Travel
A Wine Journey to Piedmont, Italy
(Part One: Asti)
Piedmont and Tuscany vie for the title of best regional producer of finest Italian wine. Tuscany, the better known and more frequently visited area, has its Brunellos, chiantis, and super-tuscans, and often relies upon the sangiovese grape for its best wines. Piedmont prides itself on Barolos, Barbarescos, barberas, astis and dolcettos, and utilizes the nebbiolo grape for its most famous offerings. Whichever region “wins” this competition remains purely subjective. Piedmont remains the less traveled of the two areas, and probably retains more of a rural flavor because it does stay just a bit off the well beaten tourist track. This article deals with visiting the two most prominent wine areas of Piedmont.
Piedmont means, literally translated, at the foot of the mountain. Aptly named, because this historic and beautiful region lies at the base of the alps that form the border between France and Italy. Sloping southeast from the French border, the steep mountains give way to the fertile green rolling hills of Piedmont, and its beautiful, eye-catching rural scenery. People have cultivated vineyards here since times pre-dating the Roman empire. In this case, history shows us that practice makes perfect, because this countryside has become famous for producing some of the finest wines in the world. Moreover, Piedmont has a distinctive culinary flare that depends on locally raised vegetables and meats and that is, simply put, distinctive and delicious.
Piedmont’s capital city, Turin (Torino in Italian) hosted the winter Olympics in 2006, although much of the actual competition took place in the mountain towns situated in the Italian alps to the north and west of Turin. While these alpine towns have their own appeal, and as Piedmont’s largest city, Turin has plenty of attractions, this article, focuses on two Piedmont towns best known for their proximity to the region’s most famous wine growing areas; Asti and Alba. This month, I will concentrate on the fun loving town of Asti, and next month, the smaller and more serious wine producing town of Alba and its environs.
Lying less than 40 miles southeast of Turin, Asti is easily accessible by car or train. By train from Turin, the journey takes less than 40 minutes and costs $11.00 second class, or $13.00 first class. From Rome, it takes about 6 hours and costs between $60.00-$84.00, depending on the class of passage. I arrived from Milan, and the trip took less than two hours and cost $28.00. Check with raileurope.com for more specific information. If you arrive by train, you will find the station located conveniently in the center of town. Plenty of taxis wait just outside the station to take you to your accommodations. Should you not have a hotel reservation (a very good idea in high season), the modern tourist information center is located within easy walking distance of the train station. Remember that the tourist information bureau only stays open during normal business hours. Telephone number and website for the TI are 0141/530357 and atasti.it. Unfortunately, most of the official website is in Italian, however, if you send an email in English, they should respond in kind. The country-code for Italy is 39.
Despite being a medium sized Italian town with a population of about 72,000, Asti has retained much the charm of its historical past. The Piazza Vittorio Alfieri provides a focal point for the beginning of an interesting and easy walk that will take you past many of Asti’s sights. Located close to the station, and shaped like a triangle, but often referred to as the town “square”, the Piazza is surrounded by an attractive arcade of shops, restaurant, bars, and coffee houses.
At the north end of the triangle (past the statue of Vittorio Alfieri), you will find Corso Vittorio Alfieri. Walk to your left on this street, and prepare to sight see and shop. Considered a wealthy Italian town, Asti has a plethora of luxury shops with exquisitely designed fashion windows that line this street. Along the walk you will pass palaces, churches, towers and piazzas constructed from Roman times up through the post-Rennaissance period. Somehow all these structures blend harmoniously with the modern looking shops along the Corso. I suggest a guide book if you have any real interest in appreciating all the historical sites, because many seem almost nondescript if you don’t know what to look for.
Continue walking down the Corso until you reach the Roman Tower, also known as the Red Tower or San Secondo Tower. Realize that parts of this structure date from the days when Caesar Augustus ruled the Roman Empire. Just in case you don’t remember the dates, at that same time Jesus Christ preached the gospel in the Holy Land. You will find the tower in the smallish Piazza Santa Caterina at the intersection of Corso Vittorio Alfieri and Via Isnardi. I would guesstimate this walk at just over one mile.
