Canelli

Canelli's spumante story started at Gancia in 1865, and its UNESCO-listed underground cathedrals run for over four kilometres of tuff galleries, a steady 12–14°C down there. The two-hour Tour Classico gives you four tastings with local products; the shorter Vermouth & Spirits tour (from €30) runs 30 minutes for three tastings and a cocktail. You pass the old Gancia advertising posters and the company museum along the way. Book directly with Casa Gancia.

You head into the woods in the Canelli hills with the Bussi family and their truffle dog, hunting white and black truffles on ground the family works itself. It winds up outside with a relaxed tasting of truffle dishes, local cheese and wine, kept small and unhurried.

Contratto has been making classic-method sparkling wine since 1867, and its UNESCO-listed underground cathedrals go over 5,000 m² deep — tunnels cut as far as 32 m into the hillside marl. The 90-minute visit takes you through the cellars, a gallery of historic documents and the 'Sack Room' museum of old tools, then ends on a wine and vermouth tasting (there's a children's rate). Booking required, Via G. B. Giuliani 52.

The lovers' path climbs gently from the town centre, easy enough for all ages, and you'll come out at a viewpoint over Canelli and the UNESCO wine hills all around.

Coppo is one of the historic houses whose tufa cellars make up Canelli's UNESCO Cattedrali Sotterranee. You walk the underground galleries where Metodo Classico and the town's Barbera age, then taste. Come during Canelli Città del Vino and you can pair it with a masterclass; the rest of the year it's a quieter stop.

This is where the Ramazzotti tradition lives in Canelli, a small, well-curated space where vintage posters and old bottles trace the brand's history. You can buy the amaro and related products on site, and arrange a factory tour ahead of time.

You go up between dawn and late morning, drifting an hour or so over the vineyards, villages and UNESCO wine landscapes around Canelli and the wider Langhe-Roero-Monferrato. A professional pilot flies it with a chase vehicle following below, and there's a flight 'baptism' and certificate at the end — about three hours all in. Year-round for 2–12 people; you settle the departure field when you book.

Canelli's central church: three naves under frescoed barrel vaults, with Baroque canvases on the walls. From the little square beside it, a footpath heads up toward the Canelli castle.

A local Cesarina hosts you in her 19th-century villa in the Langa Astigiana around Canelli, and you cook alongside her — traditional Piedmontese dishes made from scratch, then eaten at her own table. It's a home, not a school, which is rather the point. Booked through the Cesarine network of home cooks.

The baroque friezes and handsome interior are what people admire here, though the building's been left to itself for years. It's one for anyone with an eye for Canelli's faded architectural heritage.

A guided private e-bike ride out of Canelli through the UNESCO Monferrato vineyard landscape — about 39 km and 930 m of climbing, all on quiet paved back-roads. The motor takes the sting out of the hills, so you can look up at them instead. You'll want to be reasonably fit; e-bike rental is separate, from about €45 per person.

Guided visits get you into the castle's terraced gardens and out onto a terrace over the vineyards, finishing with a Moscato tasting. The 'Lovers' Path' leads up, and it's manageable with a stroller; the interior stays private, though.

You head into the woods around Canelli with a trifulau — a local truffle hunter — and his dog, who does the real finding. A tasting follows, so you eat what the morning turns up. It's one of the oldest things people still do in these hills, and you're in it, not watching.

Built as flood basins on the Belbo floodplain, this green riverside park's now where people come to walk, run and cycle. The wetlands and greenery pull in wildlife, from herons and ducks to the odd roe deer, all a short distance from the town centre.

A guide tells the story as you walk Canelli's UNESCO Underground Cathedrals — the town's history since the 1613 siege — past thousands of Metodo Classico bottles resting in the sandstone galleries. It ends with lunch or dinner at the Osteria dei Meravigliati, three of the cellar's wines poured alongside. Good if you want the narrative and the landscape, not just the cellars.

Planted around 1800, this monumental plane tree (Platanus × acerifolia) has shaded Canelli's square for more than two centuries — a hybrid of the oriental and American plane, valued for its broad canopy and its tolerance of city air. The pale, mottled trunk is massive and the branches sprawl right over the piazza's café tables. Everyone in town knows it.

The Bosca cellars are part of Canelli's UNESCO-listed Cattedrali Sotterranee — tufa tunnels cut as much as 32 metres under the town, where sparkling wine has aged for over a century. A guide walks you through the galleries and it ends with a tasting: one Classic Method sparkling wine and two by the Charmat Method. It's the clearest way to see why Canelli calls itself the città del vino.

You ride your own vintage Vespa for a full day, looping through Barbaresco and dropping down into Canelli — home of Moscato and the Underground Cathedrals. The ~85-km 'Barbaresco and Canelli' route threads vineyard hills, villages and cellar country, with departures daily from April to November. You'll need a category-B licence; several languages on request.

Piemontese cooking in a courtyard under big trees, or inside a striking sky-blue room. Every meal opens with house grissini and leans on local wines by the glass — note the one you like and buy the bottle at the enoteca afterwards. The service is cheerful and easy.

In the old centre, the chef-owner turns local ingredients into a multi-course tasting menu — the vitello tonnato and gnocchi that melt are the favourites. It's a refined, family-run kitchen; ask for Juliano to walk you through the wine pairings, and bring the kids, they're warmly welcome.

Coffee by day, cocktails once the light goes — this is a locals' café, with simple bites like bread and local oil to go with the drinks. Relaxed, and glad to see you.

The gelato's what people come for, out on the piazza, with good coffee for the grown-ups. An easy stop in the flat old centre.

Right on the piazza, and a reliable stop for a quick coffee — the staff speak some English, so ordering's easy. Alongside the drinks there are light plates like caprese and bresaola.