One day in Asti — towers, palazzi and the Palio square

Asti is the capital of its province and the market town of the Monferrato hills. It was the Roman Hasta, and in the Middle Ages its merchants and bankers grew rich enough to build tower-houses, a few of which still stand above the roofs. The old centre is strung along one long street, Corso Alfieri, which crosses the town from the Romanesque Rotonda of San Pietro in the east to the Roman Torre Rossa in the west. The squares, palazzi and churches sit on it or just off it, so a day here is a day on foot.

Two practical things. First, the city museums share a single ticket, the Smarticket, and it's sold only at the desk in Palazzo Mazzetti. It covers the palazzo, the crypt of Sant'Anastasio, Palazzo Alfieri with the Guglielminetti museum in its cellars, the Roman house on Via Varrone and the Torre Troyana. The tower and the Roman house have nobody on the door, so you scan the ticket and let yourself in, and the crypt doesn't sell tickets either. Buy it before anything else. Second, most labels are in Italian only, so keep a translation app handy.

Morning: coffee and the Collegiata

Start in Piazza San Secondo, the old market square, now closed to traffic, with the brick Gothic front of the Collegiata on one side and the Baroque town hall next to it. Have coffee first. Close by, Caffetteria Astense is a tiny speciality bar with outdoor tables only, where you choose your coffee by origin. Plenty of people call it the best espresso in town, and the bakes include gluten-free and vegan ones. Libera Pasticceria does gianduja-filled cornetti and mini versions of its cakes, so you can try three instead of one. If you drink your coffee light-roasted and single-origin, Succoso NonLatteria is about the only place in Asti that makes it that way, with plant-based pastries and juices. Anyone who likes a classic dark espresso will find it too sour.

The Collegiata di San Secondo is open every day from early morning and costs nothing to enter. It was begun in 1256 and finished in 1462, and it's surprisingly bright inside. The relics of San Secondo, the city's patron, lie in the crypt (ask the sacristan if you want to go down). Look for Gandolfino da Roreto's Adoration of the Magi, and for the chapel hung with old Palio banners. Each May, at the Festa di San Secondo, the city brings a new one here in procession.

Late morning: west along Corso Alfieri

Walk west along Corso Alfieri. On the way you pass Piazza Roma, where the 13th-century Torre Comentina, 38 metres of brick with swallowtail battlements, rises out of the neo-Gothic Palazzo Medici del Vascello. In front of it stands the 1898 monument to Italian unity, ringed by a balustrade with lions. There are usually cars parked in the square, so you'll have to look past them.

Palazzo Mazzetti opens at 10:00. Buy your Smarticket and go up to the piano nobile, a run of gilded, frescoed Baroque rooms where Napoleon once stayed. The civic collections are spread through them: Bonzanigo's tiny wood carvings, Oriental ivories and lacquer, and Asti painters of the 1800s and 1900s. There's usually a temporary exhibition as well, and for several visitors it was the highlight. Half a block on, steps lead down into the Cripta di Sant'Anastasio, a Romanesque crypt whose 11th- and 12th-century carved capitals stand among Lombard-era graves and paving stones from the forum of Roman Hasta. If old stones and potsherds leave you cold, it's a quick visit. If they don't, it's one of the most atmospheric rooms in town, and it's usually quiet.

A little further along is Palazzo Alfieri. The poet and playwright Vittorio Alfieri was born here in 1749. Even visitors who had never heard of him have come away wanting to know more, thanks to a good audio guide, the family portraits and the Red Bedroom. Have a look at the courtyard, which is laid out like a stage, then go down to the basement, with its old kitchen, cellars and icehouse. The cellars hold Eugenio Guglielminetti's theatre sets.

Keep going to the end of the street. The Torre Rossa stands on a 16-sided Roman base, part of the city's western gate, and in the 12th century it was built up in striped bands of red brick and pale sandstone. Today it is the bell tower of Santa Caterina. You can't go in, so you look at it from Corso Alfieri. Close by, on Via Varrone, the Domus Romana keeps a mosaic floor of fish, ivy and coloured marble from a house of the 1st or 2nd century, along with the brick pillars of its underfloor heating. The entrance is easy to miss and the visit takes about fifteen minutes. Some visitors feel it isn't worth the detour, but you're right next to it, and Roman mosaics are rare in Piedmont.

Then turn north to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta. It's one of the largest churches in Piedmont, 82 metres long, with a Romanesque bell tower begun in 1266. Its walls and vaults were frescoed in the early 1700s. Pick out the paintings by Gandolfino da Roreto and Il Moncalvo. Entry is free, but the cathedral closes over lunch (Visit Asti lists 8:30–12:00 and 15:00–17:30), so get there before noon or save it for mid-afternoon. Next door, the Museo Diocesano San Giovanni fills what was probably Asti's first cathedral. It holds Baldino di Surso's carved wooden choir of 1477 and pieces from the cathedral treasury, and underneath is an 8th-century crypt built from reused columns and capitals, some of them Roman. Entry is by donation. A few steps away, in Palazzo Mazzola, the Museo del Palio tells the story of the horse race with old banners, posters, photographs and film, under an old wooden ceiling. It's free, but it keeps short hours (in 2026, mainly weekday mornings), so check before you go.

