Events in Monferrato — October 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 patronal festa of the Cristo, the Alessandria quarter south of the centre: some eleven days of early-October events between Piazza Zanzi, Via Maggioli and Piazza Campora, ending with the grand fair along Corso Acqui on the final Sunday.

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.

Four days of food, drink and crafts from across Europe along Viale della Repubblica: Alessandria's Mercato Europeo, run by the Procom consortium and Confesercenti each late September or early October.

'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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Casale's three-day autumn fair of plants, farming and the green economy at the Polo Fieristico Riccardo Coppo: nurseries and growers, farm animals, food producers, talks, and plenty for children.

Three days given over entirely to Nizza DOCG — the top-tier Barbera grown in purity on the hills right around town — poured by its producers at Palazzo Crova.

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.

Moncalvo's autumn season of comedies in Piedmontese: four Saturday nights at the Teatro Civico, mostly in October, with dialect theatre companies from across Piedmont.

Trail della Barbera is a vineyard trail race at Mongardino (AT): 10, 16 and 25 km competitive routes plus a non-competitive walk, run through Barbera country with the food and wine to match.

Rosignano's harvest festa turns the hilltop lanes into an open-air gallery — wine and food tastings, art and photography shows, music and evening visits down into the infernot — on the first Sunday of October.

Once the grapes are in, Agliano Terme opens its cellars on three October Sundays — start at BAart, then walk, drive or cycle out to the wineries, tasting three growers' wines paired with autumn dishes.

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.

The Touring Club Italiano's Bandiera Arancione treasure hunt: on one Sunday in early October teams follow clues and local stories round more than 100 Orange Flag villages across Italy, and Cocconato is one of them.

Montiglio's national truffle fair opens Piedmont's autumn round of truffle fairs on the first two Sundays of October, with the truffle hunters' morning gathering, prizes for the best white truffles, a market of local produce, the Pro Loco's truffle lunch and historic trains from Turin to the old station.

Casale's river race on the Po: wooden barcè rowed standing up, the old way, against the clock at the town's landing stage, followed by an afternoon of free boat trips for anyone who turns up.

The Monferrato Classic Festival's Montemagno strand: free young-talent classical recitals on Sunday afternoons in the baroque parish church of Santi Martino e Stefano — in July and again on every Sunday of October.

Canelli's winter stage season at the Teatro Balbo, run by the Fondazione Egri dance centre. Contemporary dance, prose, music and shadow theatre play on single evenings from October to May, with a few family matinées.

Two autumn nights in the centre of Nizza Monferrato: street food, shops open late for a notte bianca, Monferrato wine, and live music and DJ sets — a 2000s special on Friday, live bands on Saturday.

An autumn afternoon of 'letture in cammino': readings at stops along the streets of Cocconato, then an author talk in the village library. Organised by the Biblioteca Civica.

An autumn exhibition of paintings by the Turin artist Giacomo Soffiantino (1929–2013), four-time Biennale di Venezia exhibitor, in the rooms of Casa Prunotto in Costigliole d'Asti's old Rocca quarter — weekends from 10 October to 1 November, free entry.

A non-competitive charity walk through Acqui Terme in pyjamas, starting from Piazza della Bollente on an October Saturday afternoon, raising awareness and funds for cystic fibrosis research, with face painting, giant bubbles and a 'cyclamen hunt' in the shop windows.

Two October weekends of Piedmontese autumn cooking in the frazione of Motta, under a heated marquee at the sports field: the first weekend is dedicated to bagna cauda, the second to fritto misto alla piemontese, both served Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch by the Pro Loco di Motta.

The International Alba White Truffle Fair is Piedmont's big autumn food date: a certified white-truffle world market alongside cooking shows, sensory analysis, wine tastings, exhibitions and the World Truffle Auction.

The autumn chestnut festa up at Battagliosi, a hamlet of Molare: roast chestnuts and 'fiazein', the local flatbread specialty, run by the Pro Loco di Battagliosi-Albareto on an afternoon in mid-October.

Asti's autumn fair, one of the three seasonal fairs the city holds every year: on the second Sunday of October around 450 stalls of food and general goods line Piazza Alfieri and the streets around it.

Monferrato wine at Palazzo Callori in mid-October — tastings straight from local producers, walks down into the tuff infernot cellars, and the hills turning colour.

One of Italy's oldest and most respected history-book prizes, awarded in Acqui Terme every autumn. The ceremony at the Teatro Ariston crowns the year's best works of scientific history, popular history and the historical novel.

Calosso's autumn fair, held since 2000 on the third weekend of October: a walking route through the lanes, courtyards, stairways and crotin of the old centre, the tufa cellars under the houses, with Piedmontese dishes and the wines of the village's Crota 'd Calos producers, all paid for in the fair's own 'crotin' tokens.

Monale plays an afternoon of tamburello — the old Piedmontese tambourine-ball game — then everyone sits down to a communal dinner with live music.

The Paglio Ragliante donkey race, with a historical parade, food, folklore and family activities in the village of Calliano Monferrato.

Moncalvo fills Piazza Carlo Alberto with white truffles for its national fair, one of Piedmont's historic truffle fairs: a truffle competition and a market of truffles, typical Monferrato products and food, with truffle hunts, guided hill walks and open churches on the side.

Casale's classical season, October to May: chamber and piano recitals in the Accademia Filarmonica's Palazzo Gozzani di Treville, and orchestras and star soloists at the Teatro Municipale.

Nizza Monferrato's festival of books and ideas: a late-October weekend of author talks, workshops, children's readings and a theatre show under the roof of the Foro Boario, built each year around a theme.

Cocconato's autumn bagna càuda night: the Pro Loco and the local associations serve terrines of the garlic-and-anchovy dip with vegetables, then raviolini in brodo and bollito misto, in the hall of the Cortile del Collegio.

Come autumn, Vigliano d'Asti throws its bagna cauda sagra for the traditional Piedmontese anchovy-garlic dip, with a communal dinner and a walking route.

The touring Attraverso Festival, a culture festival across the Langhe, Monferrato, Roero and Appennino Piemontese, plays a night at Canelli's Teatro Balbo.

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

Late October, Incisa gives over a weekend to the cardo gobbo — the hunchbacked cardoon blanched under earth until it's pale and sweet — eaten raw with bagna càuda and poured alongside the local Barbera.

The biggest tasting bench dedicated to Barbera: over four days around All Saints', the castle of Costigliole d'Asti pours more than 400 Barberas from some 200 wineries, with masterclasses, a historic-vintage tasting, Barbera food pairings, a grappa salon and a walk through the old Rocca quarter.

The Pro Loco throws a children's Halloween party in San Marzano Oliveto on 31 October — the village's autumn get-together for families once the harvest is done.