TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN PIEDMONT

ASTI
The town lies on the left side of the river Tanaro at its confluence with the Bòrbore stream among the hills of Monferrato. It is definitely a town of art. The most ancient part of Asti, once dominated by the Recinto dei Nobili, represents the heart of the town. Piazza Alfieri is dominated by a monument to Vittorio Alfieri and surrounded by 19th-century palaces.

ALBA
Alba lies at the confluence of the Cherasca stream with the Tanaro, on the hills of the lower Langa. It is famous for its truffles, wines and gastronomical specialities. Its origins are very ancient (the first finds date back to Neolithic times) and it has a beautiful old town centre with a medieval structure. Autumn is its liveliest season. Two important folk festivals take place then: the “Giostra delle cento torri” and the “Palio degli asini”; another important event in autumn is the National Truffle Festival.
Alba can also boast of several famous personalities, such as the Ferrero family, founder of the homonymous industry, Cesare Pavese and Beppe Fenoglio, two writers who took their inspiration from these splendid hills.
Visitors have a lot of things to see: the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the Town Palace, built on a previous Roman building and often transformed over the centuries, the Church of San Domenico, the towers Sineo, Bonino, Mozza and Astesiano and the Loggia dei Mercanti with its brick arcades and frieze.

BIELLA
Biella lies on the river Cervo at its confluence with the river Oropa and was originally a Roman settlement of Celtic origin. In the central part, there are various interesting monuments such as the Church of the Holy Trinity, the Baptistery of the 10th-11th centuries, the Romanesque bell tower and the Cathedral, the Church of Saint Sebastian, characterised by a Lombard Renaissance style.
From downtown you can climb to Biella Piazzo (walking or with the funicular railway), where you can visit Palazzo Cisterna (15th-16th centuries) and the Church of San Giacomo (12th-13th centuries), with its façade and bell tower of the 14th century and containing important frescoes and a splendid choir carved at the end of the 17th century.

CUNEO
Cuneo lies on a 'cuneiform' tableland formed by the confluence of the Gesso and Stura di Demonte streams. It was founded at the end of the 12th century as a free commune in a strategic position between Piedmont and France. In Via Roma you can see the Church of Sant'Ambrogio, founded in 1231 and rebuilt in the first half of the 18th century by Francesco Gallo. Near the Church there are two important 19th-century buildings, the Bishop's Palace and the Prefecture. Going back to Via Roma you find the 17th-century Town Hall (former Jesuit convent) and the Palazzo della Torre.
On the right you take Via Santa Maria leading to the 17th-century Church of Santa Maria, built by Giovenale Boetto for the Jesuits, containing frescoes by Giuseppe Toselli and paintings by Carlo Lanfranchi and Andrea Pozzo. In the charming Via Mondovì you can find the medieval Church of San Sebastiano. It was founded in 1320 and modified in the 16th century, but its façade dates to 1880. Going back to the medieval Via Roma you can visit the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Bosco, built in 1662 in place of an ancient medieval Chapel. The present Neoclassical façade is dated 1865 and attributed to Antonio Bono.

STRESA
It has been a famous holiday resort for centuries. This small town lies in front of the Golfo Borromeo and the three Isole Borromee. Besides its elegant promenade, you can appreciate some monuments like the parish Church of Sant'Ambrogio, Villa Ducale and Villa Pallavicino, an English garden famous for the variety and beauty of its plants and the splendid view over the lake and the surrounding mountains. From the Lido of Stresa you can reach the three Isole Borromee:
Isola Bella with an interesting Baroque centre, Palazzo Borromeo surrounded by a park and seat of an Artistical and Historical Museum;
Isola dei Pescatori, taking its name from the picturesque fishermen's village that characterizes the island;
Isola Madre, with another Palazzo Borromeo of the 18th century with a varied botanical garden and the Museum of Puppets.

PLACES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST

Masino Castle was built as Masino Castle
an impregnable fortress and for two centuries had heroically held out, but in the latter half of the 16th century it began to be transformed into the main residence of one of the most famous families in that period.
Much of its present form is due to the reconstruction begun in 1599, after the French had destroyed it.
Various generations have removed and extended, enlarged and subdivided, decorated and redecorated rooms, halls, bedrooms and corridors.
Each generation provided its own frescoes, furnishings, fabrics, art collections, books and new ideas. Each brought to Masino heirlooms from other historic houses such as those from the famous Villa Pliniana on Lake Como, which had been inherited by the Valperga family at the beginning of the century.

Pavone Castle
The ancient origins of Pavone are proved by archaeological finds of the prehistorical and Roman periods. The beautiful old castle, now transformed into a restaurant-hotel, dominates the village. It can be visited by the guests.

Castle of Grinzane Cavour
The castle of Grinzane Cavour stands on the top of a hill dominating the small village beneath it. It dates back to the first half of the 13th century, but was enlarged and made more elegant in the following centuries, above all during the 17th century.
Thanks to restoration work of 1961 the castle is in very good condition.
It consists of small cylindrical towers situated on the corners of the external walls, with a large square tower in the middle of the building and another more massive tower included in one of the boundary walls. It houses the Cavour Regional Wine Shop and an Ethnological museum.

Sanctuary of Vicoforte
This majestic building is one of the most important monuments of Piedmont and its construction was undertaken in 1596 by the architect Ascanio Vitozzi in place of an ancient votive post. Vitozzi could not complete his project. It was resumed in the 18th century by Francesco Gallo, who designed a grandiose semi-ellipsoidal dome (the larger dome among the elliptic ones) completely decorated on its internal side. The four bell towers were completed only in 1906. The sanctuary contains very important works of art by Francesco Gallo, Bartolomeo Solaro, the Collino brothers, Perin del Vaga, Felice Biella, Franz Anton Meyer, Giuseppe Gagini III and Sebastianno Taricco.

Abbey of Santa Maria at Staffarda
The abbey was built by order of the marquis of Saluzzo. The date of its foundation lies between 1135 and 1138.
The abbey still looks like a real village. The Church, the cloisters, the refectory, the lay brothers' hall, the lodge, the market and the farms can still be visited.
Staffarda became an independent centre of pre-industrial activities over the centuries, able to produce goods both for the abbey and for sale.
Staffarda owes its great artistic importance to its well-balanced mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles and it represents an important part of the history of the Cistercians and of their work. The present façade dates to the 16th century, whilst the interior is Romanesque-Gothic with a nave and two aisles and semicircular apses. In the small right apse you can admire a sumptuous crucifix and a wooden altar.

Exilles Fortress
This place is famous for its Fort built in the 10th century, rebuilt for the first time in the 17th century, and for the second time in the 19th century by Antonio Olivero. Originally it was a simple tower and, due to its strategic position, became a castle during the 17th century. Nowadays this structure is an important example of a 19th-century fortress.

Sacra of San Michele
The abbey of San Michele was built on the top of mount Pirchiriano at the end of the 10th century (984-990), but the presence of monks on the mount is undoubtedly earlier. The original building seems to date back to the Roman Empire (AD 400) and consisted of three small chapels creating a tri-choral small Church. A fifth Church was built on an impressive foundation starting from the last peak of the mountain.