Monferrato Casalese: wine in the hills and stone

Casale introduces the journey with an urban dimension: squares, palaces, castle and the history of the marquisate. The Cathedral of Casale Monferrato and the Civic Museum help to give depth to the visit. Leaving the city, change the scale. The streets gather around the hamlets and the landscape opens onto the nearby hills.

Rosignano and Cella Monte allow to follow the relationship between houses and countryside. Vignale, Olivola and Ottiglio prolong the discovery along other dorsals. Looking at the country from the opposite hill, after crossing the streets, is a concrete way to understand its position. The inhabited center is back to being part of the landscape that supports it.

In Casalese the relationship between wine and the country continues inside the buildings. The Stone from Cantoni, linked to the sedimentary history of these hills, appears in the walls and excavated spaces. A Cella Monte, the Ecomuseo story helps to connect material, architecture and work. Looking at a facade after knowing the stone changes the visit: the village becomes part of the geological landscape from which it was born.

The infernot They bring this bond underground. They are dug in stone, with niches and shelves for the conservation of bottles: wine enters the history of houses, beyond the production space of the cellar. The UNESCO component Monferrato of the infernot recognizes a relationship between cultivation, housing and culture of conservation. The journey can thus alternate what is seen on the slopes to what is kept under the village.

From Cella Monte, colleague Rosignano Monferrato and Vignale Monferrato. In the glass, the Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese offers a precise territorial voice; the Barbera del Monferrato opens a broader horizon. The two denominations allow you to return to the vineyards with different questions: what grapes are grown, how the exhibitions change, which space occupies wine in the memory of families. It is the passage that unites the observation of the village to the meeting with those who continue to work the countryside.

The canton stone binds architecture to the geological history of Casalese. In the infernot has been excavated to create small environments for the preservation of bottles. Niches, shelves and tables made in the rock show the ability to transform a local matter into a working space. The visit brings the story of wine under the houses, in the home dimension of conservation.

The Monferrato of Infernot is one of the components of the UNESCO site of the Wine Landscapes of Piemonte, enrolled in 2014. A Cella Monte The Ecomuseo della Pietra da Cantoni offers a starting point to get to know this heritage. To enter the private spaces, the visit is organized with those who guard them: the meeting with the owners adds to the place a memory made of uses, people and transformations.

The Grignolino of the Monferrato Casalese and the Barbera of Monferrato are two references to approach the production of the area. The names of the denominations bear in wine a precise origin; the path between the countries allows to recognize that origin on the ground. Here the first meeting with the vine can take place through a hill, vineyard and conversation with those who cultivate it.

Observe the exposure of the rows, slope, proximity of the pools and alternation with other crops. They are useful elements to read agricultural work. In the cellar, ask where the vineyards are gives continuity to the visit: from the bottle you can return to the landscape just crossed, distinguishing the history of the denomination from the interpretation of the single producer.

The route from Vignale to Moleto offers a concrete thread between villages and countryside. The board gathers map, development and information on the track. Walking makes the distances between the centers, the changes of slopes and the succession of crops visible; the landscape takes on a different order from that observed by the window.

You can build the day around Cella Monte and Rosignano, or follow the path towards Olivola and Ottiglio. From the villages, continue in the deepenings and paths of the respective pages. To enlarge the journey, enter into Monferrato Astigiano: the reference centres change and other links between territory and vines are opened.