Things to do in Monferrato

The bubbles here are metodo classico — a second fermentation in the bottle, years on the lees — made in a big brick winery on the edge of Acqui since 2011. A guided tour walks you through how the sparkling is built, then you sit down to taste: three glasses for €20, five for €25, about two hours all told. Reservation's obligatory and groups run up to twenty, so email visit@cuvage.com before you turn up.

Brachetto d'Acqui is the sweet, faintly strawberry red that put this town on the wine map, and the regional enoteca — down in the vaulted cellars of the 16th-century Palazzo Robellini — is where to learn it. A sommelier pours you through a themed flight: a Brachetto masterclass, an 'A Taste of Acqui' storytelling tasting, or a wider Piemonte line-up, usually with local salami and cheese alongside. Most run €20–25 for a couple of hours; book a slot on termeevino.understory.io, and there's an English tasting some Saturdays if your Italian's shaky.

La Bollente never stops — sulphurous spring water surges out at about 74.5°C from an octagonal marble fountain built in 1879, and it's where Acqui meets up. A guide walks you round the town's thermal heart from there, and themed routes also follow Roman Aquae Statiellae to the amphitheatre and the calidarium of the old baths. It's free to see, and you arrange the walk through the IAT tourist office.

Here you bathe in the thermal spring water itself, not a treated pool — that's what sets the Lago delle Sorgenti apart, over in the Bagni district across the Bormida. An outdoor thermal lake and pools sit alongside a wellness centre, enough for a full spa day. Opening times and prices shift, so check with the venue or the IAT office before you go.

You plan the menu with the house chef, then roll it yourself — tajarin, gnocchi, agnolotti, plus vitello tonnato and a hazelnut cake — and sit down to the three courses you just made. It's a private, hands-on class at a boutique guest house on a vineyard estate up in the Moirano hamlet above Acqui Terme. From €250 for one or two of you, with a supplement per extra person.

Fangoterapia — thermal mud therapy — is the treatment Acqui is known for, and this is the town's official establishment, drawing on two natural hot-spring sources. The mud's prized for easing pain and loosening muscles; alongside it you'll find inhalation treatments, vascular hydro-gymnastics and a monumental 1932 thermal pool. Cures book through the Terme, so confirm what's running before you turn up.

Lionello Rosso makes almost nothing but Barbera, and he makes five of them — San Bastian, Cascina Perno, Carlinet, Infine and Gioco dell'Oca — each cru a slightly different argument about what Barbera d'Asti can be. You taste with the man who grew the grapes, in Italian, English or German, while he sets out Grana Padano and salami and talks through the hills each wine came from. The wine ages in two cellars, a vaulted one from 1698 under the village and a newer one out at Cascina Perno. Message ahead through the site and he'll usually find you a slot, even mid-harvest.

The Cocito family has worked the Crena hill above Agliano since 1868, and Sergio still pours the tastings himself. It's Italian-first and unhurried — a run through their Barbera, from the everyday La Serena up to the Violanda Nizza DOCG, with cheese and salami set out alongside. A little Italian goes a long way here, and the wines run roughly seven to fifteen euro a bottle if you want to take some home. Book a slot through the cellar-visit page or by phone.

Filippa has been a family name in Agliano for five generations, and these days it's Matteo who walks you through the cellar — in good English, which not every grower on these hills can manage. It's a proper tour, start to finish, that ends with five wines poured against local salumi and cheese: Barbera d'Asti first, then Grignolino and Dolcetto, with a rosato for summer. Come in September and you might catch the harvest in full swing. Book ahead through their site — they're shut Sundays and only open mornings on Saturday.

Six castle villages pool their Barbera into this cooperative cellar, and a younger crew has turned it into a proper stop rather than a bulk-wine warehouse. The guided visit takes in L'Anima del Vino, the winery's own small wine museum, and ends with a sit-down tasting — reckon on thirty to forty euro a head. Mirco and the team host in English as readily as Italian, and the value borders on absurd: bottles start around five or six euro, the Nizza Riserva near twenty. Ring ahead to book, and note the cellar's shut at weekends.

You don't have to be staying to use the spa at Villa Fontana Relais, in the thermal wine village of Agliano Terme — external guests can book in too. The wellness area, pools and relaxation spaces come as a shorter 'Spa Break' of about two and a half hours or a full day. Reserve online in advance.

