A day in Costigliole d'Asti — the castle, Barbera and a long lunch

The castle is the first thing you see, towers up on the hill over everything else, and it more or less sets the shape of the day. Costigliole d'Asti is a working Barbera town where Monferrato slides into the Langhe — big cellars, an international cooking school inside the castle walls, and truffle woods on the slopes below. You don't rush it. You drink the wine young and honest, you sit down for lunch and mean it, and you climb to a bench in the late afternoon.

Morning: coffee, then the climb to the castle

Start on the terrace at Caffetteria Del Peso, one of the old cheap-and-cheerful bars in the centre — a warm croissant, a coffee, dogs welcome at the outside tables. It's the kind of place where the staff make you feel at home and the bill barely registers.

From there it's a short walk up to the Castello di Costigliole d'Asti. Be honest with your expectations: the building still waits on restoration and the rooms aren't reliably open — much of the year you're here for the garden, the lawns and the view rather than a tour. Inside runs ICIF, the international cooking school, so the castle's life is really about food. Time your trip right and the towers throw open properly: Oro Bianco fills the castle rooms in early May with Chardonnay and Moscato d'Asti and a hundred-odd producers, and Barberando gives the second half of March over to Barbera, with tasting menus around town and castle visits laid on.

Late morning: a cellar in the vineyards

Costigliole is Barbera country, so give a couple of hours to a cellar. Cascina Castlet is the obvious one — Mariuccia Borio's estate just outside town, one of the few women running a Barbera cellar here for years. Ask about Passum, the Barbera made from partly dried grapes that carried the name well beyond Piemonte, and about Uceline, bottled from Uvalino, a local grape she pulled back from near-extinction. The new cantina keeps its old historic room, which is the part visitors single out, and Alice runs the tour in fluent English. Weekday mornings and afternoons, Saturdays by appointment — book a tasting ahead by email, it's not a walk-in.

If you'd rather earn the wine, a chef leads a full-day e-bike food and wine ride that sets off from Castlet and loops through the Barbera and Moscato rows and the Fassona beef country, stopping three times to taste. It's about six hours, so it becomes the day rather than fitting inside it.

Lunch: pick your table

Long lunch, no compromise. Three honest choices, depending on the mood.

For grandmother cooking at fair prices, Grappolo Rosso does a proper vitello tonnato and roast potatoes; Anna will steer you to a wine and, on a hot day, find a chilled bottle for the shaded tables out front. For something quietly special, drive up to Osteria degli Aviatori, a little family osteria beside a grass airstrip where Pier and Cinzia send out generous plates — order the tajarin with ragù — and light aircraft lift off past the veranda while you eat. And if you're marking an occasion, Radici Ristorante in Vigna sits on the Mura Mura estate with the vineyards below the terrace; the chef makes nearly everything in-house, the wine list runs long, and they'll build a set menu for a celebration. Book it, and leave time between courses to wander the grounds.

Afternoon: truffles and the big bench

If it's autumn, this is the part you'll remember. Two ways in. La Casa del Trifulau takes small groups into the woods with the dogs — generations of trifulau who explain how the truffle grows, why you eat it rather than hoard it, and finish with a tasting over local cheese, salami and wine. Or head to Tenuta Ronzano, a family estate split between the Costigliole hills and Neive in the Langhe, where Nicolò leads the hunt with the dogs and knows the ground; the cellar pours Barbera d'Asti alongside two Barbaresco crus. Both need booking, since the families are usually out in whichever vineyard needs them.

Then climb to Big Bench no. 18 at Bricco Lù before the light goes — one of the oversized benches scattered across these hills, this one donated by Cascina Castlet for the fortieth anniversary of their Passum. The sweep is nearly 360 degrees over the Montegrosso valley and the vineyards, with the snow-capped Alps behind on a clear day. Leave the car in the square below and walk the last five minutes; there's a fountain, free binoculars and e-bike chargers up top. Come while the sun's still high — arrive at sunset and you lose the view to the west.

Evening: a glass, then dinner

For aperitivo, Vino & Bottega is part wine shop, part kitchen — every bottle on the shelf can be poured by the glass, the sommeliers give you a taste before you commit, and the plates of ham, cheese and antipasti pair straight with Barbera and Barbaresco. The staff speak good English, so a booking's worth it.

For dinner, Enoteca Caffè Roma is the neighbourhood find in the old centre — the same family runs the kitchen and the room, the Piedmont classics come a touch lighter than usual, prices stay fair and the wine list reaches past the local Barbera. Radici does dinner too if you saved the splurge for the evening instead of lunch.

If your day lands on a festival

Costigliole times its year around the table. Come the last days of July into early August and the frazione of Motta gives itself over to the Sagra del Peperone, four nights of communal dinners around the local pepper, a pepper market every evening and free live music — bring a little cash for the stands. On 10 August, the night of San Lorenzo, Calici di Stelle sets one long open-air table across the main square: the town winery's wine, local kitchens, and the Perseids overhead. Neither needs planning. You just turn up and sit down.