Asti Provincia di Asti
There is a famous verse in Carducci’s poetry about the exalted soil of Aleramo with its castle and vines - l’esultante di castella e vigne suol d’Aleramo -. These few words sum up the Monferrato, a historical and geographical area in Asti Province. Though the smallest in Piedmont, this province is one of the richest on the level of its wines and foods. It is an area of sweet rolling hills that are often embellished with villages, castles, and bell towers. To all this we can add its enormous patrimony of multicoloured vineyards that create an unequalled panorama. This spectacle of colours transforms itself from season to season in its different tones. This is “wine country” that is already known of the world over. It is here that spumanti brut is produced. Here in Canelli is where Italian spumante and Asti Spumante were invented. Asti produces light red wines and more full-bodied reds for aging. There are also white wines and distilled spirits, especially various types of grappa. In this fertile soil a number of crops grow. There are white truffles, red and yellow quadrato d’Asti or “Asti square” peppers as well as white, crunchy cardoons, the so-called “hunchback thistle.” Asti’s wines and characteristic products blend into the tastes of local dishes when used in the artful traditional cuisine. These include carne cruda battuta al coltello (thin strips of raw meat), tonno di coniglio (rabbit with tuna sauce), risotto al barbera (rice cooked in red wine), bagna cauda (an anchovy-based sauce used as a dip for raw and cooked vegetables), bollito reale (boiled meat), and, naturally, many deserts, especially the liqueur-flavoured amaretti di Mombaruzzo. The Asti area has a good number of those castles that Carducci wrote about. There are castles at Piea and San Martino Alfieri with its splendid nineteenth-century construction. There are the castle in Castell’Alfero and Montiglio. The Costigliole castle was once the residence of the Countess of Castiglione, but is now the home of an international school of Italian cooking and of the Cultural Park of the Grinzane Cavour Award.The Cisterna castle houses the Museo di Arti e Mestieri di un Tempo, a traditional crafts museum that reconstructs workshops and activities that are now in disuse.
Information
Atl Asti - Azienda turistica locale
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Places
Palaisozaki
It is the new Torino Olympic Palasport (Sports Arena) designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki for the Winter Olympics in Torino 2006. A multi-functional space, versatile and flexible which, thanks to the mobility of its platform, can turn from an ice rink into a concert, show, or convention venue.
Biblioteca Reale di Torino
The Biblioteca Reale (Royal Library) houses important collections of manuscripts, illuminated manuscripts, and engravings. Besides its 2,000 drawings, it has several drawings by Leonard Da Vinci, among which are: the Self-Portrait, the Volto dell’Angelo (the Angel’s Face), the preliminary drawing for the Vergine delle Rocce (Virgin of the Rocks), and the Codice sul Volo (Codex on the Flight of Birds).
Forte di Vinadio
Requested by Re Carlo Alberto, the Forte (Fort) di Vinadio represents one of the most important examples of military architecture from the Alps. It extends length-wise for 1,200 meters, on three levels, which cover about 10 km of interior passageway.
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People
Alessandro Baricco
"Torino is a place where, in general, things are done with great seriousness and exactness. Even living and dying."
Gerard Roero Di Cortanze
“There must be a psychoanalytic bond between Torino, Piemonte and myself. Every time I come to town, I feel at home, as if the doors to my own house were being re-opened. I have never lived in this city. Every time I’m here it is as if I put my foot on the fog of a ghost, face to face with my past. Torino is my imaginary life, a double retrospect, a flashback…”
Riccardo Scamarcio
"I confess. I have committed the sin of gluttony in Piemonte. Dishes made with Alba truffles are irresistible and are a “must” during my stays in Piemonte."
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