Secret Piedmont: 10 Places That Aren't Turin or the Classic Langhe

Piedmont is the Italian region with the most layers of time to cross: Alpine mountains, wine hills, glacial lakes, Savoy cities. Turin and the Langhe (Barolo, Alba) are famous; the rest — upper Val Sesia, Monferrato, the deep Cuneese, the Sacred Mountains, the minor lakes — is still barely explored. Here are ten places.

1. The UNESCO Sacred Mountains

Nine Sacri Monti (seven in Piedmont, two in Lombardy) built between the 16th and 17th centuries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Sacro Monte di Varallo has 45 chapels frescoed and filled with terracotta sculptures (the "New Jerusalem"). The Sacro Monte d'Orta, above Lake Orta, is perhaps the most poetic. Then Crea, Belmonte, Domodossola, Ghiffa, Oropa, Varese. Quiet, free, magnificent.

2. Lake Orta and the Isola di San Giulio

Lake Orta is smaller than Maggiore yet just as poetic. The Isola di San Giulio, with its 9th-century basilica and its Benedictine women's monastery, is a twenty-minute boat ride away. Orta San Giulio is among the most beautiful villages in Italy.

3. Upper Val Sesia and Alagna Valsesia

The Val Sesia, at the foot of Monte Rosa, is the valley of the Walser: a German-speaking Alpine community settled here in the 13th century. Alagna Valsesia with its Walser wooden houses (Pedemonte), Riva Valdobbia, the Gnifetti mountain hut at 3,647 metres. A slice of Switzerland in Piedmont.

Alagna and Pedemonte: the Walser wood →

4. The Monferrato Casalese

The Monferrato (a UNESCO site along with the Langhe and Roero) sees fewer visitors. Its northern reaches (the Casalese, around Casale Monferrato) hold villages like Coniolo Bricco (the "Village of Nativity Scenes"), Vignale Monferrato, wine cellars and infernot (tuff-carved cellars for wine).

5. The Langhe Beyond Alba

The Langhe of Barolo and Barbaresco are pricey and crowded. But the Langa Astigiana, the Bassa Langa, and villages like Neive, Diano d'Alba, Trezzo Tinella offer the same vineyards at gentler prices. The landscape is the same.

6. Cuneo and the Maritime Alps

Cuneo is among Italy's least-visited provincial capitals. Piazza Galimberti, arcades, the memory of the Boves massacre and the Cuneese Resistance. Above the city, the Maritime Alps with their Natural Park (Argentera, Gesso, Vermenagna) form one of Piedmont's least trodden reserves. Chamois, lakes, footpaths.

7. Neive, Grinzane Cavour and the Lesser-Known Castles

Grinzane Cavour is famous; but other medieval castles of the Monferrato-Langhe area — Camino, Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo itself (with the WiMu wine museum), Roddi — deserve a leisurely visit. Many host tastings with a view.

8. Ivrea and Its Olivetti Architecture

Ivrea, Olivetti's town, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its 20th-century industrial architecture: factories, workers' houses, the Olivetti canteen. The medieval historic centre with its four-towered castle, the historic Carnival (and the Battle of the Oranges). Thirty minutes from Turin.

9. The Piedmontese Lake Maggiore: Cannobio, Verbania

The Lombard side of Lake Maggiore (Stresa, the Borromean Islands) is crowded. The Piedmontese-Verbano shore — Cannobio, Cannero Riviera, Ghiffa, Baveno — is quieter. Villa Taranto in Verbania (botanical), the Sacro Monte di Ghiffa, valley-floor footpaths.

10. Turin Beyond Piazza Castello

Turin has famous museums (Cinema, Egyptian, the Reggia di Venaria), but secret Turin lives in its Baroque courtyards (Quadrilatero Romano), its Monumental Cemetery, the Vanchiglia district, the Borgo Medievale (a 19th-century replica, but a fine one, inside Parco del Valentino).

The courtyards of the Quadrilatero Romano →

When Should I Go?

April–June for the hills in bloom, October to mid-November for foliage and the harvest (the great Langhe/Monferrato season). Summer: the lakes are excellent, though Turin runs hot. Winter: skiing at Sestriere and Bardonecchia, Turin at Christmas.

How to Plan It

Weekend: a Sacred Mountain plus Lake Orta, or Cuneo and the Maritime Alps. A full week: Turin + Ivrea + the Sacred Mountains + Lake Orta + the Langhe. If it's wine you're after, the Monferrato Casalese beats the postcard-famous Langhe.