Events in Monferrato — September 2026

An exhibition of drawings by Antonio Guarene about Asti and its Palio, at the Museo del Palio in Palazzo Mazzola, open from June 2026 to May 2027.

The touring Attraverso Festival — a summer culture festival across the Langhe, Monferrato, Roero and Appennino Piemontese — stops in Nizza's main square for a couple of late-summer evenings of comedy and talk.

Food stands, live music and shows take over Piazza San Bartolomeo in Castagnole delle Lanze across several days.

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.

'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.

A summer contemporary-art show in Agliano Terme — 'NININ - Sangue del Vostro Sangue' by Gioele Sasha Staltari, on from the start of August through mid-September.

A Tuesday-night summer party out among the wheat fields on the edge of Nizza — street food from eight, a different local winery pouring each week, and a DJ set under the stars from half ten.

Antignano's sagra pairs eel with friciula — fried dough — at Piedmontese food stands each evening, with live music to follow.

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.

Cocconato's wine festival: for a weekend in early September the wineries of Cocconato and the Riviera del Monferrato pour along a 'strada del vino' from Piazza Giordano through Piazza Cavour and down Via Roma, with food stands and typical produce.

Canelli's early-September drinks weekend — Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza Zoppa fill with cocktail and beer stands, food trucks and a DJ, Friday and Saturday nights until two, Sunday from lunch.

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.

A late-summer municipal festival in Montemagno — three evenings of live music, a DJ set and dialect theatre under the stars in and around Piazza San Martino.

Alessandria's comics, cosplay, gaming and pop-culture festival, held each early September inside the star-shaped Cittadella — exhibitor stalls, guests, cosplay, workshops and panels for all ages.

A team puzzle-walk around Molare: 3.5 km of easy trail with riddle stations along the way, scored as you go, finishing with a Pro Loco aperitivo dinner.

A September weekend when about twenty Pro Loco from the Acquese and Astigiano take over Acqui's pedestrian old town with food stands, a regional wine show and the traditional Palio del Brentau water-carriers' race.

Molare's date in 'L'Altro Monferrato', the touring late-summer theatre festival that crosses the Apennines between Piedmont and Liguria — in 2026, an open-air evening with Moni Ovadia in Piazza del Comune.

On selected weekends from early summer to early October, Calosso opens its village museum 'Memorie di Futuro' and a set of crotin, the cellars cut into the tufa under the old houses, with a welcome glass of Moscato or Calosso DOC and the panoramic stairways up to the castle park.

A Piedmontese-dialect theatre festival at the Palamenta in Piovà Massaia, on the first Saturday of each month from June to October.

Canelli's theatre season stretches into summer, run by the Fondazione Egri, carrying contemporary dance and theatre out of the Teatro Balbo and into venues across town.

Asti's bareback horse race, first recorded in 1275: on the first Sunday of September 21 riders for the city's districts and the towns of the province race round Piazza Alfieri, after a costumed procession of 1,200 people through the old centre.

Asti's ten-day wine festival every September, held since 1967: tastings, masterclasses, talks and food pairings spread through the squares and palazzi of the old centre, with Piedmont's wine consorzi and producers pouring.

Cocconato's patronal festa for Santi Fausto e Felice: evenings of Pro Loco food stands and concerts in Piazza Giordano, a Sunday dinner in the Cortile del Collegio, and the Fiera Patronale market on the Monday.

A month of diffuse contemporary art across the Basso Monferrato each autumn — some 60 artists in 29 venues over 18 comuni, with Castagnole Monferrato hosting the final show of the Selva Art Prize for under-40 artists.

An international painting competition and exhibition staged each autumn in the castle of Costigliole d'Asti — the 2026 edition, 'Rosso di Terra', hung through the castle rooms on September and October weekends.

One weekend in September when around thirty village Pro Loco from the province of Asti cook their own dishes side by side in a mock village on Piazza Campo del Palio, with a Sunday-morning parade of thousands of people in period costume acting out the country life of a century ago.

Three June evenings of headline jazz under the concrete shell of the Paraboloide in Casale, with the festival spilling out across the Monferrato hills through the summer.

