Golosaria a Casale Monferrato
For one May weekend the Castello del Monferrato becomes the hub of Golosaria — 'Barbera & Champagne', a food festival and street-food kitchens filling the halls, courtyards and bastions of the star-shaped fortress.
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.