I would let Tim at Villa Sampaguita help me to plan a good stay at his place in Sep. Here is his signature week highlighted by the amazing Palio d'Asti horse race. He can pick you up at the Milan airport for a delightful week of food and fun. Take a look at the 2011 agenda:
http://www.villasampaguita.com/Live/Palio2011.cfm

Thank you Bob, I just returned from Sicily and I believe it was you that suggested Hotel Villa Schuler - I loved it!

We spent 9 nites there in 2007 and loved it. Here are the pics---we added 4 nites at Lago Orta at the end.

http://www.slowphotos.com/photo/showgallery.php?cat=4172

A great deal of Piemonte is accessible by public transportation, but it is a large region and there is no one base from which you can visit it all. Even if you don't want to stay right in your grandmother's home town, you may need to stay near it if you want to visit it.

If your grandmother lived near Asti, then Asti would indeed be fine base. But if she lived somewhere else in Piemonte, you might not be able to get there from Asti without renting a car and spending hours driving.

You might find these links help you with your search for touring services in Piemonte:

http://www.buongustotours.it/

http://www.tourpiedmont.com/Concierge/Concierge.html

ttp://www.viandando.it/destinations/Piemonte-68

and there are many more.

You might want to visit the Piemonte message board on Tripadvisor and ask your question there, because residents of Piemonte post there who are not involved in the commercial travel business and will give you unbiased information.

But you will get more useful answers here and there if you include the name of the town in Piemonte where your grandmother lived, if you intend to visit it.

Thank you for your input. I do think the town my Grandmother was from is Asti; but I need to confirm. I'm checking into the Villa Sampaguita, which sounds lovely; but i'm worried it may not work without a car. Does anyone know of a 4star hotel in the town of Asti, and if so is there enough to do there in the evening to stay for 6 or 7 nights? I figure we will be busy during the day w/day trips. I like to have the flexibilty of walking around at night - ie safe, good restaurants and shopping?

Asti is absolutely safe, and has highly-regarded restaurants and good shopping. It also has a train station in town, and if you really want to shop in grand style, it is a short hop to Torino (Turin), which is also an exciting city I hope you will want to visit.

Tripadvisor, booking.com and venere.com have up-to-date reviews of hotels from recent users. Asti has many high-quality hotels, as do most all places in Piemonte if it turns out you need to be elsewhere to visit your grandmother's ancestral home.

If your research indicates that your grandmother was from a very small town in the province of Asti -- which is a province as well as a city -- I highly recommend that you do a google search using the name of that town plus the words "bed breakfast" or "hotel" or "villa." It is highly likely that you could actually spend a night or two in a very charming accommodation right where your grandmother lived, and discover relatives you didn't know you had. Most people who give some time to exploring the actual town where their Italian relatives came from say it was the highlight of their visit to Italy.

You may need to hire a taxi plus use public transportation to reach a small town in Piemonte, but once you are there you will find restaurants, and taxi services can help you when you need them (if you want to leave!). You may not want to "base" in your grandmother's former hometown for your entire trip, but one or two nights might be better than just an afternoon visit.

have a great trip wherever you go.

The program at Villa Sampaguita for the 3rd week of Sep is a package deal which includes transport--read the details. Talk to Tim via email--he is quite helpful and speaks perfect English. Tell him I sent you.

Here's a description of the package tour

http://www.villasampaguita.com/Live/Palio2008.cfm

PS: If you decide you want to stay in or around Asti, you should be aware of the dates of the Palio. Depending on what you enjoy as a traveler, the Asti horse race is either something you can't wait to see, or something you'd prefer to avoid. The historic center of the city becomes quite crowded during the extended festivities. In addition, hotels have higher rates and need to be booked well in advance (as do the better restaurants).

Thank you, everyone, for your help. I found out today that my Nana was from Viarigi-Accorneri. I've emailed Tim at the Villa to ask if he knows where - and how far it is from Asti.
I think we've decided to go ahead and stay at Villa Sampaguita for at least 4 maybe 6 nights, and have Tim arrange for day tours and drivers as needed to the town. I also like the suggestion of taking a train to Turin (I didn't know that Torino and Turin are the same place!) and explore on our own.
From there we think we want to stay in Portofino, then London and somehow fit in a day tour to Normandy in France. I welcome any comments, ideas etc. I love the help I get from this Forum.