If it's raining, or you have children with you, add the Museo Paleontologico in Palazzo del Michelerio, on Corso Alfieri. It has fossil whales and dolphins from the time when the sea covered the Po valley, an aquarium that recreates that seabed, and English audio guides. It isn't on the Smarticket, so it has its own ticket, and it needs an hour or two.

Lunch around Piazza San Martino

Walk back east to Piazza San Martino. Right by the square, the small family-run Osteria del Diavolo puts Piedmontese and Ligurian cooking together at marble tables, with a few more outside. The braised beef cheek and the bunet both get praised, and there's a menu of the day at lunch. It fills up, and bookings go by phone or into their book, so reserve in the morning. A short walk away, Osteria della Piazza is a calm, old-fashioned room known for its porcini pasta and for staff who are unusually kind.

Nearer the middle, Il Cicchetto is run by a young couple. Their set lunch of two courses and a dessert is good value. Start with a glass of their house-made vermouth and finish with the tiramisu. Il Cavolo a Merenda, a few doors along, is the place for fresh pasta, especially thin tajarin, in a cheerful room with a brick ceiling, coloured sofas and an open kitchen. In truffle season it has done a white truffle menu at lunch. If you only want something quick, La Farcia makes huge sandwiches to order from a long list of local fillings (try anything with the parmesan cream), with a few tables out in the alley. Or eat in the garden of Caffetteria Mazzetti, beside the palazzo, where vitello tonnato and plin come out under the trees. The furniture has seen better days, but the garden is lovely.

Afternoon: San Martino, the synagogue and the Torre Troyana

After lunch, step into San Martino on the same square. It was rebuilt in Baroque style between 1696 and about 1738 and kept the 14th-century bell tower of the older church. Inside are frescoes by Gian Carlo Aliberti and a sacristy full of 18th-century walnut furniture. The church is open daily from 9:00 to 19:00, and if a volunteer is on duty they may offer to show you the rooms at the back. Visitors who've been shown round say it made their visit.

Nearby, the synagogue has a gilded, carved Holy Ark from 1809 in a bright classical hall that took its present form in 1889. A small museum in the old winter prayer room keeps ritual objects. It's usually locked, and more than one visitor has turned up to find the door shut. Book through the Jewish Community of Turin before you come, and someone will meet you and open it. On Corso Alfieri, Palazzo Ottolenghi houses the Museo del Risorgimento, with an air-raid shelter from 1943 underneath it.

From April to October, finish the afternoon by climbing the Torre Troyana on Piazza Medici, just north of Piazza San Secondo. The Troya banking family built it up from 1250, and it stands 44 metres tall. There are 199 steps to the battlements, with a bell cast in 1531 hanging above you. You scan your ticket at the door. Visitors often have the top to themselves. Not all of them think the view repays the climb, but it does reach right across Asti's rooftops. The tower is closed from November to March.

If you have children, book ahead on the website of MAGMAX, a single room at the top of another medieval tower, the Torre Quartero, crammed with minerals, mining tools and scientific instruments. Visits are free, by appointment, and the founder, Massimo, usually shows you round himself. He'll answer every question a child can think of.

End the afternoon in Piazza Alfieri, the big square framed on three sides by arcaded public buildings of the 1850s and 1860s, watched over by an 1862 statue of Alfieri. Every September the Palio is raced around it on a track of sand. The tourist office is at number 34, and the Teatro Alfieri of 1860, a horseshoe of boxes under a ceiling painted by Francesco Gonin, is a few steps away if there's something on that evening. If you want to see the Complesso di San Pietro, it's about ten minutes' walk east of here, at the far end of Corso Alfieri. Its brick Rotonda was built between 1110 and 1130 in imitation of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The complex is closed for restoration, so you see it from the street.

Torrone, pastries and gelato

Before the shops shut, buy something sweet to take home. South of the centre, Davide Barbero has been making torrone and chocolate in Asti for a very long time. The shop looks old-fashioned, and staff hand round tastings generously. Buy the soft nougat and the hazelnut chocolates, and at Christmas the panettone, which one American family has shipped home every year. On Corso Alfieri, Giordanino is an old pastry shop making cakes and biscuits by hand. Ask for the Palio cake. For coffee beans, Ponchione Caffè is a family shop with a long list of beans, plus tea and chocolates.

For gelato, La Venexiana, in the middle of town, makes classic, creamy gelato at fair prices, plus fruit cups piled with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Favoglia, out past the Torre Rossa, and Gelateria Ferrara, near the station, are the other two names that come up, and both are praised for their pistachio.

