The Langhe Region and the Saluzzo Marquisate
Independent Tour 6-Night/7-Day

Early in the afternoon, meet your local guide in the hotel’s lobby and guided walk in the historic center of Alba. Already inhabited in prehistoric times, Alba was an important settlement before becoming the “city of a hundred towers”: many were built along the city walls between the 14th and the 15th century. Today a few remains visible, continuing to poetically characterise the profile of the town. Enter the Cathedral, which has a splendid wooden choir that was commissioned by the bishop Msgr. Andrea Novelli and built in 1512 by the Cremonese cabinetmaker Bernardino Fossato da Codogno, then carefully restored in 1998. At the end of the walk, evening at leisure. Overnight in Alba.

Breakfast at the hotel and transfer to Pollenzo, an ancient settlement of Roman origin founded in the 2nd century BC, whose certain traces are still visible today, such as the ancient amphitheatre and city walls. In the first half of the 19th century, King Carlo Alberto decided to create an agricultural enterprise, which could be a model for the various landowners of the House of Savoy and a place where to experiment and improve the income from agricultural activities. Today, the Savoy estate, a UNESCO heritage site, houses the University of Gastronomic Sciences and the Wine Bank, a project by Carlo Petrini created to build the historical memory of Italian wine. Visit the 19th cellars of the Agenzia of Pollenzo which hosts a wine showcase, unique in the world, and meet the Italian great wines: a heritage of over 100,000 bottles belonging to 300 of the best national wineries made available after careful selection and refinement work. After lunch at leisure, return to Alba. Overnight in Alba.
Travel by car: 35 km (22 miles)

Breakfast at the hotel and check-out. Reach the Langhe region, a unique corner of Italy that contains unrepeatable excellence elsewhere. Here Nebbiolo wine reigns with its noble sons, Barolo and Barbaresco, protected by castles, towers and fortified villages that take us back to a Middle Ages of struggle and splendour. Meet your local guide and stop at the village of Barbaresco and at its Regional Enoteca in the deconsecrated Church of San Donato. Ascent by panoramic lift to the top of the Medieval Tower which, built in the 11th century, rises to a height of about 36 meters from which you can enjoy an unforgettable view of the Langhe and the Asti area. Continue to Barolo, the town that gives its name to the excellent wine famous all over the world, for a short visit of the pretty historic center. Lunch at leisure. The visit ends in La Morra, a picturesque town, guardian of fascinating traditions and timeless architectural beauties, immersed in a suggestive landscape. Before arriving in Trezzo Tinella consider a stop in Grinzane Cavour to admire the exterior of the castle, which hosted Count Camillo Benso, a prominent figure of the Italian Risorgimento for over 20 years. Check-in at the farmhouse. Overnight in Trezzo Tinella
Travel by car: 75 km (46 miles)

Breakfast at the farmhouse and set out for the visits of the day. Visit a farm producing round IGP hazelnuts, the real symbol of the Langhe besides Barolo wine and truffles. Meet the producer, visit the orchards, where the precious hazelnuts grow, and enjoy a tasting of products derived from hazelnuts.
Then, continue to a local farmhouse where raw milk cheeses from local sheep are produced according to the ancient recipes of the Langhe. The producer will guide you into the dairy. Then, cap off the visit with a cheese tasting accompanied with local wine, in front of the boundless panorama of the Alta Langa. Afternoon at leisure to relax at the farmhouse or to have a walk through the vineyards. Overnight in Trezzo Tinella.
Travel by car: 55 km (34 miles)

Breakfast at the farmhouse and visit to a winery that produces one of the best Moscato and Barbera wines in Piedmont, with tasting.
Then, transfer to Saluzzo and after lunch at leisure, meet your local guide for the visit of the historic centre. Saluzzo’s old town has kept the urban planning of the end of the 15th century almost intact, spread out on the hill and originally enclosed by a double circle of walls. Known as the “Siena of Piedmont”, its medieval and Renaissance monuments testify to a glorious past as the capital of an important Marquisate. Enjoy this lovely town, which is dominated by the imposing Castle, and is a succession of cobbled streets, steep steps, churches, and elegant noble palaces with loggias and roof terraces, gathered around hidden gardens. Overnight in Saluzzo.
Travel by car: 60 km (37 miles)

Breakfast at the hotel and transfer to Revello, a small town of the late Middle Ages in the Alps and an important commercial center of the ancient Marquisate of Saluzzo. Meet your guide and visit the Chapel of the Marchionale Palace and the Collegiate Church. Located on the first floor of the Palazzo Marchionale, the Chapel houses one of the most interesting series of paintings in Piedmont of the early 16th century. Then, continue to the Cistercian Benedictine Abbey of Staffarda, founded between 1122 and 1138. Its Church with the Polyptych by Pascale Oddone and the Cloister, the Refectory, with traces of a painting depicting “The Last Supper” have a particular historic and artistic value. The other buildings are the so-called “concentric” of Staffarda, that is the village. It still preserves the historical structures for the agriculture activities, such as the covered market on the square outside the Abbey and the farms. Lunch and afternoon at leisure. Overnight in Saluzzo.
Travel by car: 20 km (12 miles)

After breakfast, check-out and transfer to Castello della Manta for a guided tour with the FAI internal guide. At the beginning of the 15th century, the castle began to get the current appearance and, thanks to the work of the noble Saluzzo della Manta family, it gradually transformed from a medieval stronghold into an elegant palace. Inside there are various prestigious rooms including the Baronial Hall where there are cycles of frescoes that completely cover the walls, a rare testimony of late Gothic profane painting from northern Italy. The paintings, frescoed shortly after 1420 and attributed to the “Maestro della Manta”, depict a succession of warriors and heroines, taken from the classical Jewish and Christian iconographic tradition and depicted with precious 15th century clothes: they are eighteen almost life-size figures, stand out on a parchment-coloured background.
Travel by car: 5 km (3 miles)