Golosaria a Casale Monferrato

Why it's special

It puts the region's best Barbera next to a hundred sparkling wines — Champagne from small vignerons included — inside a Renaissance castle you don't usually get to wander. Free to walk in; you only pay for what you taste.

Programme · 2026

20th edition of Golosaria, theme "Il Monferrato: il gusto, la casa, le colline". At the Castello del Monferrato in Casale, over one weekend:

• Entry to the castle is free; tastings work on a glass you buy (around €10) and refill at the producers' tables.
• The Casale hub is the beating heart of the wider Golosaria tra i Castelli circuit the same weekend — do the castle first, then drive out to a couple of the participating hill towns.
• Programme at golosaria.it.

Golosaria pitches its tent at the Castello del Monferrato for a weekend in May, and the star-shaped fortress turns out to be the right room for it: producers at trestle tables under the vaults, street-food smoke drifting through the bastions, and two headline formats running side by side. "Barbera & Champagne" is the draw — the Monferrato's own dark, honest Barbera poured next to a hundred sparkling wines, Champagne from small growers included, with masterclasses if you want to sit down and learn.

You walk in free and pay only for what you drink: buy a glass, then work the tables. It's the anchor of the bigger Golosaria tra i Castelli circuit that opens dozens of Monferrato castles the same weekend, so Casale makes a good base — do the fortress, then drive out to a hill town or two.

The whole thing is the work of the food writer Paolo Massobrio, who has been at it for twenty years now. Dates above.