Along the paths of Boscogrande, between relaxation and good food: a holiday in Montegrosso d'Asti - Part I.

In the Val Tiglione, at the gates of Asti, the year 1134 was one of the most dramatic in history: the plague decimated the inhabitants of numerous localities along the stream that flows into the Tanaro river, and the few survivors prayed desperately to find salvation. At that point, as if by divine inspiration, they had the idea of moving up above the highest hill in the area: the healthy air of that place, at the time completely covered in woods, would save them from certain death. So on that "big mount" the village of Montegrosso d'Asti was born, the village of salvation. Today this charming locality continues to give off its beneficial effects, but now in a modern, tourist key: those who come here from the greyness of the metropolises can certainly find relief from stress and enjoy a pleasant day in the atmospheres laden with history of the place.

Walking through the ancient "sternìe", the steep alleys paved with river pebbles, that wind among colourful houses between which the endless chains of the Asti hills can be glimpsed, we have the feeling of having ended up in a painting. We only need to chat a bit with the local people to discover that it really is so: we're in a painting by Enrico Paulucci. The painter, born in Genoa in 1901, is famous among other things for having founded in 1929, together with five artists including Carlo Levi, the "Six of Turin", a group inspired by the French post-Impressionist painting of Cézanne, Matisse, Dufy and others. Paulucci's mother was from Montegrosso and the artist remained very attached to this place where he also lived for many years, producing numerous paintings in which he portrayed these splendid landscapes.

From whatever point you look up towards the upper part of the village, you see the castle and the adjoining parish church of Saints Secondo and Matteo, with its octagonal dome and the neoclassical pronaos. We thus reach the architectural heart of the village, first visiting the twentieth-century parish church, inside which an important panel depicting the Holy Family is kept. Arriving at the imposing medieval castle, we immediately notice an evocative tower, very tall and round. More than a castle, historically this building was a real fort, for a garrison of about forty men. But that's not all. In the village it's rumoured that in this manor, and more precisely right in that tower we liked so much, a ghost also lives. The people who told us about it say they've never met it, but they believe it's a friar whom the Ghibellines beheaded in 1328, when they conquered the tower.

It even seems that once a year trickles of blood also surface on the tower; in short, there's everything needed for a gripping novel to be set within these walls.