THEn Piedmont there are places of an ancient, poignant, poetically melancholy beauty. Countries such as those of the Cunese and Monregalese Langhe, lands where the autumn sun lights up the red and yellow flames of the foliage, where the first winter mists wind their way through the hills and vineyards. Places that preserve and pass on the knowledge and flavors of Piedmontese culinary excellence. The map of the Cuneo area is an invitation to slow travel, to the pleasures of small weekend rituals in the province, away from mass tourism in the cities.
Piedmont Mondovì, ph. R. Croci – ATL Archive of the Cuneo area.
In Mondovì, the city of time
Less than two hours by car from Milan, Mondovì (in the province of Cuneo) amazes with its many sundials, all different from each other, which from the facades of the buildings mark the time from every corner of the historic centerincluding St. Peter’s Square. With the new funicular designed by Giugiaro, which connects the two historic centers of Breo and Piazza, you arrive directly in Piazza Maggiore, whose beauty comes from the irregular shape: it is on two levels, is divided in two by a staircase, and is surrounded by some of the most important historical buildings (with arcades) of the city: the Palazzo dei Bressani, in a corner, with its crenellated roof, the Palazzo del Governatore, the Ancient City Palace, the Fauzone Palace of Germagnano, and the church of San Francesco Saverio. entirely frescoed, in the years 1675-77, by the Jesuit Andrea Pozzo, with one of the most famous cycles of frescoes in Piedmont.
Piazza Maggiore can also be admired from the rooms full of stuccoes on the noble floor of the eighteenth-century Palazzo Fauzone in Germagnano, which houses the Museum of Ceramics and the memory of two centuries of Monregalese industry, crucial for the growth of the city between the 19th and 20th centuries. Symbolic decoration in the colorful Mondovì ceramic: the cockerel with a multicolored tail.
Sundial on the facade of a building in Piazza San Pietro, in Mondovì’. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso.
The tradition of Piedmont is served
From Piazza Maggiore, after the cathedral of San Donato, a jewel of the sumptuous eighteenth-century ‘rococo’ baroque, following the street named after its architect, Francesco Gallo, you can reach the Belvedere Gardens (with the fourteenth-century Civic Tower in the centre) from where the gaze embraces an almost 360-degree panorama of the Monregalese Langa, framed by the white peaks of the Maritime Alps. If you have booked a table at the Locanda dei Bressani (in Piazza Maggiore 13) in Borgo di Piazza, you have made the right choice. Under the frescoed vaults of the small restaurant you will taste excellent raw meat “Battuta al knife di veal” and a plate of perfect “Vitello with tuna sauce”.
Vitello tonnato on the menu at the Locanda dei Bressani, in Piazza Maggiore, in Mondovì. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso
Flying among the frescoes of the Sanctuary of Vicoforte
The interior of the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, decorated starting from 1745 by Mattia Bortoloni and Felice Biella. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso,
Ready to walk, 60 meters high, among the frescoes of the largest elliptical masonry dome in the worldor? The Sanctuary of Vicoforte, just six kilometers from Mondovì, offers an unforgettable “aerial” artistic experience. Wearing helmet and harness with carabiner, follow the guided tour (kalata.it), not recommended for those suffering from vertigo, which allows you to climb, step by step, up to the frescoes painted starting from 1745 by Mattia Bortoloni and Felice Biella. The ride at high altitude all around the dome, face to face with the Marian frescoes, is fantastic. Then, you go up again and, having safely passed a ladder, you reach the dome, that is the top of the Sanctuary.
Greedy gifts to put under the Tree
After the exciting and amusing “climb” to the Sanctuary, do not miss a tour under the red brick arcades of the Palazzata, in front of the Sanctuary, for a stop at the Drai pastry shop, an opportunity to taste the risole. Gourmet shopping continues at the Cascina Santo Stefano sales point (by reservation, tel. 333.6436344, via Felice Biella 6, cascinasantostefano.it) organic company of Vicoforte which produces honey, IGP Piedmont hazelnuts, and cereals and transforms them into delicious and niche products, such as hazelnut oil. The idea? Compose a refined and irresistible gift basket with Meliga biscuits, jars of hazelnuts in chestnut honey and packs of legumes.
A glimpse of the “palazzata”, a symmetrical wall of porticoed buildings that borders Piazza Carlo Emanuele I, in front of the Sanctuary of Vicoforte, seen from the dome of the Sanctuary. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso.
In Borgo San Dalmazzo, not to forget
The MEMO 4345 memorial, in Borgo San Dalmazzo which recalls the names of the Jews deported from here to the extermination camps. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso.