The Borsalino hat has been made in Alessandria since 1857, and this museum on Corso Cento Cannoni, open since 2023, tells its story. Themed rooms cover the company history, the 52 steps it takes to make one hat by hand, and a gallery of the most iconic ones. Everything's in Italian and English with an audio guide, and group guided tours can be arranged on request.

A star-shaped fortress begun in 1732, the Cittadella is one of the best-preserved 18th-century fortifications in Europe. Volunteers lead the tours — usually on a Sunday, about 90 minutes — walking the ramparts, the bastions and the underground galleries dug in the Napoleonic era. Openings hang on who's free to guide, so check the current schedule locally before making the trip.

Cantine Adelaide is a family winery in an 1866 farmhouse up in the UNESCO hills of Calamandrana. They make the Piedmontese staples — Barbera d'Asti and Dolcetto, Nebbiolo-based reds and Moscato — and take visitors down into the old underground cellars, then sit them down to taste with local food. Book ahead; they host in Italian and English, and you can buy bottles on the spot.

Barbera runs through everything at La Giribaldina, a family estate in the San Vito hamlet of Calamandrana ringed by its own vineyards and woods — a flagship Nizza DOCG, several Barbera d'Asti bottlings including the organic "Caval Russ", plus Moscato, a Sauvignon and a rosato. Visits are a cellar tour and a seated tasting of five or six wines with snacks from the local bakery, and there's a farmhouse B&B, the Foresteria, if you want to stay over. Book the tasting through the winery, in Italian or English.

Family-run since 1956, Michele Chiarlo is one of the names Piedmont measures itself by, with cellars right on the Nizza–Canelli road in Calamandrana. A guided visit walks the cantina and sits you down to taste the native grapes — Barolo and Barbaresco crus, the "La Court" Nizza DOCG, Gavi and the gently sweet Moscato d'Asti "Nivole" — with food-pairing formats too. Book online in Italian or English.

The Zafiri family has worked this small mixed farm in the Valle San Giovanni above Calamandrana since 1949, up in the Alto Monferrato hills. Wine's the heart of it — a Barbera d'Asti DOCG plus their own labels: the reds "Dla lùca" and "La Fisa", the white "Garbato" and the sparkling "Vivacitas" and "Ribotà". The cellar's open for visits and paid tastings booked through the estate's experiences page, Valter guiding in Italian and Marina in English.

Michele Chiarlo turned the vines of his La Court cru into an open-air art park, a short drive from the Calamandrana cellars at Castelnuovo Calcea. Sculptures and installations stand out among the rows — Emanuele Luzzati's fairytale walk through the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), plus pieces by Ugo Nespolo, Giancarlo Ferraris and Chris Bangle. The free "La Court Audioguide" app walks you round the vineyard trail on your own; for a guided visit and a tasting, arrange it through the winery.

The Sconfienza family started out making barrels in 1890 and switched to vermouth in 1947, and they still crush the botanicals in an old hammer mill and steep them slowly in local Cortese wine. La Canellese is their vermouth and liqueur house in Calamandrana, in the hills between Langhe and Monferrato. Stop by and you taste the range with the makers themselves — Vermut di Torino (rosso, bianco, extra dry and superiore), Vermut Chinato and Barolo Chinato, plus bitters and aromatic-wine liqueurs. It's a drinks house, not a still-wine estate, so call or write ahead to arrange a visit.

Ca' d'Gal makes Moscato its focus, and its Tenuta La Cova sits in Calamandrana, halfway between Nizza Monferrato and Canelli, across 25 hectares of vineyard, hazelnut orchard and woodland in the Alto Monferrato. What they're known for is bottle-aged Moscato d'Asti and Canelli DOCG — labels like Lumine, Vite Vecchia and Sant'Ilario — alongside Asti Spumante and Barbera d'Asti. La Cova runs as a "Wine Country House", so you can taste at length and stay the night; request a visit online in Italian or English.

Canelli's spumante story started at Gancia in 1865, and its UNESCO-listed underground cathedrals run for over four kilometres of tuff galleries, a steady 12–14°C down there. The two-hour Tour Classico gives you four tastings with local products; the shorter Vermouth & Spirits tour (from €30) runs 30 minutes for three tastings and a cocktail. You pass the old Gancia advertising posters and the company museum along the way. Book directly with Casa Gancia.

