Cocconato

Cocconato's town hall is a rare piece of Gothic civic architecture in Piedmont: a 15th-century brick palazzo whose pointed-arch porticoes follow the line of Via Roma, its tall windows framed in decorated terracotta. Behind it lies the Cortile del Collegio, named after a grammar school founded here in 1754. At Christmas the floodlit façade is the backdrop to nativity scenes set up around the village.

Cocchi has been one of the main backers of the Alta Langa DOCG, Piedmont's bottle-fermented sparkling wine, and this tasting is built around it. A guided walk through the historic cellar leads to the Pupitres Room, the riddling-rack room kept for Cocchi's Alta Langa. In the tasting room you then choose between three Alta Langa (about 1h30) or five (about two hours). Book through the Bava/Cocchi request form in Cocconato.

The round, crenellated brick tower on the summit is Cocconato's skyline landmark. It stands on the site of the Radicati counts' castle, destroyed by the French in 1556: the surviving medieval tower carried a Napoleonic optical telegraph, was pulled down in 1836 for a windmill, whose tower later became part of a private home, Villa Pia. It opens only on rare occasions, so it is admired from the lanes below.

Giulio Cocchi was a Florentine pastry cook who set up in Asti in 1891 and made his name with vermouth, Barolo Chinato and the Americano aperitivo. Since 1978 the house has belonged to the Bava family, and this tasting takes place at their cellars in Cocconato. You walk through the cellar and the Botanical Library, the collection behind the recipes, then taste four Cocchi vermouths and aromatised wines, with some time on how bartenders mix them. It takes about an hour and a half. Request a date through the Bava booking form and pick "Cocchi, Vermouths and Aperitivi".

An oversized orange bench from Chris Bangle's Big Bench Community Project, just off the road from Piova Massaia, looking back to Cocconato on its hilltop and, on clear days, the Alps. It is well kept and dressed up for Easter and Christmas, with a phone stand for selfies; parking on the narrow lane is limited.

Hub Casa Bacolla is a cooking and events space on Vicolo Goito, in Cocconato's historic centre. Its hands-on classes cover fresh pasta, risotto, gnocchi, finger food and vegetarian cooking. There are also courses on bread and sourdough, pizza and focaccia, pastry, and panettone and colomba, plus separate classes for children. Classes run for private parties or small groups, in more than one language. Check the course calendar on the site, or email the hub to ask for dates or a course built around your group.

The parish church crowns the top of the village, a massive red-brick building reached on foot up the cobbled lane past the town hall. Inside, a single frescoed nave opens onto eight side chapels; the 1731 altarpiece by Vitaliano Grassi includes the oldest known view of Cocconato, and the church also hosts concerts.

Poggio Ridente rents e-bikes with a GPS-marked route that runs through its own vineyards and out to the viewpoints around Cocconato, so you can ride the hills without a guide. Take the bike for half a day or a full day. Either way the ride ends back at the farm with the basic tasting, three wines or two and a vermouth, and a board of local products. Half day from €50 per person, booked online.

Cocconato's original parish church stands alone on a vineyard hilltop east of the village; first recorded in 1250, its origins have been traced by excavation to around the 10th century. The little church is usually locked, but the setting is the draw: a full-circle view over the Monferrato hills, at its best at sunset, reached by road or on a footpath through fields and woods.

The Bava family built its first cellar in Cocconato in 1911, and six generations on it farms about fifty hectares across Monferrato and the Langa. Every visit starts down in the historic cellars and the barrel room before moving up to the tasting room. The Classic format pours a Martinotti-method sparkler, two reds and a vermouth; "Story of Monferrato" swaps those for four estate wines, one of them a long-aged red; and "Piedmont's Finest" spends two hours on the best vintages of Bava's five flagship wines. Send a request through the form on the winery's site. The cellar receives visitors seven days a week, and can also put together verticals or old family-reserve vintages served with cheese.