Senator Liliana Segre can be sure: as long as there are places like MEMO4345, in Borgo San Dalmazzo, the Holocaust will not be forgotten. In the former church of Sant’Anna a historical-educational multimedia itinerary gives voice to the Memorial of the Deportation of Borgo San Dalmazzo. Between 8 September 1943 and the Liberation, the European history of the anti-Jewish persecution of the first half of the twentieth century passed through this village and in the valleys that flow into it, in the form of people whose lives involved the lives of the inhabitants of these places . Of the 331 foreign Jews deported here to the extermination camps, only 39 survived. Their names can also be read outside the church: the platform along the tracks has been transformed into a memorial thanks to a simple and touching layout: on the cement screed, parallel ribbons of Corten steel engraved with the names of the deportees; sometimes, the ribbons rise to shape the letters that make up the names of the survivors.
Sipping a vermuth in Cuneo
If you arrive in Cuneo at aperitif time, conquer a table in the historic style Arion pastry shop (arionepasticceria.it) in piazza Galimberti, and order a red vermouth. You are in the right place to stock up on delicious gifts to put under the Christmas tree: artisan bars and chocolates, candied chestnuts and the famous Cuneesi (a dark chocolate shell filled with intense rum cream) also bought by Ernest Hemingway in May 1954 on the advice of the publisher Arnoldo Mondadori.
A glimpse of the Arione pastry shop in Cuneo. Photo by Anna Maria D’Urso.
Cuneo, Gold Medal for Resistance
Cuneo, a little off the beaten tourist track, is a small city with a regal, severe, Savoyard allure. But the big one piazza Galimberti, in the heart of the historic centre, is dedicated to one of the bravest, a hero of the Resistance, for whom the city of Cuneo itself deserved the Gold Medal for Military Valor on 1 August 1947: the partisan Tancredi, known as Duccio Galimberti , captured and killed on December 4, 1944 for his fight against the Germans and fascism. From via Roma it seems to be able to touch the mountains, elected as headquarters by the partisans of the Cuneo Justice and Freedom Brigades of the Alps, who liberated Cuneo on 29 April 1945. You can also breathe history walking along the narrow streets that cross the wide and pedestrian via Roma, dotted with shops such as those of the former Jewish ghetto in Contrada Mondovì.
Following the itinerary of the cribs in Piedmont
And the Cathedral? Beyond the neoclassical facade, with four very high Corinthian columns supporting a tympanum, one discovers the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Bosco, with a Greek cross plan, rich in frescoes, stuccos, gilding. The gold and rococo decorations of the churches dazzle. Visit them from 8 December to 2 February 2023, following the Itlnerario dei Presepi in the historic center of Cuneo: in the Church of Sant’Ambrogio there is the Neapolitan school nativity scene, in the Church of Santa Maria the traditional mountain nativity scene, in the Church of St. Sebastian the nineteenth-century plaster statues and the Palestinian Nativity scene at the Cathedral.
Where to sleep in Piedmont
Palazzo Loveravia Roma 37, Cuneo. palazzolovera.com
In the heart of Cuneo, the comfort of a four-star hotel with 40 double rooms and 7 junior suites. Double starting from 95 euros.
Palazzo Fauzone Relaisvia Vico 8, Mondovi. palazzofauzone.com/it
Inaugurated in June 2022 in a historic building in Mondovì Alta, it offers three apartments and six rooms inspired by literary classics. decorated by illustrators and furnished mixing antique furniture and contemporary design pieces. Double starting from 120 euros.
Duchess Margaretvia San Rocco 29, Vicoforte. duchessamargherita.it
At the foot of the majestic Sanctuary of Vicoforte, the charm of history in a residence where every room, furnished with antique furniture, is dedicated to the personalities of the House of Savoy. Double starting from 130 euros.
Where to eat
Pouchvia Roma 20, Briaglia. trattoriamarsupino.it
Elegant restaurant, with Piedmontese cuisine and a cellar with 800 labels, On the menu: Piedmontese veal tartare, delicate tomin del Mel and anchovy bread, Tajarin with 30 egg yolks in fat ox ragout, Agnolotti del plin stuffed with three roasts with the brown background.
Inn of the Bressanipiazza Maggiore 13, Mondovì.
Under the arcades of the magnificent square of Mondovì Alta, an intimate restaurant with an old-fashioned charm. On the menu: veal with tuna sauce, hunchbacked thistle and fondue, veal cheek braised in Barolo wine.
4 chattervia Dronero 8 C, Cuneo. 4cianceristorante.it
Cozy restaurant with well-spaced tables in two rooms, one with a brick vaulted ceiling, the other with wooden chests of drawers. To try, the very soft braised veal shank with field mushroom ragout and soft polenta. Among the desserts, the Bunet with marron glacé ice cream.
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