Barberando
A fortnight in Costigliole d'Asti given to Barbera and the local table — tasting menus at the town's restaurants, sommelier-led blind tastings, castle visits and art.
Why it's special
Costigliole is one of Barbera's home towns, and Barberando spreads it across a whole fortnight rather than a single weekend — book a tasting menu at a restaurant, sit a blind tasting, then walk up to the castle. It's the town making its own case, quietly.
Programme · 2026
Third edition. A food-and-wine festival for Barbera and Piedmontese cuisine: tasting menus with wine pairings at participating restaurants, sommelier-led blind tastings, castle visits and art exhibitions. Organised in Costigliole d'Asti.
- The heart of it is the restaurant tasting menus with wine pairings — book directly with the venue.
- The castle visits and exhibitions are the free bit around them.
- Programme at visitcostigliole.it.
Costigliole d'Asti is Barbera country to its bones, and Barberando is the town spending a fortnight saying so. Rather than one crowded weekend, it stretches across the second half of March: the restaurants put on tasting menus with wine pairings, the sommeliers run blind tastings, and the castle opens for visits and exhibitions.
It's a younger festival — three editions in — but it plays to what the town already does well, which is feed you properly and pour Barbera while it happens. The pace suits a slow visit: pick a night, book a table, and make an evening of it.
The restaurant dinners are the thing to reserve ahead; check who's taking part at visitcostigliole.it. Dates above.