Events in Monferrato — May 2026

The spring sibling of Cocco...Wine: on 1 May Cocconato's historic centre hosts a day of tastings, talks and masterclasses titled 'Messaggi in bottiglia', with the wineries grouped into themed areas, each with its own enoteca.

About thirty watercolours by the Turin painter Floriana Porta, shown among the fossils of Asti's Paleontological Museum: women's portraits, ferns and the long-vanished sea that once covered the Astigiano.

A free exhibition at Palazzo Mazzetti on textiles and fashion in Piedmont, from historical Palio costumes and police and Carabinieri uniforms to work by fashion students and pieces made by local craft firms.

Asti's patron-saint festivities in early May, which open the Palio year: a night procession in medieval costume and the oath of the Palio rectors, fireworks over the Tanaro, and on the first Tuesday of May the city's offering of a Palio banner to the Collegiata di San Secondo, followed by the 'poor man's soup' in the piazza.

A white-wine event in the Castello di Costigliole given over to Chardonnay and Moscato d'Asti DOCG — over 100 producers, masterclasses and tastings in the castle rooms and towers, with Champagne as the guest of honour.

Asti's biggest street fair, held on the Wednesday after the feast of San Secondo: for one day, from dawn to dusk, hundreds of stalls selling everything from clothes and household goods to food and plants fill the squares and streets of the historic centre.

Asti's spring jazz festival, run by the Comune with the Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo as part of the Torino Jazz Festival Piemonte: a handful of evening concerts in May at the Teatro Alfieri and the Sala Pastrone, with names from the Italian and international scene at low ticket prices.

BAart's 2026 masterclass season in Agliano Terme: eight guided evenings from May to early November. Sommeliers and cheese tasters lead blind flights and pairing dinners, from old Agliano Barbera to Barolo and Barbaresco.

Nizza Monferrato's big spring wine weekend: four days when the town becomes the capital of Barbera d'Asti and Nizza DOCG, with the 'Barbera Forum' gathering 70+ producers and 400+ labels for public tastings.

A weekend given over to Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG — the aromatic red poured by its own growers in the frescoed halls of a 17th-century estate, in the village where the grape comes home.

Moncalvo's patron-saint weekend in May — the Stra-Moncalvo run, Pro Loco food stands, a funfair on the main square and open churches full of Caccia paintings.

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.

For the Golosaria weekend in May, Grazzano opens Aleramo's abbey and pours its six wineries — a masterclass on the white wines of the tufo, tamburello in the square, and the Zuppa dell'Abate handed out on the church steps.

Murisengo is the home base of Golosaria nel Monferrato — Paolo Massobrio's spring food, wine and culture roadshow across the Monferrato hills — hosting a day of guided nature walks, art, a producers' market in Piazza Boario and an outdoor dinner under the banner "Murisen-GO!".

For one May weekend, dozens of Monferrato castles, historic houses, cellars and churches open at once across forty-plus comuni — food, wine and local producers, all under Paolo Massobrio's roving Golosaria banner.

Montiglio's own contribution to the Golosaria weekend in May: a self-guided walk of about 8 km through the hills from Montiglio to Rinco with food stops cooked by the Pro Loco and the frazione clubs, plus a Saturday supper, a Sunday lunch, a local producers' market, open Romanesque churches and small exhibitions around the village.

A weekend for the local artichoke — the Carciofo Astigiano della Valtiglione e del Sorì, a Slow Food Presidio — with farmers' stalls, themed menus and music in Costigliole's old centre.

An exhibition at Palazzo Alfieri of 26 plaster sculptures and 26 drawings by the Turin sculptor Sergio Unia, works from the 1980s to today that he donated to Asti's Fondazione Eugenio Guglielminetti.

Barbera fills the calendar in Agliano Terme — some nineteen weekends of tastings, guided winery tours and vineyard dinners through summer 2026, then post-harvest events in the borgate come October.

A guided spring afternoon ride for e-mountain bikes: a 25 km loop with about 600 m of climbing through the hills around Calosso, with a stop at one of the Crota 'd Calos wineries for a tasting.

Canelli's spring market is built around nature and wellbeing — stalls of flowers, wellness products and local artisan goods.

A late-spring wine walk through Cerrina — itinerant tastings in the village courtyards, food stands and live music along the streets, over a late-May weekend.

A late-May weekend where Rosignano fills the Teatro Ideal and its streets with fine embroidery — an international needlework show, wrapped in wine tastings, art and a rose-themed lunch.

Cocconato's philosophy festival: a Sunday in May of talks by philosophers, writers and historians in the Cortile del Collegio, with a few days of philosophy workshops for local schoolchildren beforehand.

Four days in Agliano Terme built on an unlikely pairing that works: Barbera d'Asti and Norwegian cod — baccalà and stoccafisso — with masterclass dinners, street food and music.

A three-day spring sagra through Montemagno's medieval lanes celebrating Monferrato bread — above all the Grissia Monferrina — with tastings, street food, art, seminars on ancient grains, and a flag-wavers procession.

An easy 4 km evening walk through Canelli, no clock involved, finishing with pizza and music in the piazza.

Asti's early-summer opera festival, run by the Comune with Lirica Tamagno: five evenings between late May and early July of opera, sacred music and recitals in the Teatro Alfieri, the courtyard of the Biblioteca Astense, churches and other places around the city.

'Lupus in Fabula et in Natura', an exhibition on the wolf in reality and imagination, put on by the Fra Guglielmo Massaia Association in Piovà Massaia.