Contratto has been making classic-method sparkling wine since 1867, and its UNESCO-listed underground cathedrals go over 5,000 m² deep — tunnels cut as far as 32 m into the hillside marl. The 90-minute visit takes you through the cellars, a gallery of historic documents and the 'Sack Room' museum of old tools, then ends on a wine and vermouth tasting (there's a children's rate). Booking required, Via G. B. Giuliani 52.

Coppo is one of the historic houses whose tufa cellars make up Canelli's UNESCO Cattedrali Sotterranee. You walk the underground galleries where Metodo Classico and the town's Barbera age, then taste. Come during Canelli Città del Vino and you can pair it with a masterclass; the rest of the year it's a quieter stop.

You go up between dawn and late morning, drifting an hour or so over the vineyards, villages and UNESCO wine landscapes around Canelli and the wider Langhe-Roero-Monferrato. A professional pilot flies it with a chase vehicle following below, and there's a flight 'baptism' and certificate at the end — about three hours all in. Year-round for 2–12 people; you settle the departure field when you book.

A local Cesarina hosts you in her 19th-century villa in the Langa Astigiana around Canelli, and you cook alongside her — traditional Piedmontese dishes made from scratch, then eaten at her own table. It's a home, not a school, which is rather the point. Booked through the Cesarine network of home cooks.

A guided private e-bike ride out of Canelli through the UNESCO Monferrato vineyard landscape — about 39 km and 930 m of climbing, all on quiet paved back-roads. The motor takes the sting out of the hills, so you can look up at them instead. You'll want to be reasonably fit; e-bike rental is separate, from about €45 per person.

You head into the woods around Canelli with a trifulau — a local truffle hunter — and his dog, who does the real finding. A tasting follows, so you eat what the morning turns up. It's one of the oldest things people still do in these hills, and you're in it, not watching.

A guide tells the story as you walk Canelli's UNESCO Underground Cathedrals — the town's history since the 1613 siege — past thousands of Metodo Classico bottles resting in the sandstone galleries. It ends with lunch or dinner at the Osteria dei Meravigliati, three of the cellar's wines poured alongside. Good if you want the narrative and the landscape, not just the cellars.

The Bosca cellars are part of Canelli's UNESCO-listed Cattedrali Sotterranee — tufa tunnels cut as much as 32 metres under the town, where sparkling wine has aged for over a century. A guide walks you through the galleries and it ends with a tasting: one Classic Method sparkling wine and two by the Charmat Method. It's the clearest way to see why Canelli calls itself the città del vino.

You ride your own vintage Vespa for a full day, looping through Barbaresco and dropping down into Canelli — home of Moscato and the Underground Cathedrals. The ~85-km 'Barbaresco and Canelli' route threads vineyard hills, villages and cellar country, with departures daily from April to November. You'll need a category-B licence; several languages on request.

AC Ranch is a working stable and riding school in Carentino, in the Alessandria Monferrato, taking visitors out since 2015. Rides run one or two hours across vineyards, hills and woodland in the truffle country between Acqui Terme and Nizza, English or Western saddle. Never sat a horse? You're welcome — a certified instructor rides with you the whole way, and multi-day treks with agriturismo stops can be arranged.

Down Vicolo Salomone Olper in the old ghetto, Casale's 1595 synagogue opens into a gilded Baroque interior counted among Italy's finest. The guided visit also takes in the Jewish Art and History Museum and, underground, the Museum of Lights — contemporary menorahs set in the old matzot-baking room. Groups need to book ahead, and the site shuts in January, August and on Jewish holidays.

Monfernòt is a cycling club out of Casale Monferrato that runs guided e-bike outings over the dirt tracks and vineyard lanes of the Monferrato Casalese. It keeps an easy pace — gentle enough for a beginner, still a good day if you ride a lot. The stop everyone remembers is an 'infernot', the UNESCO-listed stone wine cellars hand-carved underground, with a tasting along the way.

Silvia Broseghini, an environmental hiking guide out of Casale Monferrato, runs Hiking Taste — themed walks through the Basso Monferrato hills that tie together the landscape, local stories, food and wine. Scheduled day outings head for villages like Cella Monte, Grazzano Badoglio and Montemagno, anywhere from 7 to 24 km with tastings on the way. She also does private half-days and multi-day trekking weekends.

