Bagna cauda in Monferrato 2026: where to eat it

Bagna cauda is anchovies and garlic cooked slowly in olive oil until they melt into a sauce, then kept warm at the table over a small flame while everyone dips raw and cooked vegetables into it. Around Nizza Monferrato the vegetable that matters is the cardo gobbo, the local hunchbacked cardoon, blanched under the earth until it turns pale and sweet. It is a cold-weather dish, eaten from the end of the harvest into winter, and usually at a long shared table.

Most of the bagna cauda you can eat in Monferrato isn't on a restaurant menu. It is cooked by Pro Loco volunteers in village halls for one or two sittings a year, and the dates come out only a few weeks ahead. This page collects every one we know about for autumn 2026, in date order, with the restaurants that serve it well at the end.

A few things hold almost everywhere:

• Book. Nearly every dinner below is booking-only, usually by phone or WhatsApp, and the popular ones fill.
• Ask about garlic. Many places also make a version without garlic. Bagna Cauda Day calls the classic one Come Dio comanda ("as God commands"), the one with softened garlic Eretica and the garlic-free one Atea.
• Mind the next day. The garlic stays with you until then.

October

• Already over: 10 and 11 October, Motta di Costigliole. The Pro Loco di Motta's Sapori d'Autunno gives the first of its two October weekends to bagna cauda, under a heated marquee at the sports field. Note it for next year.
• Saturday 24 October, Cocconato. The Bagna Càuda delle Associazioni starts at 20:00 in the hall of the Cortile del Collegio. The Pro Loco cooks it with the village associations, there's a garlic-free version made with Jerusalem artichoke, and you pay less if you bring your own burner. Book and pay by 20 October at the Tabaccheria Noto in the village.
• Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, Vigliano d'Asti. Bagna Cauda d'Autunno at the sports centre: dinner on Saturday from 20:00, and on Sunday an 8 km walk at 9:30 followed by lunch from 12:30. Book on +39 347 9170158.
• Sunday 25 October, Incisa Scapaccino. The Sagra del Cardo Gobbo e della Barbera is listed for this Sunday in Piazza Ferraro. In 2025 the Sunday had a bagna cauda "marathon" from 11:00, with the cardoon raw on the side. The 2026 programme wasn't out when we checked.

November

• Sunday 1 November, Nizza Monferrato. The Fiera di San Carlo, the town's patronal fair, is billed for 2026 as a day of the truffle and the cardo gobbo. Recent editions have included a bagna cauda marathon; the detailed programme is still to come.
• Friday 6 and Saturday 7 November, Ovrano (Acqui Terme). The Pro Loco di Ovrano serves it at 20:00 on both evenings, with raw, boiled and pickled vegetables and an egg. Booking by WhatsApp only, on +39 338 453 3421.
• Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, Grana Monferrato. The Pro Loco di Grana does a traditional and a garlic-free bagna cauda in its hall: dinner at 20:00 on Saturday, lunch at 12:00 on Sunday. Book by Thursday 5 November on +39 320 350 4579.
• Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November, Nizza Monferrato. Nizza è Bagna Cauda fills the Foro Boario on Piazza Garibaldi. Each diner gets a personal fornello of bagna cauda, and the vegetable is the Cardo Gobbo di Nizza. These dates come from the Regione Piemonte fair calendar; the comune's own page hadn't been updated yet, so confirm with the tourist office (0141 441565) before you book.
• Friday 20 to Sunday 22 and Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November, everywhere. Bagna Cauda Day. For two weekends, restaurants, farm inns, wineries and Pro Loco halls across the Astigiano and beyond serve bagna cauda at a fixed price; 132 venues were listed by mid-October. You choose a venue on bagnacaudaday.it and book with it directly. In 2026 the standard menu is €30 at the venues we checked, each adding its own extras. Places on this site that are taking part are listed below.
• Saturday 21 November, Acqui Terme. The preview day of Acqui & Sapori includes a Sfida della Bagna Caôda, a bagna cauda challenge, before the town switches on its Christmas lights at 18:00.
• Saturday 21 November, Nizza Monferrato. The Gruppo Alpini serve a Bagna Cauda Alpina at the Foro Boario from 12:30, with music, for €30. Book through the Pro Loco on +39 389 5856331. It isn't on our events pages yet.

