One day in Murisengo — the castle, the Big Bench and the white-truffle town

Murisengo sits on its ridge right where Asti hands over to Alessandria, and for most of the year it keeps to itself — a quiet Basso Monferrato town whose skyline is still the castle tower and the campanile above the vines. Then November comes, the trifolau walk down out of the surrounding woods with their white truffles, and for two Sundays the place is the centre of the Piedmontese autumn. You don't need the fair to justify a day here, though. The town, the two hilltops either side of it, and the wine made on the ridges in between are reason enough. Here's how to string them together.

Morning: up through the borgo to the castle

Start by climbing. The old centre stacks up a hill and the Castello di Murisengo crowns it — the brick tower you can pick out from miles off, rebuilt in 1510 over much older foundations. Be clear about one thing before you go: the castle is private and almost never open, so this is an exterior visit. That's fine. The walls are beautifully kept, and the reason to make the climb is the ground the castle stands on — the old streets underneath it and the view off the back, straight out over the vineyards. Go slow through the borgo on the way up; the good bits are the lanes, not a ticketed door.

From the top of town, point yourself south toward the schools. A grassy track climbs past the middle school — not always signposted once you leave the piazza, so aim for the playground and the lane just above it — to the Torre romanica di San Pietro, a lone Romanesque bell-tower standing in a little park where its church used to be. The path is short but steep and can be scrappy after rain. At the top there are benches set out for the view across the Monferrato hills, and if you catch it on a day the tower's unlocked there's an iron spiral stair inside you can climb. Most people don't get that far and don't mind — the hilltop and the panorama are the point.

Mid-morning: coffee in town

Back down in the centre, take your coffee where the town takes its own. Cabi is the roomy, easy-going bar locals rate for a quiet espresso and a biscuit, and it doubles as an honest aperitivo stop if you loop back later — the house pour is cheap and good. On the main road at the edge of town, Bar del Gallo is the other kind of stop: a small, old-fashioned roadside bar where the owner will make you a sandwich with local cooked salami and whatever she's prepared that morning, more trattoria-snack than café. Handy if you're driving in off the Corteranzo road and want something in your hand.

Late morning: the pagoda church at Corteranzo

Drive up to Corteranzo, the hamlet on the ridge north of town, for the strangest building in the comune. The Chiesa di San Luigi Gonzaga is an octagonal brick tempietto that looks, from a distance, oddly like a pagoda — a tiered drum stepping up to a lantern cupola, the work of the Piedmontese Baroque architect Bernardo Vittone, finished in 1760. A short cypress-lined lane brings you to it above the vineyards. It's a quick stop, ten minutes of walking around it and looking up, but it's the kind of thing you remember longer than a bigger church.

You're now in the right spot for the first serious wine of the day. Agricola Isabella farms organically right here at Corteranzo — Grignolino, Barbera, Freisa and the uncommon white Baratuciat, made with spontaneous fermentations and as little cellar meddling as they can get away with. Arrange it ahead and the tasting at their Canonica di Corteranzo relais takes you into the Bacco e Tabacco room and down into the historic infernòt — the hand-cut underground chamber where Monferrato families have always kept their bottles cool. If you'd rather taste nearer the centre, Profumo di Vino, Moreno Mola's small family cellar just outside town, is the kind of place where the tasting can turn into cured meats and cheese laid out at a picnic spot on the hilltop. Both want a phone call first.

Lunch: the flagship or the pizzeria

Two honest ways to eat, and which you pick depends on your appetite and your clock.

For the occasion, Ristorante Albergo San Candido is the town's long-standing table — hundreds of reviews deep, the address locals give when relatives visit, and the right room for Monferrato cooking done properly. In autumn it's one of the restaurants that runs truffle menus during the fair, so it's the natural place to turn a market morning into a sit-down. Book ahead, especially on a November Sunday.

If you want something lower-key and quicker, Pizzeria Lo Stivale is a proper locals' pizzeria with no tourist act — thin, crisp crusts, generous toppings, homemade desserts and a few house-made liqueurs, at prices that don't sting. The kitchen does more than pizza if you ask, and the whole thing runs at a relaxed, family pace. There's plenty of free parking, which matters here.

Afternoon: the Big Bench and a cellar beside it

Drive south-east to the Colle Belvedere for the view that ends up on everyone's phone. Big Bench #361 — sky-blue and white, part of Chris Bangle's giant-bench project — sits among the rows a short walk uphill from the little parking pull-off; it's barely visible from the road, so watch for the sign past the Murisengo exit and cut left into the vineyard. Climb up onto the seat and the hills roll out to the Alps on a clear day. There's a lantern and a notebook left up there to write in. Late afternoon with a bottle is the way locals do it, and the rows around you belong to the winery just below.

That winery is Cantina Cerrano — a tiny, family-run cellar where Piero and his wife pour Grignolino, Bonarda and the rest at genuinely everyday prices, the kind of bottles regulars buy by the case. Phone before you drop in; the welcome is unhurried and personal, and they'll walk you through how they started and steer you to the bottle that suits you. It's a two-minute hop from the bench, so pair them.

If your day runs the other way — toward the San Candido ridge rather than the Belvedere — make for Bric d'la Losna instead, the natural-wine estate that is part of Cascina Voglietti. Barbara and her family work spray-free rows and ferment with minimal intervention, some of it in amphora. Their cellar visit and tasting runs about two hours for four or more: four wines sat down with their own hazelnuts, oil, cheese and focaccia, and in warm weather a longer walk through the vines and woods. Some guests have turned up for a tasting and ended up staying for the harvest and the big communal meal after — that's the register of the place.

If you can time it

Murisengo's calendar is worth bending a trip around. The big one is the Fiera del Tartufo "Trifola d'Or", one of Piedmont's oldest white-truffle fairs — running every November since 1967, and in 2026 reaching its 59th edition on Sunday 15 and Sunday 22 November, the first year it carries an international title. The market fills the centre below the castle, roughly 8am to 6pm, with trifolau and merchants selling white and black truffle that the Centro Nazionale Studi del Tartufo di Alba checks on the spot, plus a hundred-odd food, wine and craft stalls. Book a truffle menu in town to go with it — don't try to live on fair snacks alone.

Two other dates, if they fall in your window. In mid-August the hamlet of San Candido throws the Sagra del Tajarin cun l'Oca over the Ferragosto week — thin Piedmontese egg noodles dressed with a slow goose ragù, served each evening with music and, on the Sunday, village games and a vintage-car gathering. And each spring Murisengo is the anchor town of Golosaria nel Monferrato, Paolo Massobrio's food-and-landscape roadshow: a guided morning walk, an art show, a producers' market in Piazza Boario, and an outdoor dinner — in a recent year the walk even ended with brunch at the Locanda dell'Angelo.

Whatever day you come, leave with a bottle from one of the hill cellars, and if it's autumn, a truffle wrapped in paper on the passenger seat. The drive back out along the ridge, with the castle tower shrinking behind you, is half of why people keep returning.