Domenico Rossi shaped the first Krumiro — curved like a moustache — at Via Lanza 17 in 1878, and the family still bakes them by hand on the same spot. Walk in and it smells of baking; you buy the originals, the taste Casale is known for. Contact them directly to arrange any tasting.

Founded in 1764 and billed as Italy's oldest grocery still trading, the Antica Drogheria Corino on Via Roma now works as a tasting salon. You try Krumiri in some 25 versions — sweet, savoury, vegan, gluten-free — with coffee, zabaione or the house Ractagino hazelnut cream. It's Casale's signature biscuit, tasted where the town has always bought it.

Crivelli is the no-frills end of Ruchè, and people mean that as praise — one family, a working cellar up on Bricco la Morra, about 23,000 bottles a year and a guided tasting that's all substance. You'll try the Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG they're known for, usually with the Grignolino, a Barbera and the Neos rosé alongside. It's appointment-only, so call +39 339 597 6211 or email ahead; a little Italian goes down well here. Some regulars have driven back every year for three decades, which tells you most of it.

Tenuta dei Re sits at Cascina Nuova, right in the thick of Ruchè country — its Rubidio Ruchè, a Grignolino and a Barbera to go with it, and some wines now aged in terracotta jars for a rounder, more perfumed style. Tastings are by appointment and often drift into lunch, bread and grissini and salami on the table with the vines just outside. It's a small operation, so book ahead on +39 0141 292147 rather than turning up. Ask for Paolo, and ask about the jar-aged Favorita — that's the one that catches people off guard.

Montalbera calls Ruchè the "red prince" and is one of the biggest names in the grape — this is the estate behind Laccento, the Ruchè most people meet first. The guided visit drops into a long barrique cellar and a room of terracotta amphorae before the tasting, and the wine shop's open every day if you'd rather just buy a few bottles. Ring +39 338 735 6001 or email visite@montalbera.it to book a proper tour; reservations are strongly preferred and the price depends on which wines you open. The hilltop pool terrace over the vineyards is theirs too, if you're staying the night.

Ruchè was nearly gone by the 1960s — a country priest, Don Giacomo Cauda, replanted the last rows behind the church and talked the village into believing in it again. The Ferraris family tells that story at the Museo del Ruchè on Via al Castello, in a restored cellar of brick arches and a hand-dug infernot, then sits you down in the old barn to taste. Two ways in: €15 gets the guided museum and a glass of Ruchè di Castagnole Monferrato DOCG (about 45 minutes); €30 opens five wines with a board of local salami and cheese, closer to ninety. Booking's required — through their site or WineAround — and they'll switch to English if you ask. Kids under 13 come free.

When the cellars shut, La Bottiglieria on Via Mazzini keeps pouring — a wine shop and bar in the middle of Castagnole where you can line up Ruchè side by side and argue about it. The €25 tasting runs about an hour: four wines, two young ones from steel and two barrel-aged reserves, with cooked salami, robiola di Roccaverano and lardo to eat alongside. Book through Winedering (two people minimum) and you'll get a few euro off any bottles you carry out. Handy on a day the growers are closed, and they'll happily switch to English.

You stay in a hilltop castle in the Montalero hamlet of Cerrina Monferrato and cook there for three nights, taught in English by local Piedmontese chefs. Groups run to twelve at most, each at your own work station, making regional dishes — fresh pasta, seasonal antipasti, first courses — with truffle and porcini menus once autumn comes. The three-night price is per person and includes your room.

The Bionzo is the wine to arrive for — a Barbera d'Asti Superiore off one hillside, the one the Boeri family stakes its name on. The classic sit-down is five wines with grissini and a board of local salumi and cheese, two hours, €20; step up to "Tra Langa e Monferrato" and it's six glasses that run from Barbera through Nebbiolo to Barolo, €35, because the cellar straddles both worlds. Ask and they'll walk you down among the barrels first. Small groups, up to fifteen, in Italian or English — book ahead on boerivini.it.

