Asti

Introducing Asti

Historically, Asti and Alba, both feisty independent strongholds, have been fierce rivals. That rivalry is recalled by the Palio d’Asti, a bare-back horse race on the third Sunday of September commemorating a victorious battle against Alba during the Middle Ages, which today draws over a quarter of a million spectators from villages around. (Alba answers with its own donkey race on the first Sunday in October.) Four-legged races aside, these days the two towns have buried the hatchet and are united by their fine viticultural and culinary activities. At just 30km apart, it’s easy to visit them both while exploring the area.

Since the 1850s the grapes grown on the plains around Asti have produced Italy’s top sparkling wine, Asti Spumante (often just referred to as Asti to avoid being lumped in with poorer-quality spumante). Made from white Muscat grapes, this sweet, pale-gold wine is best drunk young at a chilled 6°C to 8°C, like its less-fizzy cousin Moscato d’Asti. There are numerous places to sample the two, either in Asti’s 9120 hectares of vineyards tended by 6800 wine growers, or in town.

Asti’s largely pedestrianised centre makes for a pleasant stroll. The town became a Roman colony in 89 BC, and after existing as an independent city-state in the 13th and 14th centuries, it was passed around between Spain, Austria, France and finally the Savoys, prior to unification. During the late 13th century the region became one of Italy’s wealthiest, with 150-odd towers springing up in Asti alone. Of the 12 that remain today, one, the 38m-tall Torre Troyana o Dell’Orologio (0141 39 94 60; Piazza Medici; admission free; 10am-1pm & 4-7pm Apr-Sep, 10am-1pm & 3-6pm Sat & Sun Oct), can be climbed. Also rising above Asti’s historic core is the enormous belfry of the 13th-century Romanesque-Gothic Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Piazza Cattedrale). Its grandly painted interior merits a peek.

The town’s two tourist offices (0141 53 03 57; www.astiturismo.it; Piazza Alfieri 29 9am-1pm & 2.30-6.30pm; Corso Alfieri 328 10am-1pm & 3-6pm) have details of September’s flurry of wine festivals. The 10-day Douja d’Or (a douja being a terracotta wine jug unique to Asti) is followed by the Delle Sagre food festival on the second Sunday of September.

Like Alba, the countryside around Asti contains precious black and white truffles. Asti’s truffle fair is in November.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009