Alba are the two biggest cities down here. Asti is the capital of the Monferrato region, a castle-dotted land, home to the sparkling white Asti Spumante. You’d be amused to know that Asti and Alba can’t stand each other. They share a gory past of violent feuds with medieval overlords always on war footing over this or that stretch of land. Today this fierce rivalry has been kind of set aside. But you can get a glimpse of it in the festivals the two cities host between September and November.
The Palio of Asti is held on the first Sunday of September. This, like other Italian palios, is a bareback horse race made for people who are up for strong emotions. All the fourteen areas of the region vie in a series of pulse-racing horseruns in an effort to win a staggering long piece of fabric (the very meaning of Palio is fabric). The race is also preceded by parades in medieval costumes, food events and flag-throwers spectacles.
The Palio of Asti commemorates a victory in a medieval battle against Alba. Alba’s answer is a testimony to their sense of humor: a donkey race held in October that sees the nine boroughs of the city compete to get their drape (a.k.a. palio).
Alba in medieval times had one hundred towers symbolizing its status as city state. Now a few of these still stand looking over a sea of red-tiled rooftops and a vibrant community.
Alba
Alba’s palio may seem a jockey version of Asti’s palio, but the White Truffle International Fair is surely no joke. This is a food festival like others only done on a massive scale. For two months between October and November the city knocks out a whirlwind of exhibitions, live music, historic parades, workshops and of course mountains of food.
The Alba Truffle Show Special opening on November 1st calls in chefs, designers, writers and artists to put their shoulders to the wheel and glorify her majesty the white truffle.
Music Festival in Barolo
Barolo l’imponente sagoma dal Castello Falletti, oggi sede di WiMu, un museo interattivo dedicato al vino e alla sua storia.
I concerti del Collisioni Festival 2019 animeranno le serate dell’estate piemontese con tanti grandi artisti. Il Festival Agrirock di Barolo (Cuneo) ritorna nei mesi di giugno e luglio 2019 per la sua undicesima edizione Barolo and Castigliole d’Asti indulgence wine school Si chiamerà 3IC, Italian and International Indigena Center for wine and food studies e già da questo mese ospiterà circa trenta studenti provenienti da Cina, Usa, Svezia, Canada, Australia e altre parti del mondo che arriveranno in Italia per approfondire la loro conoscenza dei vitigni autoctoni piemontesi e dei prodotti food della tradizione, allo scopo di formarsi e costruire una solida carriera nel loro ambito lavorativ