A chef leads this full-day e-bike ride out of Costigliole d'Asti, starting at the historic Cascina Castlet winery. You cross Barbera d'Asti and Moscato vineyards and the Fassona Piemontese cattle country, stopping three times to taste — the wine, the prized local beef, the typical sweets. E-bike, helmet, tasting glass and insurance are in; a chef-made picnic is optional.

Cascina Ciuchè bottles the full Costigliole spread — Barbera d'Asti and its Superiore, a Nizza DOCG, Grignolino, Moscato, even an Alta Langa — all made, as they'll tell you, the traditional way, natural ferments and no shortcuts. Book a tasting through the site or ring +39 349 865 4453, and you'll sit down over the Nizza and whatever else is open that day. It's a short hop east of town, Monday to Saturday, family-run and unhurried, in Italian or English.

Mariuccia Borio built her name on Passum, a Barbera d'Asti pressed from partly dried grapes — rounder, darker, the wine that carried Cascina Castlet well past Piemonte. Book ahead and someone like Alice walks you through the rebuilt cantina on Strada Cascinotto, into the old historic room the regulars single out, and pours the Passum next to Uceline, made from Uvalino, a local grape she pulled back from the edge. The tour runs in fluent English or German, weekday mornings and afternoons, Saturdays only if you've asked first — email visit@cascinacastlet.com. The view over the vineyards does the rest.

Francedo's a small, young estate up on Strada Rovere, and they keep the tastings that way — one to six people, booked ahead, starting at nine, ten or eleven. The short version is three wines in three-quarters of an hour; the full one walks you out through the vines, down into the barrel room and back for the whole range poured against local salumi and cheese, an hour and a half. It's Italian or English, whoever's around that morning. Message them first — they run it off WhatsApp and Instagram more than a booking calendar.

Come autumn the Ronzano family take you into the woods above Costigliole with the dogs, who work the air a while and then start digging where the truffle hides. Nicolò leads most of the walks — third generation of trifulau here — and he'll talk as much about how the season keeps shifting with the weather as about where to find one. Book through book.tenutaronzano.it; they run it in English as well as Italian, and there's usually a glass of the estate Barbera and whatever the dogs turned up waiting at the end. Bring boots — the ground's often damp under the leaves.

Vittorio is the fifth generation to make wine on the Madonna dei Monti slope, and he tends to guide the tastings himself — the family's been at it since 1919. Alongside the Barbera and Grignolino you'll meet the varieties they've held onto: a pure Baratuciat white, the red Slarina that catches people off guard. Visits and tastings are by arrangement, and they'll happily switch between Italian, English, French and German. In warm weather they set tables out among the rows; ring or email ahead to book.

Book ahead and they'll take you down into the infernotto, a cellar cut 17 metres into the tufo where the Barbera and Grignolino age in French barriques and big Slavonian botti — a good few degrees cooler than the yard, and part of what earned these hills their UNESCO listing. The Alleva family have run the estate since 2000; visits are by appointment at 11.30 or 15.00, and you can pitch it anywhere from a €20 flight of Monferrato wines up to €85 sitting down with the winemaker. Add a board of Piedmontese cold cuts and cheese for €15 if you're making an afternoon of it.

Tenuta Santa Caterina, a wine estate and relais in Grazzano Badoglio, sends you out on guided walks through the UNESCO vineyard landscape around it, an environmental hiking guide leading. Three easy-going routes are on offer: an 11 km 'sea of hills' loop with a picnic, and two gentler 7 km walks around Cella Monte and Olivola. They'll tailor a route too; book at least three days ahead.

The Brema family has worked these slopes between Nizza, Mombaruzzo and Fontanile for more than two hundred years, and it's the tasting people tend to remember — visitors still name the Volpettona they drank here. Ask for the two crus: Bricco della Volpettona and Bricconizza, Barbera d'Asti Superiore aged in barrique, with a Gavi and a little Brachetto alongside. There's no slick booking page yet, so ring first on +39 0141 74019 — the cellar keeps shop hours through the week and opens Sunday mornings, but someone's often out among the vines. Bring your Italian; this is a small working house, not a visitor centre.

