Golosaria Monferrato: a weekend between castles, flavors and hills

In May Monferrato is in the midst of spring: the vineyards have regained colour, the hill roads invite you to stop in the villages and the days are long enough to put together a walk, a tasting and a cultural visit. It is at this time of the year that Golosaria Monferrato transforms the territory into a large widespread festival, with the Castle of Casale Monferrato as one of the main meeting points and dozens of locations involved including hills, castles, cellars, squares and small historic centres.

Golosaria is not a fair to visit quickly by entering through a single gate. Its most beautiful character is just the opposite: it invites you to move. You can start among the producers and tastings of Casale, continue towards a castle opened for the occasion, stop in a town for a market or lunch, choose a walk among the hills and let the journey take shape along the way. It is one of the events that best describes Monferrato as an experience, not just as a destination.

Golosaria Monferrato takes place every year in spring, generally in mid-May and usually on the third weekend of the month. The heart of the event occupies Saturday and Sunday, while in the participating municipalities visits, extraordinary openings, tastings, walks and collateral events spread over the weekend can be offered.

To plan a visit without tying it to a single edition, therefore consider the mid-May period as a reference. The official program invites you to choose between castles, tastings and meetings in the villages.

The peculiarity of Golosaria Monferrato is its territorial structure. The event involves numerous towns between the Asti area and the Alessandria area, creating a network of events that combines food and wine, landscape, culture, art and outdoor activities. In the same day you can go from a tasting stand to a Romanesque church, from a local product market to a panoramic road, from a castle to a small town square.

This format makes Golosaria interesting even for those who already know the area. The program changes, new locations join the route, others offer special openings or initiatives that are not normally found during an ordinary weekend. Instead of concentrating everything in a single space, the event distributes visitors over the hills and invites them to discover places that are often left off the most popular itineraries.

Casale Monferrato is the simplest starting point to enter the spirit of the event. The Monferrato Castle, overlooking Piazza Castello, traditionally hosts a central part of the program and concentrates producers, gastronomic proposals, tastings and moments dedicated to wine. For two days, the courtyards, rooms and spaces of the fortress become a meeting place between those who produce and those who want to taste, learn and understand what is behind a product or a bottle.

Selected producers and specialties from different territories find space in the Castle, with a strong focus on quality and the stories that accompany what is presented. The visit is pleasant precisely because it is not reduced to a succession of stalls: you can speak directly with those who produce, taste, compare flavors and discover products that you might not encounter in normal commercial circuits. If you love bringing something home from your trip, it's also an opportunity to buy knowing where it comes from and who made it.

Barbera, bubbles and tastings

Wine is one of the great protagonists of Golosaria. The Barbera and the Monferrato denominations dialogue with Italian bubbles, Champagne and selections that change from edition to edition. Alongside the tasting tables, meetings and guided tastings are often organised, useful both for those who already know wine and for those who want to get closer without technicalities. The advice is simple: don't try to taste everything. Choose a theme, some producers and leave room for conversation, because that is precisely where the territory begins to become more understandable.

Street cuisine and craft beers

The Castle courtyard normally also hosts street cuisines and craft breweries. It is the most informal part of the day and works well as a break between visits. You sit down, eat something, watch the movement of the demonstration and decide where to go next. On Saturdays the atmosphere can continue until the evening, making Casale a good base also for those who want to experience Golosaria without constantly moving.

Limiting yourself to Casale Castle means seeing only part of Golosaria. The rest of the event is distributed among villages, castles, villas, cellars and cultural places of the Monferrato. Each location creates its own program: markets, guided tours, exhibitions, music, lunches, tastings, openings of historic homes, walks and small events that allow you to get to know the country through what makes it special.

The best choice is to identify two or three stages that are compatible in terms of distance and interests, avoiding turning the weekend into a car race. Monferrato is appreciated when there is time to travel along a secondary road, stop in front of a view or change plans because a village seems more interesting than expected. Golosaria offers a reason to move, but the territory does the rest.

If you come from outside the area, dedicating two days to the event completely changes the experience. You can use Casale Monferrato as a base and divide the weekend between the city and the hills, or choose an accommodation facility in one of the towns involved and build a circular itinerary. Spring makes even short trips pleasant: green vineyards, fields, rows, small woods and village profiles accompany the journey without the need to search for continuous attractions.

