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Calosso for the Fiera del Rapulé weekend

How to do Calosso's autumn fair properly. For three days on the third weekend of October, the crotin, courtyards and stairways of the old centre become a route of about twenty food and wine stops, paid for in the fair's own tokens. Where to park, what to eat, which cellar pours where, and how to fill the daytime with tastings, a ridge walk and Sunday's old-style grape crush.

For one weekend every October, Calosso lets you underground. Most of the houses in the old centre sit on crotin, cellars dug into the sandstone, and for the Fiera del Rapulé their owners open them, along with their courtyards. For three days the village becomes one long walk of about twenty stops, each with a dish or two and a wine from one of Calosso's producers. The fair began in 2000, when a group of residents wanted a different way to show off their village. These days the comune runs it with the Pro Loco, the village associations and the producers of the Associazione Crota 'd Calos. The name comes from the rapulin 'd San Martin, the small late bunches left on the vines after the harvest and picked around St Martin's day.

The 26th edition ran on 16–18 October 2026, and the details below come from that year. Each year's programme, map and menu go up on fieradelrapule.it in early October, so check them before you set off.

Before you go: tokens, glass and shuttle

Get these right and the rest of the weekend looks after itself.

  • Leave the car below the village. The old centre is closed to traffic. Park at Piana del Salto or by the church of San Bovo and take the shuttle up. In 2026 it ran every 15 minutes for €1 return, and the last ride up was at 21:30 on Friday and Saturday and at 15:00 on Sunday.
  • Pay in crotin. The fair has its own tokens, also called crotin, worth €1 each and sold at the cash desks in Piazza Sant'Alessandro and Piazza Umberto I. Only that year's tokens are accepted. The one stop that takes euros is the enoteca at the end of the route, which sells bottles of the wines you've tasted.
  • Buy the pouch and glass. You need the tasting pouch and glass to drink on the route (€5 in 2026). That year the price included the first pour and a €5 'Torna a Calosso' voucher towards a tasting at a Calosso winery later on. Glass bottles aren't allowed on the route.
  • Check Saturday. Saturday night is the busiest. From 2023 to 2025 it was ticket-only, at €25 booked online from 1 October with the glass, pouch and 20 crotin included. In 2026 it was free, with no booking. See which way it goes when the programme comes out.
  • Wear proper shoes. The route goes up and down lanes and stairways, and the fair goes ahead in the rain.

And decide who's driving before the first pour, not after.

Friday: the opening night

Arrive in the afternoon and fit in one cellar visit before the fair starts. Fea, about a kilometre south of the centre, makes a good warm-up, because its tour takes you down into the two old crotin found under the cellar in 2010, so you'll know what you're looking at that night. The other easy option is Cascina Comina, on the edge of the village, where the shop is open every day and the daytime tasting runs until December.

The fair opens in the early evening in the Salone Don Monticone on Piazza Sant'Alessandro. In 2026 the mayor opened it at 18:45 with a talk by the climatologist Luca Mercalli on the crotin, Calosso DOC and climate change. The route opened at 19:00 and ran until midnight. Friday is calmer than Saturday, so it's the best night to take your time in the cellars.

About 25 dishes were on the 2026 menu, each priced in crotin. The one to try is the Gran Finanziera di Calosso (10 crotin), a rich old Piedmontese dish of offal and sweetbreads. Around it there were uova al tartufo (8), trippa in umido, acciughe al verde, vitello tonnato and carne cruda (7 each), plin and tajarin with meat sauce (6), the 'Rapulotto', a sausage, robiola and caramelised-onion roll (6), gnocchi al Castelmagno, fonduta with truffle, and polenta. The Alpini fry friciule, squares of dough that puff up golden in the fat, in the Cortile Rocca. To finish, have the zabaione al Moscato (4) or a slice of hazelnut cake. The cooking is done by Pro Loco groups from Calosso and the villages around, the Alpini, local restaurants and other associations.