Aperitivo: a glass of Ruchè

Asti has good enoteche, and this is the moment to taste the local grapes. Inside the central food market, Enoteca AlzaCalici is a tiny wine bar where Stefano pours Ruchè from Castagnole Monferrato, Grignolino and Barbera from small producers. He explains them simply and without any fuss, which makes it a good first stop if you know little about wine, and the bottles to take away are fairly priced. Ask him to pick for you. By Piazza San Secondo, Enoteca La Buta has a long list of Piedmontese wines by the glass at fair prices, served with salumi, cheese and crostoni. Have the Alta Langa if you want bubbles. South of the centre, Enoteca Assetati is upstairs, above its own bottle shop, and easy to walk past. The owners pour from a wide list by the glass and put together a tagliere to match. Some visitors stay on for the agnolotti and the tartare and make an evening of it.

If you'd rather make a meal of the aperitivo, Caffè Carducci is a plain local bar known for its generous aperitivo spread, and the kitchen will make vegetarian snacks if you ask. Or go back to Piazza San Martino for the Diavolo Rosso, a bar in the former Baroque church of San Michele. It's the centre of Asti's cultural life, with live music, theatre and exhibitions on through the year.

Dinner

Tacabanda is right by the Teatro Alfieri: vaulted brick rooms lined with shelves of regional wine, honest Piedmontese cooking and fair prices. The tagliolini with truffle is the dish people come back for, the house red by the carafe is good value, and much of the menu is gluten-free (look for the symbol). You can often get a table without booking.

For a more polished dinner, Campanarò is out at the east end of town, a couple of minutes from the Rotonda of San Pietro. The pasta is made in-house and comes with truffle, and the wine list is long, so let the staff choose a bottle for you. They're good at it, and you can buy what you liked to take home. Visitors keep coming back to how attentive the service is. Le Teste di Rapa plays with local food. Its "Piedmontese sushi" is smoked raw beef on rice with fig jam, the beef agnolotti are very good, and there's an English menu and a shaded terrace out on the square. La Piola di Garibaldi is the place for a big mixed plate of Piedmontese antipasti, with anchovies in green sauce and vitello tonnato. Book, because it gets slow when it's full. For pizza, Vicolo Battisti has tables on a quiet lane off one of the main squares, an excellent dough, and dry-aged steaks and truffle dishes for anyone who doesn't want pizza.

For a special night, book Volli, in an old palazzo south of the centre. Chef Marco Toso sends out small, finely balanced plates that give local flavours a modern twist, and the sourdough bread is excellent. Expect to pay €60 a head or more. Angolo del Beato is the more classic choice, with white tablecloths against old brick, a list of over 400 wines, staff who know it well and like explaining it, and white truffle pasta in season.

On the edge of town

With a car, or a taxi, you can spend half the day in the vineyards that start where the city ends. Three kilometres north, on the Viatosto hill, I Bugianen is a modern trattoria with a terrace looking over the vineyard hills, easy parking and careful traditional cooking. It's good with children. Book, and if it's sunny, ask for shade. A few hundred metres away, La Torre di Viatosto is a young organic estate below the hill's Romanesque church. Rosalba started it with her husband Vittorio Vallarino Gancia, of the sparkling-wine family. Its tasting, €30 a head and booked online, is built around 'Cuvée Vittorio', a rosé Metodo Classico from Nebbiolo. On weekday and Saturday mornings, the farm shop of La Favorita, the teaching farm of the city's agricultural school on the same hill, sells wines made with its students, with labels like 'Primo giorno di scuola', the first day of school.

North of town, at Portacomaro Stazione, the Caldera family of Vini Caldera has made wine for four generations, and Ruchè is their main grape. Their 'Prevost' won Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri in the 2024 guide. The basic cellar visit and tasting costs €20 a head for four wines in about an hour, or €25 with salumi and cheese. Book by phone or email. Visitors who don't speak Italian say they managed fine in English. South of the city, at San Marzanotto, Rovero makes organic wine and distils its own grappa in a bain-marie still, and its two-hour tour takes in the cellar, the distillery and the beehives, booked through the family's agriturismo, Il Milin.

If you'd rather someone else did the planning, the tourist board's guided walk of medieval Asti leaves the tourist office in Piazza Alfieri, mostly on Sunday and Monday mornings from April to mid-December. It costs €10 and the guide speaks Italian and English. Sentieri Gastronomici's four-hour food and wine walk goes through the old shops, with a glass in Palazzo Gazelli and Fassona tartare in the old Jewish quarter. And for a hands-on afternoon, a Cesarina cooking class a few minutes out of town teaches you to make the Asti version of agnolotti from the hosts' grandmothers' recipe, then sits you down to eat them.

Picking your day

On Wednesday and Saturday mornings the town market, around 240 stalls, fills Piazza Campo del Palio, Piazza Libertà and Largo Saracco. On the fourth Sunday of every month the antiques market sets out about 150 stalls in Piazza Alfieri, and on the second Saturday of the month from March to December there's the organic BioAgroArte market in Piazza Statuto. September is Asti's big month, with the Palio, the Festival delle Sagre and the Douja d'Or one after another. Don't plan a quiet museum day on Palio Sunday, when Piazza Alfieri becomes a racetrack and the centre fills with crowds. The season from September to Christmas has its own guide: Asti in autumn.