hodo75

Hello!

We will be in Piedmont next summer, staying at La Villa Hotel in Mombaruzzo. It looks like we are between Asti and Acqui Terme.

Any suggestions for "don't miss" sites / towns / wineries / experiences in the area?

We love red wine so definitely want to do some wineries in the Barolo area. Do you need to book these in advance?

Also, are most restaurants in the actual towns (Asti, Alba) or is it like Tuscany where they are often on country roads in the hills of town?

Trying to wrap my head around what my days will look like and if I need to book anything in advance.

Thank you!

Jean

We've been to the Piemonte area a few times but not since well before the pandemic.

I live in California and visit wineries here, but in Italy I prefer to go to in-town tasting rooms. You might find this helpful:

https://cantinedialba.it/associazione.php

I would look into which wineries might appeal to you and determine whether reservations are required. Personally, if I wanted to visit wineries, I'd take a wine tour to avoid driving and maximize tasting.

Restaurants... I'm more familiar with Alba as we've met up with my former boss a few times. He spends a lot of time in Alba, and we just follow his lead. Most of the restaurants he's taken us to are in town, and we've never had less than a great meal in Alba. I had to look at a map to try to remember some of the names...

Cibo Alba and Caffe Humberto (near the train station, there's a wine bar nearby... Roberto something)
Vicoletto (near the Duomo)
Cortiletto
Dulcis Vitis

Things to do... I really enjoyed Asti and the hilltown of Montiglio a few minutes north. There are several things to see in Alessandria, but it's a larger city. We were in Bra on market day and enjoyed wandering and having lunch. I think any town on market day in this area would be a great experience. You can go truffle hunting if you're into truffles. I haven't been to Acqui Terme, but it looks interesting.

maitaitom

hodo we absolutely loved Piemonte. We stayed in La Morra in the best lodging all of us believe to be our all-time favorite, Rocche Costamagna (try to stay in Room #4 with an incredible view from balcony of vineyards, and if lucky, the Alps ... there are only four rooms so book early ... wonderful place to sit at end of the day and enjoy Wine:30 happy hour). It's also a winery, and you get a free tour of the facility when you stay there. We spent four nights in the area and three nights in Turin, should you be going there on the trip (loved it, too). La Morra has lots of great restaurants, including another of my all-time favorites Bovio. What a night we had there! Below is my Italy 2018 Trip Report with tons of photos along with all the places we visited. See Chapters Ten Through Seventeen for Piemonte and Turin. Below the trip report is the link to our night at Bovio. The photo below is of La Morra taken from down the road a bit. I also suggest going on a truffle hunt (included in trip report) and enjoying all the surrounding hill towns and gorgeous scenery. if you can swing it, I'd go at the beginning of October, which is the start of white truffle season. Piemonte is literally heaven on earth in my opinion. Enjoy!!!

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/italy-2018/

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/bovio-la-morra-italy/

Jean

maitaitom suggested going in early October. I very much agree!

hodo75

Jean! And so we meet again
Thank you so much for responding. Market day, yes! We were in Provence 2 years ago and based a lot of what we did on market days. I'll look into that. Now I'm wondering if staying near Alba is a better option.
I'll keep you posted with what we decide.
As always, thank you!
Holly

hodo75

ok, I just read your report of Bovio and what can i say, you are our kind of people! What a fun night - I will 100 percent be making a reservation there!

I also emailed the hotel you suggested about room #4. I'm wondering if that's a better location for us. I like the idea of being near a town with restaurants so we're not eating/drinking and driving 30 minutes home. I'll let you know what we end up doing.

Cant wait to read your longer trip report. You are hilarious!

Thank again,
Holly

hodo75

We are going in summer b/c it's our 10th wedding anniversary and it's the only time my parents can babysit our kids Perhaps when we are retired!

Jean

Don't drink and drive in Italy. They take this issue VERY seriously. Their DUI blood alcohol threshold is low, and the penalties are severe.

La Morra isn't that far from Alba, but make sure you know the boundaries of Alba's ZTL. There is parking at the train station which is outside the ZTL and just a short walk from the historical center. There are other parking lots closer to the historical center, but the one way streets can make it a little frustrating to find/reach them.

https://www.accessibilitacentristori...ont/alba/mappa

maitaitom

Alba would make for a great base, as well, if that's what you choose. They have some excellent lodging choices as well. Very cute town. Hard to go wrong in Piemonte.

john183

We also loved the Piedmont area when we stayed 4 nights near Asti. If I had it do again I would stay closer to Alba which we liked a lot. My trip report is not nearly as entertaining as maitai's but but we really had a lot of fun.

