Asti & Torre Troyana

Asti is a historic city of the Monferrato hills in eastern Piedmont, famous for its sparkling Asti Spumante and Moscato wines, its grand medieval past as a wealthy banking and merchant town, and the surviving towers and tower-houses that crowd its centre. In the Middle Ages Asti was studded with well over a hundred towers raised by competing noble families, and several still rise above the rooftops today. The finest to visit is the Torre Troyana, also known as the Torre dell'Orologio, a slender brick tower of the thirteenth century standing some forty-four metres tall on Piazza Medici; visitors can climb its internal stairs to a viewing level that gives a sweeping panorama over the terracotta roofs of the old town and out to the surrounding vineyard hills. Around it the historic centre rewards a wander, with the Gothic Collegiata di San Secondo dedicated to the city's patron saint, the large Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, and elegant streets and squares that come alive on market days. Asti is best known, though, for two great September events: the Palio di Asti, one of Italy's oldest bareback horse races, run in the central piazza amid medieval pageantry, and the Douja d'Or wine festival celebrating the region's wines. A visit combining the tower climb and the centre takes two to three hours. The town is at its most vibrant in September during the Palio and wine festivals and quieter at other times; the tower is generally open at weekends and seasonally. Asti is easily reached by train from Turin in about forty minutes and is a compact, walkable base for exploring the Monferrato.