Saturday can start from Castello di Casale, when the event spaces are still easy to explore calmly. After the Food Festival and some tastings, take time for the historic center and for a break. In the afternoon you can move to one of the locations in the program or stay in the city and enjoy the atmosphere of street kitchens and evening events. If you're staying overnight in the area, you don't need to squeeze everything into a few hours.

Sunday is perfect for expanding the itinerary. Choose a castle, a town or a walk from those included in the program and leave Casale behind for a few hours. A cultural visit followed by lunch, a short walk and a tasting can fill the day without making it tiring. Returning in the late afternoon, when the light falls on the hills, is often one of the most beautiful moments of the weekend.

In recent years the Golosaria program has given more and more space to walks and initiatives related to cycling. It's a natural pairing: many villages in Monferrato are separated by a few kilometers of hilly roads, paths and rural routes. For those who love walking, an event in a village can become the starting or ending point of an itinerary; for those who use bikes, the stages of the event can transform into stops along a larger tour.

On MonferratoTrails you can use the routes in the area to complete the weekend with a few hours outdoors. Before choosing, check the distance, difference in altitude, surface and time required, then compare the route with the appointments you want to follow. The best result is not to do as many things as possible, but to alternate movement, visits and stops well. A walk in the morning and a tasting in the afternoon tell the story of the area much better than a day spent just going from one event to another.

Piazza Castello is already inside the city and allows you to pass from the event to the historic center almost without realizing it. From here you can reach the Civic Tower, the Cathedral of Sant'Evasio, the porticoed streets and squares of the centre. Casale has ideal dimensions for a visit on foot: the distances are short and every detour adds something, from a baroque façade to a courtyard, from a shop to a café where you can stop.

On the occasion of Golosaria the city often offers openings and initiatives dedicated to its monuments. The Civic Museum with the Bistolfi plaster cast gallery, the Synagogue and the Jewish museums, churches and other historical places can easily fit into the itinerary. Choose the places that intrigue you and dedicate part of your day to them.

Golosaria is an excellent entry point to learn about Barbera, Grignolino, Monferrato Casalese wines, cheeses, cured meats, pastas, desserts and other local products, but the journey can also continue outside the official spaces. A cellar, a village restaurant or a small shop allow you to find the same flavors in a more peaceful context and to understand how they enter into the daily life of the area.

If you have time, book a visit to the cellar or choose a restaurant along the route you have decided to follow. However, avoid filling every time slot: Golosaria works well even when you leave a little space for the unexpected. It could be a producer you meet at the Castle who recommends a stop, or a sign seen along the road that makes you change direction. In Monferrato, the detours are often the best part of the trip.

The event is widespread in numerous locations of Monferrato. The Casale Monferrato Castle, in Piazza Castello, represents one of the main centers of the event, while participating villages, castles and structures offer independent programs. The map of participating locations is the starting point for designing your itinerary among the castles.

To see only the main center of Casale consider at least a few hours. To truly experience the widespread nature of the event it is much better to dedicate an entire day, while a weekend allows you to combine Casale, two or three locations in the hills and a walk or a cultural visit. If you come from far away, staying overnight in Monferrato eliminates the rush and makes it easier to attend Sunday morning appointments.

In recent editions, many spaces of the event were free to enter, while some tastings, guided tours or specific activities required a contribution, the purchase of a glass or a reservation. Since methods, prices and availability may vary, always consider the official website as a reference for operational information for the current edition.

The popular format makes Golosaria also suitable for families, because it allows you to alternate moments indoors, walks, villages and stops outdoors. Some editions include activities dedicated to the little ones. With children it is best to choose a few stops, limit travel and favor places where it is easy to stop. Also in this case the official program helps to identify the most suitable initiatives.

Golosaria has a rare quality: it doesn't try to bring all of the Monferrato into a fair, but brings visitors into the Monferrato. It lets you enter a castle, cross a village, talk to a producer, taste a wine in the area where it was born and travel along roads that you probably wouldn't have chosen without a reason to leave.

Then use the event as a starting point. Arrive with a few stops in mind, but leave time to change plans. Walk, taste, stop, look at the landscape and let yourself be intrigued by the countries you encounter. In mid-May the hills are alive, the days are long and the Monferrato shows one of its most beautiful faces: that of a territory that is discovered one encounter at a time.

Source: official reference of the event.