Link to report: Milan, Venice, Bellagio, Piedmont wine country, a day in the Cinque Terre

Link to pictures: https://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

phillyboy

hodo75 - We stayed at La Villa for a week in 2006, just the second year the facility was open - I see from the current website that they have expanded significantly since that time. The owners, Chris and Nicola, are lovely, helpful, and very kind. Their two daughters were little kids at that time, just learning to speak Italian. They did not have a full-scale restaurant - just breakfast, and I believe a banquet room. One night during the week, Chris invited all the guests to a barbecue, which was held on an outside patio, I think about 20 people were there. Chris cooked a bunch of meats, and wine was included - I remember that a local wine expert was there and made a presentation before dinner. We stayed up late and got drunk with 3 or 4 other guests, who were from Switzerland - a really fun night that we will always remember. I'm sure you will love it there.

Best I can recall, I think you need to schedule winery visits ahead of time. We went to 2 of them in Barolo that were recommended by Chris - one was a vey large operation, and the other a small family-run business. Both were enjoyable, but we all (2 couples, in early - mid 50's at the time) preferred the small winery - a private tour by the owner.

There wasn't much in the way of restaurants in the tiny town of Mombaruzzo - mostly glorified pizza places with a few tables and several pasta dishes. The closest town of any size is Nizza Monferrato, and there were some very nice restaurants there - my friend's wife is the keeper of all records from our vacations, and she certainly would have the names of all places in her journal - we relied on the owners for recommendations and reservations pretty much every night.

The food throughout Piemonte was wonderful, some of the best we've ever had in many visits throughout Italy. And the wine, of course, is fabulous. We were there in May, and the weather was perfect every day. The only slight negative I would report is that many of the towns we visited were very, very quiet (not Alba though, that was lively) - we don't look for late-night party madness, but it seemed that many of the beautiful, small towns were nearly deserted during the day.

I would depend on Chris and Nicola for restaurant, town, and winery recommendations. I clearly remember Chris sending us to a ruined castle out in the country about 1/2 hour away, I think the town was Vesime - We loved it.

You will have a great trip in this area.

phillyboy

One more La Villa note - just looked through the website again, and learned that Chris passed away in 2018. I assume Nicola is still running things, but I was very sad to hear this news.

hazel1

If you're torn between staying at an agriturismo or staying in town, there's a wonderful place that hits both marks in Neive, just a 15-20 min drive NE of Alba. The Fattoria San Giuliana is located right on the ring road surrounding the small and beautiful historic hill top village, so it's an easy 5 min. walk to the village where there are several very nice restaurants and wine bars. We had a room with a little kitchenette overlooking their gorgeous pool and the scenic vineyards and countryside of the Langhe region. We were there at the end of September, which turned out to be a great time to be there - weather was perfect and the truffle season had just opened, so they were available ( we had a terrific time going on a truffle hunt!), yet it was just ahead of the International Alba White Truffle Festival, so the crowds weren't there yet. This was a great location for exploring the Langhe wine country - we visited Barbaresco, Barola, La Morra, Alba and more. The food and wine of Piemonte are divine!

HappyTrvlr

We also stayed in Alba and easily visited the various wine towns. Wonderful wines and food.
We loved the Piemonte and my first reaction to your question was that you need to stay there longer! Fewer tourists than Tuscany. Easy access to Nice and Liguria, MXP.

BritishCaicos

I’ve no idea why everyone raves the truffle festival.

Alba is home to the Nutella factory, need I say more?

yorkshire

To my great disappointment, they did not do tours! The whole town smells like chocolate though. It was rainy and our hiking plans were squashed, so touring a chocolate factory would have really made up for a lot.

I am glad to hear good things about Neive--I ended up choosing Alba, but it looked so pretty and I'll make it a point to stay there when I return!

BritishCaicos

Yorkshire

I’ll not forget visiting Alba with our Italian friends who live in Turin. To them, Piedmont is everything Tuscany is nothing , they absolutely hate the Brit/Yank obsession with Tuscany. After years of hearing of the food scene in Alba, we ended up in a restaurant where they encouraged us to order Nutella Pizza.

hodo75

I finally read your trip report and it was hilarious! so helpful, too. i read your bio and see that you, too, were in publishing. I worked at conde nast in NYC for 12 years (vanity fair, conde nast traveler, and the new yorker) before leaving to start my hardest job ever - being a mom Loved working in the magazine space and it really was a dream job (lots of perks as you can imagine). Now I just obsessively travel plan for fun.

thanks again for all your insight! Love your trip reports.

holly