Bagna Cauda Day

Why it's special

Bagna càuda, the warm dip of garlic, anchovies and oil that you share with the whole table, is the dish Piedmont argues about most, and the Astigiani cultural association has turned it into a festival since 2013. You book a table at any of the venues on the list, choose the traditional version or a lighter one with less garlic or none, and get the year's 'Bavagliolone', a bib drawn by a different artist each time.

Programme · 2026

Two weekends, Friday to Sunday. Restaurants, trattorie, wine cellars, farm inns and Pro Loco halls in Asti, the Monferrato, the Langhe and further afield each serve bagna càuda at a fixed price; you book directly with the venue. Organised by Astigiani APS, Asti.

• There's no central site: you pick a venue from the list on bagnacaudaday.it and book directly with it, as early as you can.
• Each venue's page says which lunches and dinners it serves and which winemaker is pouring.
• The standard menu cost €30 at the 2026 venues.
• Venues offer the dish 'Come Dio comanda' (the traditional way), 'Eretica' (with the garlic softened) or 'Atea' (without garlic).
• The organisers run a second, smaller round, the 'Bagna della Merla', at the end of January.

Bagna càuda (warm sauce, in Piedmontese) is anchovies and garlic melted slowly in olive oil and kept hot over a small flame, with raw and cooked vegetables to dip in it. It's an autumn dish that people eat together, and every family has an opinion on how much garlic it needs and whether to soak the garlic in milk first.

Bagna Cauda Day was started in 2013 by the Astigiani, a cultural association in Asti that also publishes a magazine about the province. For two weekends in late November, restaurants, trattorie, wine cellars, farm inns and Pro Loco halls sign up to serve the dish at the same fixed price, and you choose where to go from the list on the official site. Most of the venues are in the Astigiano, the Monferrato and the Langhe, but the list has spread to other regions and to cities abroad, from New York to Tokyo. Every diner gets the year's bib, the Bavagliolone, with a drawing and a slogan by a different artist each year.

If you're staying in Asti, look on the list for venues in the city and in the villages around it, and book early. See what else is on in Asti.