Montiglio Monferrato

A 12th-century Romanesque pieve beside the cemetery, its interior lined with cruciform piers and carved capitals full of sirens and other medieval symbols. The automated 'Chiese a porte aperte' system opens the door and plays a lit, multilingual audio guide, and Romanico in collina volunteers open it on the first Sunday of each month.

Retreat Monferrato is a holistic retreat centre at Panengo, in the hills west of the village. It is built around Villa Monastero, a monastery from the 1500s that has been restored. It mainly hosts yoga and wellness retreats, but its spa also takes day visitors during the week, by appointment. The sauna, steam room and heated jacuzzi on the terrace are open only to people who have booked a treatment, which keeps the place quiet. The treatment list is long. It includes hour-long relaxing, decontracting and hot-stone massages (€70–90), foot reflexology, Reiki and Tibetan singing-bowl sessions, and a series of Ayurvedic oil therapies starting at 30 minutes. Book through the form on the spa page or call +39 351 374 2134, and say which treatment you want. Visitors single out the quiet, the food and the care the staff take.

A country sanctuary at the edge of the hamlet of Albarengo, rebuilt in 1891 after the farmers' pilgrimages against hail, with a brick neoclassical front and small devotional chapels lining the approach under the cypresses. The church is often locked, but the quiet churchyard makes a peaceful stop.

Davide Pescarmona grows Nocciola Piemonte IGP hazelnuts at Colcavagno, the old comune in the south of Montiglio. In his own workshop he turns them into spreads, flour, chopped and salted nuts, sugared nuts and a hazelnut cake, using recipes handed down from his grandmother Marisa. Visits are arranged on request. You walk through the orchards and the workshop where everything is made, then taste the nuts, creams and cake. Groups and private events can be booked too. There is no published price, so write or call to set a date: info@itregelsi.it or +39 347 379 8754.

A small chapel with a Romanesque sandstone front in the castle park, holding Piedmont's largest 14th-century fresco cycle: the Life of Christ, Last Supper included, attributed to the anonymous Maestro di Montiglio (c. 1345–1360). On private grounds, it opens only for paid guided tours and event days such as Golosaria and the October truffle fair.

La Balzana is Claudia Rabezzana's horse farm at Cascine Panengo, in the hills west of Montiglio. It breeds and boards horses and takes riders out on rides and excursions on horseback through the surrounding countryside. It also gives riding lessons and a 'battesimo della sella', a first time in the saddle for complete beginners. There is no website and no published price list. Ring the farm on +39 338 685 8601 to arrange a lesson or a ride.

The castle and a slender brick tower from the old ricetto loom over Rinco, a tiny hamlet of terracotta houses and wrought-iron lamps where time seems to stand still. The castle is now private homes with no public access; the exterior, the little piazza and the hill views are the reason to come.

The Cappella di Sant'Andrea stands on private ground in the castle park, and this guided walk is how you get inside it. The Langhe Monferrato Roero tourism board sells the tour, which starts at the town hall in Piazza Umberto I. The guide leads you up past the walls of the castle, which is privately owned, to the chapel. Its walls carry Piedmont's largest 14th-century fresco cycle, the Life of Christ, painted by the anonymous Maestro di Montiglio. The route also takes in the sundial on the bell tower and finishes at the parish church of Santa Maria della Pace in the middle of the old village. Guides speak Italian and English, and groups are capped at 25. Tickets cost €10 and are free for under-14s and for disabled visitors and their companions. Buy them online in advance: they are not refundable. The tour runs on a handful of Sundays between May and November, always including both Sundays of the October truffle fair, with three to five departures each day.

A 1912 station on the Asti–Chivasso line, built in brick and render like a Piedmontese villa and carefully restored by Fondazione FS. Regular services no longer run, but heritage trains still arrive for the autumn truffle fairs, and on event days the old goods shed shows a working 1:87 model railway of the surrounding landscape.

One of the largest and oldest castles in Monferrato crowns the hill above the borgo, a medieval stronghold later turned into a stately residence behind a high curtain wall. It is privately owned: most visitors see only the walls and gateway, and the interior, with its Baroque Sala della Musica, opens only for events.

A small 12th-century Romanesque church at the entrance to the Scandeluzza cemetery, alone among the fields. A double row of brick hanging arches on carved corbels crowns the apse, where inside a fresco shows Christ in glory with the two saints; the door is usually locked, so most visitors see only the exterior.

Montiglio's parish church, begun in 1580 and opened for worship in 1614. Inside are a carved wooden pulpit of 1785, an inlaid white-marble high altar of 1809 and the Ivaldi brothers' 1840 frescoes, with Pietro Ivaldi's altarpiece of the Madonna della Pace; a medieval palazzo with original mullioned windows stands opposite.

Montiglio calls itself the Borgo delle Meridiane: about 50 painted sundials decorate façades in the old town, restored or created by local gnomonist Mario Tebenghi (1922–2019). Some mark the monks' canonical hours, others modern time, framed with symbols and mottos mostly in Latin or Piedmontese dialect; the stroll starts from Piazza Regina Margherita.

A farmhouse restaurant in the countryside outside Montiglio, with a panoramic view over the Monferrato hills and tables by reservation only. A fixed menu of generous, home-style Piedmontese courses comes with wine, coffee and dessert, and the owner and staff are friendly and attentive.

A restaurant and wedding venue on a hilltop above the hamlet of Carboneri, with wide views over the Monferrato hills and a small park with farm animals next door. The Piedmontese cooking is reliably good, the owners are warmly welcoming, and the access road and car park are steep.

A working farm on the provincial road south of Montiglio, quiet and surrounded by greenery, with dogs and cats about the yard. The owners are warm, generous hosts and the cooking is simple and local; the rooms upstairs draw more mixed comments than the table.

A pizzeria on Via Asti that doubles as a proper Monferrato trattoria, run by two sisters, with a set menu or à la carte. The homemade pasta and local cured meats earn more praise than the thin pizza; service is quick and friendly and the mood relaxed.

A café, pastry shop and wine bar in the hamlet of Sant'Anna, run with real warmth by Erica and her team. Artisan pastries and breakfast in the morning, set lunches at very fair prices, and an evening aperitivo with a good choice of wines; parking is easy.

The bar-restaurant on Piazza Regina Margherita, the main square where most visitors park, open from early morning. It suits a quick stop: panini, big salads and simple antipasti at fair prices, with tables outside on the square.