Of course, opportunities for wine tasting and vineyard viewing abound in Asti. The Asti area produces more than 70 million bottles of sparkling wine each typical vintage year. Appropriately named Asti (previously Asti Spumonte) and Moscato d’Asti, and derived from the moscato grape, these sparklers taste sweeter than French champagne, and have less alcohol. The Asti area also produces voluminous amounts of barbera, a red wine that has gained increasing respect among wine critics in recent years. Twenty years ago, most wine drinkers considered barbera an over-fruity, low quality wine. Since then, vintners have found that aging barbera in small new oak barrels gives the wine a firmness that allows the tannins and its high natural acidity to blend well together. That makes the wine capable of aging and gives it a complexity that it previously lacked. A nice barbera will often have well integrated flavors of ripe red fruit and toast, along with good aromatics and a dark red color. It provides a good pairing with many of Piedmont’s rich pasta and red meat dishes. Most barberas come with a reasonable price tag (less than $30.00).
Asti provides a great base for exploring the surrounding wine regions. To the north of town lies the Basso Monferrato. This region exemplifies rural Piedmont, and you can expect to see rolling green hills, vineyards, woods and hilltop towns, with some castles mixed in. This seldom visited area encompasses several small wine villages, including: Portacomaro, with an enoteca (Italian for store that sells wine and allows tasting), Frassinello, with two castles, one of which doubles as a winery, and Vignale Monferrato, with its regional enoteca priding itself on wines of their commune. Travel to the south towards the town of Canelli and you will see more beautiful rural scenery, but with a more modern highway. The Gancia Castle sits in Canelli’s old town square. The town (really a village) has a regional enoteca, and has a very fine restaurant, the San Marco. You can easily reach Canelli from Asti in 45 minutes, assuming that you follow local speed limits and do not get lost.
Which brings me to some noteworthy points about driving in Italy. To avoid becoming hopelessly lost on small rural roads, try to plan your route before you leave Asti. Invest in a good map, and talk with someone about the route before you leave. While many people in Asti speak English, once outside the town the language barrier might prove problematic. Remember that Italian road signs can sometimes seem infrequent and confusing. It’s best to know the approximate distance and time to your intended destination before you depart. Also, one should know that some Italian roads are quite narrow, and parking proves very difficult in some towns. Gas prices typically far exceed those at home. Probably best to rent a smaller car than you would if in the United States.
No one in Europe throws a party like the Italians. If you want to experience a traditional Italian festival, I suggest visiting Asti sometime during the second or third weekends of September, when Asti plays host to two remarkable events.
The first, taking place throughout the second weekend in September, is the Festival of the Sagre. An Italian sagre festival celebrates the local harvest. And in Asti, that means the grape harvest for the making of wine. To celebrate, all the nearby communities set up food stalls and prepare very local food dishes representing their home style cooking. Guests may wander from one food stall to the next taking samples of freshly made culinary delights. Naturally, since the people are rejoicing over the harvest of the grapes, copious amounts of wine are available and consumed. Although sagre festivals remain common throughout rural Italy, Asti’s festival represents one of the best. The celebrations conclude with a parade, where town folk wear traditional costumes and ride on elaborate floats. The event brings thousands of people from around the country and all of Europe, so prepare yourself for a lot of fun and a lot of people.