A forest park just outside the village, created to showcase the native plants and wildlife of the Monferrato hills. A signposted woodland loop with labelled plants links three timber shelters — one beside a small pond with a picnic table, another a panoramic lookout. Some stretches climb steeply, and mosquitoes can bite in summer.

Poggio Ridente is a small organic farm on the edge of Cocconato, with a panoramic terrace over its Vallìa vineyard of Barbera d'Asti. The basic tasting takes about an hour: three wines, or two plus the farm's own vermouth, with a board of local products. Add a guided walk along the Vallìa rows first and it runs to 1h45. The Premium tasting gives two hours to six wines with the family winemaker, Luigi Dezzani, matched with Cocconato specialities (in Italian or French only). All formats are booked online through the calendar on the winery's site.

From Piazza Cavour — still called 'Ponte' by locals, after the castle's old drawbridge — Via Roma climbs through the village on stone paving lined with wrought-iron balconies and carved doors. Along the way stand the 17th-century Santissima Trinità church with its arcaded side portico, an 18th-century pharmacy (now a shop) that keeps its original fittings, and the Gothic Palazzo Comunale; a cobbled ramp then continues up to the parish church.

An evening picnic set up for you in the hills around the Poggio Ridente vineyards, timed for sunset. You get three traditional Monferrato dishes paired with the farm's organic wines, and the whole thing lasts about three and a half hours. €37 per person; dates and booking are on the winery's online calendar.

Dezzani has made wine in Cocconato since 1934 and now sells in about fifty countries, backed by the Rocca family and the Villa Rivalta growers' cooperative. Its "Dezzani Wine Experience" is a cellar visit that ends in the old tavernetta set in the middle of the barrique cellar, where you taste the house wines. The range runs from Barbera d'Asti and Albarossa to Barolo and an Alta Langa. No price or fixed times are published: contact the winery to arrange a visit.

From October to March, Bava pairs its cellar visit with a truffle search in the woods around the estate, led by a local trifolau. After the hunt you tour the historic cellars and the barrel room, then sit down to a guided tasting of three Bava wines with a taste of whatever truffles turned up. Allow about three hours. The outing depends on the weather and on what the ground is producing that week, so count any find as a bonus. Book through the winery's request form.

A beautician gives you a face and hand treatment out in the vineyard, or under the farm's heated pergola. The products are from Poliphenolia, a cosmetics line made from grape marc. Afterwards you get the basic tasting of the farm's organic wines with a board of local products. About an hour and a half, €55 per person, offered in Italian and English and booked online.

Chef Alessia Rolla turns Piedmontese produce into refined meat, fish and chef's tasting menus, plated with precision and paired with the estate's own wines. The dining room is elegant and the service warm and attentive, making it a natural choice for a special-occasion dinner.

Wines from the family's own nearby vineyards anchor a strong list at this warm, well-run restaurant in the middle of town. The menu runs from pasta and slow-cooked beef to pizza, and the friendly, attentive staff make it an easy choice for lunch or dinner.

On the main square, this osteria cooks Monferrato classics in generous portions at fair prices, with raw-beef albese and several versions of agnolotti among the favourites. The wine and spirits list runs to vermouth and Barolo Chinato, the welcome is cheerful, and booking is wise, as service slows when the room fills.

A cosy, modern pizzeria with a light dough and quality, almost gourmet toppings, plus burgers and a few other dishes. Prices are fair for what arrives, and the service is friendly, if not always quick when it gets busy.

A wood-fired pizzeria with light, Neapolitan-style pizzas on house-made dough, plus farinata and gnocco fritto with local prosciutto. Good beers and local liqueurs round things out; the young team is warm and welcoming, though busy evenings can mean a long wait.

A tasting terrace high above the family's own vineyards, with wide, open views over the Monferrato hills. The winemaking family pours the estate's wines, with a platter of local produce if wanted, and the hosts are warm, knowledgeable and accommodating.

A lively village bar on the central square, open from breakfast through aperitivo, with a big terrace that fills with locals. The young team mixes good cocktails and pours plenty of wine at honest prices, with toasties, piadine and simple pasta dishes alongside.