Stefano Chiapello has kept horses at the Tenuta Madonna since 1999 and opened the riding school in 2010; he's a FISE-certified instructor, so beginners and children get taught properly rather than handed a pony for a photo. Once you're settled in the saddle the draw is the trail rides — long passeggiate along the paths that thread the hills between Incisa Scapaccino and the vineyards below. There are two work rings, covered brick stalls and shady paddocks, and the place boards horses too if you're staying a while. It's open daily, roughly 9.30 to noon and half two to six; ring ahead on +39 389 2163452, and a little Italian helps.

Book ahead and the Bertolino siblings will walk you through the estate on Via Prata, just outside Incisa Scapaccino — five wines and a turn among the vines, most tastings running about ninety minutes. There's a choice: "A Taste of Monferrato" at €20 a head, a Barbera flight a little dearer, or a Nizza DOCG vertical down in the cellar that runs closer to two hours for a small group. Tastings are by reservation only, though the sales point keeps regular hours (roughly ten to six, lunch break in the middle); a short note ahead in English or Italian smooths the way. Olim Bauda was among the founders of Nizza DOCG, so it's a fair place to taste what the appellation is meant to be.

Francesco Moriondo wrote down the Mombaruzzo amaretti recipe back in the late 1700s, and the Moriondo Virginio workshop still keeps it. The visit shows how the soft almond macaroons come together, and you can taste them with a glass of Moscato d'Asti DOCG if you like. Reservation needed, and they can host in English — Via Saracco 15, Mombaruzzo.

The Berta family is three generations into distilling grappa, and the tour of their distillery in the Casalotto hamlet of Mombaruzzo takes in the alembic museum, the four ageing cellars and how steam-still distillation actually works. It closes on a tasting of three distillates or liqueurs, paired with Mombaruzzo's soft amaretti. Reservation required; morning and afternoon slots run daily.

A professional bartender walks you through building three signature Berta cocktails at Distillerie Berta, using the distillery's own spirits and liqueurs. Book at least a week ahead.

After a guided visit of the distillery, cellars and museum and a tasting, this hands-on lab at Distillerie Berta walks you through the phases of distillation, then you fill and label your own bottle from the Primaneve line. That bottle's yours to take home, in the price. Reservation mandatory.

Call ahead — the number's on the site — and Roberto pours you through the range in a working cellar rather than a staged tour. It's Barbera country: a straightforward Barbera d'Asti and Il Boschetto, the barrique-aged DOCG Superiore, alongside a Grignolino that tends to change minds and Prima Luce, a Martinotti-method brut for anyone who opens a bottle before lunch. Something to nibble usually comes alongside, and there are a couple of restored guest rooms upstairs if the view over the vines keeps you a second night. Come to taste and buy; the regulars leave with a case.

Italy Bike Resort rents e-bikes and runs tours out of Moncalvo — one of Italy's smallest cities, up in the northern Monferrato hills. Beyond the pedal-assist hire, they'll guide you through the vineyards and villages around town. Arrange it directly with them.

Andrea usually meets you at the cellar, and the only real question is how far up the hill you want to go. Fifteen euros gets four wines at the counter (free if you spend over €80); €28 adds a board of salumi and cheese and a short walk into the vines; the €33 Elite pours eight and climbs to the "heroic" rows the family works by hand because a tractor would tip. It's Barbera-led and certified organic — the Superiore La Pajassa is the one to hold out for. Book ahead on their site or by WhatsApp, and take the morning slot while the hillside's still cool.

La Mondianese (the D&Vine farm) sits on the Montemagno hill and works its own rows of Barbera, Grignolino and the local grapes. A visit walks you through the vineyard and the working cellar and ends at a table, tasting the estate wines and their grappas — and you can carry a few bottles home from the shop. Tastings run at 10:30 and 15:30; format and price depend on what you arrange beforehand, so book ahead by phone or email.

From Tenuta Montemagno you can head out into the Monferrato hills on an e-bike, rolling past the vineyards and hamlets with the motor taking the sting out of the climbs — the estate calls it suitable for all ages and abilities. You can just rent the bikes, or add a private guided tour for a fee. Arrange rental or a guide with the estate before your ride.

Tenuta Montemagno is a wine estate and relais on the hills above the village, and its cellar tasting comes in three routes you pick from: a run through Piedmont's native grapes, a white-focused flight, or a vertical of Barbera "the emblem of Monferrato," from sparkling to aged. Each includes a guided walk of the winery, and you can add a local board of cured meats and cheeses. Book by phone or email before you come.