On three September Sundays, the Piana winery in Mombaruzzo turns the grape harvest into a morning for families — children pick with the growers, then the day carries on among the vines.

A booked lunchtime picnic among the vines at the Barbatella estate above Nizza Monferrato — a hamper of local food with the winery's own Nizza DOCG and Barbera, laid out in the vineyard.

Molare's grape-harvest afternoon on a mid-September Sunday: music and costumes of the old vendemmia in the Oratorio courtyard, a merenda of frittelle and farinata, and doorways, balconies and gardens across the village dressed on a harvest-and-autumn theme.

Every two years, Bra's fills the historic centre of Bra (Roero) — a gastronomy festival for Salsiccia di Bra sausage, plus cheese, bread and rice.

Casale's big harvest wine festival, spread over two September weekends in Piazza Castello — dozens of Pro Loco kitchens, thirty Monferrato producers pouring, and a pyromusical show over the castle.

Acqui's September harvest weekend: marching bands parading through the centre, band concerts, Monferrato food and wine stands, DJ sets and a grape-stomping contest to close it out.

Cascina la Barbatella's harvest party above Nizza Monferrato — the Fraschette dei Castelli Romani brought to the vineyard for street food from Sora Lella's Roman recipes, poured with the estate's own Nizza DOCG and Barbera. Free entry.

Right in the heart of Canelli, a September harvest festival fills the streets — food and wine stalls, folk music and dancing, old-crafts demonstrations, and the traditional "cantè j'euv" through the piazzas.

The medieval fair that opens Cocconato's Palio fortnight: the borghi turn Via Roma into a torch-lit market of taverns, old trades and street performers, with medieval-style dishes served in earthenware.

A September weekend market fair through the streets and squares of central Alessandria, named after Gagliaudo, the peasant of the city's medieval foundation legend — dozens of stalls, discounted goods and street food.

Sipario takes over San Damiano d'Asti with street theatre, music and buskers, plus a market, typical local dishes and wines from the town's Enoteca.

Tonco's one-day farm fair on the third Sunday of September: free guided visits to the village's farms and livestock, vintage cars and tractors, a market of local products, pony rides, children's workshops and the Pro Loco kitchen.

Canelli's sports clubs set up around town for a day and let kids have a go at whatever they run.

A late-September festival about Asti in the Middle Ages, run by the Comune since 2024: lectures and conferences with historians, exhibitions, concerts and guided walks through medieval Asti, mostly in the Complesso di San Pietro and all free.

The Accademia di Cultura Nicese L'Erca's autumn classical concert season: Friday evenings of chamber music in the Auditorium Santissima Trinità, a deconsecrated church in the centre of Nizza Monferrato.

The Festa Nazionale del PleinAir, the camper travellers' weekend run by the Bandiera Arancione towns and PleinAir magazine. Cocconato takes part on the last weekend of September, which is also Palio weekend.

A month-long autumn culture festival across Alessandria: cinema, theatre, music, books, talks and workshops in venues around the city, mixing 'high' and 'pop' culture with national guests. The 2026 edition, the third, is built around Umberto Eco, born in Alessandria.

A late-September weekend of poetry, performance, music and street art in Agliano Terme, held in memory of the local poet and performer Ivan Fassio. Each edition adds a new mural with his verses to the town's walls.

Cocconato's donkey palio, raced since 1970 on a Sunday in late September: the borghi parade in medieval costume behind an ox-drawn carroccio, then run their donkeys uphill from Piazza Giordano to Piazza Cavour and back down through the old streets.

Franco Semenzin's vintage board games, postwar to the 1980s, shown at the Associazione Culturale Retrò in Viarigi.

An autumn solo show at BAart in Agliano Terme. 'Sarah's Ark' by the Italian-British artist Sarah Bowyer shows twelve works on fabric, a contemporary Noah's Ark of exotic animals, carnivorous flowers and a mysterious female figure. Free entry.

A non-competitive food-and-wine walk through the vineyards and pepper fields of Motta di Costigliole — a 14 km route of staged tastings pairing the local Peperone Quadrato and Barbera d'Asti with Piedmontese dishes, on foot or by shuttle bus.