Still to be announced:

• La Bagna Cauda De.Co. in Vignale Monferrato, the Pro Loco's November weekend at the oratorio on Via Roma. It was on 14–15 November in 2025.
• The Pro Loco di Montemagno's bagna cauda, a Saturday dinner and Sunday lunch in the oratorio. The last date we could confirm was 16–17 November 2024.
• Bagna càuda in the frazioni of Montiglio Monferrato: Sant'Anna, Banengo and Colcavagno each hold their own, between early November and the start of December. The Pro Loco di Colcavagno is already on the 2026 Bagna Cauda Day list, with sittings on 21, 22, 27, 28 and 29 November.

December and January

The village dinners thin out after November. VisitLMR lists a second evening of the Bagna Càuda Montaldese at Montaldo Scarampi on Saturday 5 December. Then the Bagna Cauda Day organisers run a winter round, the Bagna della Merla, from 28 to 31 January 2027, at the venues marked on their list.

Bagna Cauda Day 2026 at places on this site

These are on the 2026 list. Each venue page on bagnacaudaday.it gives the sittings, the menu and the wine.

• Nizza Monferrato: I Salici Ridenti, lunch and dinner on both weekends, with a garlic-free version and the option of a ride on horseback.
• Canelli: Ristorante San Marco, traditional, garlic-free and the fuller Bagna Sovrana menu.
• Mombaruzzo: Piana, with the family's own wine, and amaretti di Mombaruzzo to finish.
• Moncalvo: Le Terrazze di Ca' San Sebastiano, dinners only, taking part for the first time.
• Grazzano Badoglio: Locanda Casa Costa, pouring Sulin, and Il Bagatto. Both serve lunch and dinner.
• Castagnole Monferrato: Osteria Il Ruchè, with wine from Ferraris.
• Montemagno Monferrato: Trattoria da Geppe, with Tenuta dei Re in the glass.
• Vignale Monferrato: Trattoria Panoramica Sarroc, with Hic et Nunc.
• Cocconato: Cannon d'Oro on Piazza Cavour, with Bava wines, and tripe and eggs included.
• Asti: Il Cavallo Scosso (new this year), Il Cicchetto, La Piola di Garibaldi, Diavolo Rosso, Il Cavolo a Merenda and the farm inn Cà d'Pinot.

Restaurants that serve it well

Outside the festival weekends, these are the places where guests mention the bagna cauda, or where we found it on the menu. It's seasonal everywhere, so ring ahead.

• Osteria Amarotto, Casale Monferrato. Home cooking with the bagna cauda as one of the reasons to go, alongside the raw beef and anchovy antipasti and the breadsticks. One guest noted it came with celery rather than cardoons.
• Monsù Mario, Moncalvo. Peppers in bagna càuda on the antipasti, in brick-vaulted rooms with a tasting menu.
• Hostaria Il Galletto, Casale Monferrato. Peppers in bagna cauda among the starters at a family-run place just outside the centre.
• Ristorante X Bacco, Acqui Terme. A guest remembers Ezio coming round to their table to top up the bagna cauda and the seasonal vegetables.
• La Fenice Wine&Food, Canelli. Runs themed evenings including a bagna cauda night, which a guest found light, with plenty of vegetables.
• Piana, Mombaruzzo. Armando Piana's November bagna cauda brings regulars up from Milan.
• Bagna cauda in the cellars of Palazzo Crova, Nizza Monferrato. La Signora in Rosso serves it in the cellars of Palazzo Crova, home of the regional enoteca, in autumn and winter. Reserve.

For a whole day around it, with the Nizza DOCG cellars in the morning, see Nizza for wine lovers.

Nearby, not yet on our pages

These are just outside the towns we cover, and they're listed on VisitLMR:

• Belveglio, 24 and 25 October: the 39th Sagra della Bagna Cauda, Saturday 20:30 and Sunday 12:30, booking on +39 388 8673774.
• Vinchio, 7 and 8 November: Gran Bagna Cauda e Bollito Misto by the Pro Loco, Saturday from 19:30 and Sunday from 12:30. Book by 2 November on +39 379 313 7297.
• Montaldo Scarampi, 7 November: the Bagna Càuda Montaldese at 20:00. Book before 30 October on +39 371 679 8767.