Tenuta Montemagno pairs you with a truffle hunter and their dog for a walk in the woods around the estate, reading the ground for truffles while the trifulau shares how the hunt actually works. It runs from May through November, so which truffle you turn up depends on the season. Suited to couples and small groups, and shaped around what you're after — arrange it with the estate ahead of time.

In the cellars of Palazzo Crova, La Signora in Rosso plates Piedmontese cooking with local wines, bagna cauda among them — the warm anchovy-and-garlic dip you dunk raw and cooked vegetables into, a whole table at it together. It's an autumn and winter thing here, and the heart of the town's San Carlo fair. Reserve ahead.

Bersano has been going in Nizza Monferrato since 1907, and the visit walks its historic cellars and wine museum before you sit down to taste. Choose a five-wine Monferrato flight (from €25) or the dedicated Barbera d'Asti DOCG and Nizza DOCG tasting (from €40), both with crisp bread to clear the palate. Book ahead.

Alberto Marengo raced professionally before starting Mon Bike Tour in Nizza Monferrato, and licensed instructors lead the rides through the Nizza DOCG, Brachetto and Moscato vineyards and on into the Langhe. Routes run from the gentle 'In Langa' loop (~38 km) to the 90 km 'Roccaverano', which will test you, with e-bike, gravel, road and mountain bikes to rent. They pause at wine producers so the guide can talk you through the estates.

Meet Piemonte runs small-group cooking classes out of Nizza Monferrato, local hosts teaching hands-on in English — usually home-made focaccia, hand-cut tajarin and violet-potato gnocchi. Book through Tripadvisor or Viator.

Piemonte on Wheels sets you off on a Vespa from Nizza Monferrato and you bring it back the same day. The automatic 125cc scooters go on a standard car licence and come loaded with a navigation app, roadbook, two helmets, insurance and parking, so you just follow the route at your own pace. The day loop runs through Costigliole d'Asti and Castagnole delle Lanze; the evening ride takes in Mombaruzzo and Maranzana.

If you want to get your head round Barbera d'Asti DOCG and Nizza DOCG, start at the regional enoteca in the 18th-century Palazzo Crova — over 600 local labels in the cellar, six of them open to taste each week. The same palazzo holds the 'Palazzo del Gusto', a technical room for private tastings, and the Osteria-Vineria La Signora in Rosso down in the cellars. Via Crova 2.

Meet Piemonte, based in Nizza Monferrato, sets up truffle hunts with a local trifulau and his trained dog across the Langhe-Monferrato truffle grounds, usually with a tasting of truffle products after. Book through Tripadvisor or Viator.

La Vie en Wine, an incoming tour operator in Rosignano Monferrato, runs guided vineyard treks — a certified hiking guide, a roughly 10 km loop. You pass Big Bench viewpoints, land-art installations and infernot underground cellars, and finish over a local food board with a sommelier pouring. From €40 a head for three wines, across several themed routes.

RaDe is Raimondo and his son Daniele — the name's just their two — who left Sicily and the city in 1998 to make wine above San Marzano Oliveto. Andrea walks you through the modern cellar and the winemaking, then sits you down to taste: the Nizza and Barbera you'd expect, but also a Timorasso off two hectares of vines planted in the '70s, and an Alta Langa metodo classico that spends years on the lees. It's by appointment — Saturdays want at least four of you, Sundays only by arrangement. Ask about the Sunday that pairs a vineyard horseback ride with lunch at the farmhouse.

Guido Berta might come in off the tractor to pour for you — that's the register here, a family cantina above San Marzano Oliveto run by Guido, Patrizia and their daughter Alessia. Down in the old underground cellar they'll open the whole range, Barbera d'Asti first, and put out salami, cheese and focaccia while you go; no clock-watching. The Barbera's the reason to come, six hectares of it, but ask about Canto di Luna too. Call ahead — it's a working farm, not a tasting room with set slots.

Carussin has been Barbera country for the same family for nearly a century — Bruna and Luigi, now their sons Matteo and Luca, farming fifteen biodynamic hectares above San Marzano Oliveto. A visit starts in what they call the cellar of the heart, where the grandparents worked, and — weather permitting — carries on into the vines with the donkeys they raise, for a merendino out in the rows. The wines are natural and low-intervention: Barbera d'Asti and a Moscato they call Filari Corti, poured without any hurry. Book ahead; they run it by appointment, and the welcome is the point.