Who pours where

Each stop pours the wine of a Calosso producer. In 2026 the map put them here:

The line-up shifts a little from year to year, so check the map on the night. Most of these cellars also make Calosso DOC, the red from the local Gamba di Pernice grape, among them Bussi, Daffara & Grasso, Ca 'd Tantin, Fea, La Canova, La Badia, Domanda, Comina and Tenuta dei Fiori. The fair is the one weekend when you can taste several side by side, so ask for it at each stop. It's also the easiest way to try the quieter family cellars, such as Fidanza and Pavia Giorgio, that don't run a regular tasting programme.

Saturday: cellars by day, the big night

The route doesn't open until the evening, so spend the day in the vineyards. Book ahead, because most of these visits are by reservation only. On Saturdays, Bussi Piero's tour leaves at 10:45, 14:30 and 16:30 and ends on a panoramic terrace with at least six wines, hazelnuts and hazelnut cake. Daffara & Grasso shows visitors round on Saturday mornings if you email first. La Badia takes Saturday bookings for a tasting in its old shared courtyard, and Ca 'd Tantin is open every day by reservation, from a 30-minute, two-wine stop to longer sessions on its terrace. For something slower, Adriano Grasso's vineyard walk and merenda sinoira starts at 16:00 and lasts about two hours, so you'll reach the route a little after it opens.

Keep lunch light, because you'll be eating all evening. If you want a proper sit-down meal, book at the Antica Locanda Il Duca Bianco in the centre, known for its truffle dishes and a wine list of Calosso producers. The Crotin Il Duca Bianco is one of the fair's stops. For something more special, there's Ca' Rapulin out on Strada Bionzo, whose patio looks down the valley.

In 2026 the route ran from 17:30 to midnight on Saturday, with music and street performers along the way, plus flag-wavers and historical groups. Saturday is the night the crowds come, so if you want room to talk to the producers, get there early.

Sunday: the walk, the market and the crush

Before the route opens, walk out of the village. A signposted path leaves from Viale Partigiani and runs 1.7 kilometres along the ridge, about 23 minutes on foot, to Bricco Crevacuore. Climb the iron spiral stair inside the little memorial tower for the view over the Belbo valley and the Moscato slopes, with the vines turning colour for autumn.

Sunday is the easiest day with children. The Mercatino del Rapulé fills the streets of the centre all day, and in 2026 there was face painting by the Red Cross and a 'Bubble bike' for the children. The route ran from 11:00 to 17:00. At 15:00 comes the moment that gives the fair its name, the antica pigiatura, when the rapulin are crushed the old way. Remember that the last shuttle up goes at 15:00, so if you're only coming for the afternoon, be in the village by then.

Fit in the exhibitions as you go. In 2026 there were ten of them in the crotin, the library of Casa San Martino and Palazzo Guaita. The parish church of San Martino, beside the castle, put its crucifixes and sacred vestments on show, and the Memorie di Futuro museum was open, with its films about village life and the fair itself. The castle stays private, as it does most of the year.

Where to stay, and after the fair

Book a bed early. Two of the wineries have rooms. Tenuta dei Fiori is an organic estate and B&B in a restored 1860 farmhouse, with three doubles and two attic apartments named after its grapes and wines, and Valter Bosticardo speaks four languages. Cascina Castagna, run by a Norwegian couple on Via Bionzo, has four holiday flats and gives its guests a tour and tasting. The owners have put it up for sale, so check with them first.

Hold on to the 'Torna a Calosso' voucher if your year has one, and use it for a proper tasting at a winery you liked on the route. If the fried dough won you over, the Pro Loco brings the friciule back for Friciula Day in February, and in recent years the crotin have opened again just before Christmas for Aspettando il Natale, with nativity scenes inside. For the rest of the year, when the village is quiet and the cellars are back to being cellars, see One day in Calosso.