But the fun does not end with the passing of the Sagre. The very next weekend, on the third Sunday of each September, Asti stages the Palio event. For the Palio, each of the 21 different communities in and around Asti compete in a horse race around the triangle of the Piazza Vittorio Alfieri. The course makes for very tight turns for horses and jockeys. To prepare for the event, the town erects grandstands for spectators around the Piazza, and transforms the cobblestone streets into a race track for one day by covering the street with dirt. On the morning of the race, residents from each village adorn themselves in very authentic medieval costumes, and parade through the streets of Asti flying the traditional colors of their respective neighborhoods. The parade ends by marching into the piazza where the race takes place. Italy considers the event important enough to have television coverage of the race. Talk about tradition; Asti began the Palio sometime in the 13th century, and it has held the race annually ever since. I attended the event in 2006, and have never seen anything like it for color and pageantry. During the days leading up to the event, each Asti commune decorates its streets with banners of their local colors, so anyone can easily see when they pass form one neighborhood to the next. While the communities take the competition to win the Palio quite seriously, it’s all in good fun, and violence between neighborhoods is not a concern.
Of course, one must include wine as an integral part of any ceremony in Italy. Accordingly, Asti hosts the Douja d’Or wine tasting festival that runs for 10 days. The last day of the event takes place on the same Sunday as the running of the Palio. The Douja d’Or offers visitors a chance to taste and purchase Italian wines of all styles from all over the country. Although the Douja invites vintners throughout Italy, as a practical matter, most of the available wines come from the Piedmont region. This means lots of barbera, asti, Barolo, Barbaresco, and dolcetto. But visitors will also find plenty of opportunity to taste the other great Italian wines; chianti, brunello, amarone, valpolisela, pinot grigio and many local varieties hard to find in the United States. The Douja d’Or really becomes a focal point for fun and entertainment. It stays open until after midnight, and when I visited, it seemed to just get more crowded with happy people as the night went on. In fact, it seemed like the only place that drew big crowds in Asti after the evening dinner. The event has no cover fee, but charges a reasonable sum by the glass for the tasting.
As to lodging, Asti has many perfectly fine hotels. However, if you insist on Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons type accommodations, you should probably stay in Rome or Milan. Most Asti hotels are in the three star range; small by American standards, but with clean rooms and private modern bathrooms. Many have free or very reasonably priced internet access from a common area near the hotel’s lobby. I stayed in the Hotel Lis, a modern three star hotel that in September of 2006 charged 265 euros for a single person, four night stay. Conveniently located, I could walk to the Piazza Alfieri or the train station within five minutes from leaving the hotel. The staff provided all the help I needed in planning day trips, and even gave me a bottle of local barbera to welcome me to town. I booked the hotel through Expedia.com. Other three star hotel possibilities located near the town center include the Aleramo (hotel.aleramo.it) with double rooms for 130 euros per night, the Rainero, (hotelrainero.com) with doubles starting at 80 euros per night, and the Palio (hotelpalio.com) with doubles beginning at 125 euros per night.
You will find nice dining in numerous small restaurants all over town. The Gener Neuv has the reputation as one of the better restaurants in Piedmont. If offers a nightly gourmet dinner for 65 euros. It is located about one mile from town in the direction of Alba. Il Convivio Vini e Cucia serves local specialties and a good selection of wine. You will find it in the center of Asti’s old town area. The menu changes daily, depending upon the availability of fresh meats and produce. The price for dinner ranges between 27-35 euros, exclusive of wine. My personal favorite was the Oscar located just off the arcade surrounding Piazza Alfieri, under a movie theater. Unfortunately, Max, the restaurant’s owner, informed me that his chef had passed away late last year, so the restaurant might not survive.
When I researched my trip, I had some luck with booking rooms in Italy with venere.com, expedia.com and orbitz.com. If you want to leave the planning headaches to a professional, contact Prestige Travel which has numerous offices throughout the Las Vegas area (telephone 800-553-0204, or website, tripreservations.com).
For more photos of Asti, click here...
After partying in Asti, you should prepare yourself for some really serious wine drinking in Alba. Next month we’ll journey down the road about 25 miles and visit Asti’s historical rival, Alba. Stay tuned…
The Corso Vittorio Alfieri, decorated in the colors of the community for the week of the Palio horserace
The Doja d’Or tasting room
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