You set out on horseback from the Scuderia Serego stable in San Marzano Oliveto and ride the vineyard hills toward Moasca, actors telling the story of the medieval castles and villages as you go. It ends with a gourmet picnic and a wine tasting. Beginners are fine — just say what level you're at when you book.

VIV means "alive" in the local dialect, which fits: Alessandro and his daughter Ilaria make natural wine on the hill above San Marzano Oliveto — orange skins, pet-nat, a few limited labels, alongside the straight Barbera. The visit walks the cellar and vineyards, then sits you down for six wines over about an hour and a half: €20, or €25 with local cheese and salami. Two of you is enough to book, and they take reservations any day but Sunday. It's young and still finding its edges — honestly, that's half the fun.

Aeronord Aerostati has been flying balloons in Piedmont a long while, lifting off from a field near Tonco in the Asti Monferrato. The flight itself runs about an hour over vineyards, hilltop villages and castles; count on three hours all told, with a briefing, the chase vehicle coming to fetch you, and a breakfast or aperitif of local products. Shared flights, or a private charter for two to four.

Ask around Vignale for a serious Barbera and someone points you up to Ca' Cima, where the Accornero family has worked these hills since 1897. Their Autenticità Monferrina runs about ninety minutes for €25 — a walk through the fermentation and ageing cellars, then five native wines with a few local bites. Spend a little more for the full ACCORNERO 360° (€35, two hours) or the €60 vineyard tour that ends on four wines from the Grand Cru selection, Bricco Battista among them — the single-vineyard Barbera del Monferrato Superiore the estate built its name on. Book ahead through their site; they pour Monday to Saturday and want a proper appointment, not walk-ins.

Hic et Nunc is the glass-and-steel cantina you can see straight through — while your nose is in the glass the view runs one way to the vine rows and the other into the barrel room. Start small with Vice e Versa, two wines on the panoramic terrace for €18, or take the hour-long Carpe Diem tour and four single-varietal wines for €30. The one to book is In Vino Veritas (€50, about two hours): the full winery, five wines and a board of Monferrato salumi and cheese. They run themed nights through the year too — star-gazing in August, a truffle hunt in November — and everything's bookable from their site. Your Italian doesn't need to be good here.

A private balloon flight that lifts off near Vignale Monferrato and drifts over the UNESCO vineyard hills of the Basso Monferrato. You're aloft about an hour inside a three-hour outing — pilot briefing, the ride back, and an Italian breakfast or aperitif of local products, with a flight certificate to take away. Year-round, just your group of two to four.

If you want to understand Grignolino — the pale, thorny, gloriously local red most of Italy overlooks — this is where to taste it. The Gaudio family has farmed Bricco Mondalino for generations and built its name on the grape, poured alongside the Barbera d'Asti Zerolegno and the sweet Malvasia di Casorzo, Dolce Stil Novo. The tasting's a family affair, with typical Monferrato flavours put out to go with the wine; more than one visitor has left surprised at how many languages get spoken across the table. Call or email to fix a time — it's a working farm, not a shop, and worth the drive up the hill.

This is about as far off the tourist track as Vignale's wine gets — Cascina Cappelletta farms organically and biodynamically, and is Demeter-certified, which in Piemonte still makes it a rarity. The tasting's usually thrown in when you buy, and you can without guilt: the Barbera, Freisa and Grignolino tend to sit under €10 a bottle and drink well above it, low on sulphites and honest about it. Call ahead before you turn up and someone will walk you through the range with more patience than the price suggests. They're open most days, Sunday afternoons included, and there's no gift shop — the point is what's in the glass.

Grignolino's the reason to come — brothers Marco and Andrea Buzio are the latest of several generations on this organic estate on Via Piave, and their Grignolino tends to change the minds of people who've written the grape off as thin. The tasting happens down among the infernot, the old cellar niches cut into the hillside, with local salami and cheese put out alongside the Barbera, Freisa and Chardonnay; a walk through the vineyard and cellar usually comes first. It's honest, generous and fairly priced, the kind of place town locals send you to. They're shut Mondays, so call or email ahead and someone in the family will show you round.