Grinzane Cavour Castle

The castle of Grinzane Cavour stands in the municipality of the same name, in the heart of the Piedmontese Langa, famous for its truffles and wines. The municipality isn't far from Alba, the heart of the Langa. Grinzane Cavour was led for a short period by the prominent mayor Camillo Benso di Cavour, a figure who gave the town (and the castle) fame and publicity. The castle stands on a height, well preserved and restored; inside it contains a bar, a reception, a permanent exhibition and a luxurious restaurant. A small garden around the park provides greenery, and there's a large car park. The castle has several floors, and at the moment the floors can be visited with the guided tour (audio guide) of the exhibition dedicated to the Langa, to Cavour and to the past in the Langa. The audio guide is included in the entrance price.

The castle can be seen already from the state road leading to Alba when coming from Bra; in old brick, it's a very touristy and busy place; in the restaurant inside a wing of the castle you can enjoy typical, exquisite dishes and DOC wines. At the back of the castle you can find a little garden with benches and the toilets. From Grinzane Castle you enjoy a view over all the surrounding Langa with meadows, vineyards and cultivated plots. Castle visiting and opening hours valid all year: 9.00-12:00 / 14.00-18.00 The receptionists on the ground floor are available for information about the area and you can pick up free brochures and information leaflets about castles, tourist initiatives, etc. of the place. Near the castle there's a church and a half-bust of Count Camillo Benso di Cavour.

Address: Via Castello, 05 12060 Grinzane Cavour CN The visit took place on a day we were out "doing castles" in the Langa; between one castle and another we also went to Grinzane. The castle is in excellent condition, restored, visible from the road that connects Bra and Alba; you can see it and above all it towers from on high. Grinzane is a small hilly village of the Langa and the castle is the strong point, dedicated to Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, who was for a certain period mayor of the place. A plaque on the castle is dedicated to him, as is the bronze half-bust placed at the start of the little road that leads first to the church and then to the castle entrance, where at this time there's an exhibition dedicated to the truffle, the wines of the Langa, art, the truffle fair and the old trades and life of the Langhe.

The castle has several floors and in every room there's something interesting to see and...listen to; an audio guide is provided together with the entrance ticket. In the castle there are also some documents dedicated to Cavour, registers and documents compiled by him, his bedroom, some reproductions of Cavour's face and some paintings. 4.50 euros for entry is well worth it, a nice hour's tour among wines and paintings, in one of the most beautiful castles of the Langa.... Attached to the castle there's a luxury restaurant that is often used for wedding lunches and business dinners. Entering, you immediately grasp the historical and artistic significance of the place; a reception is set up to give information and issue tickets, free leaflets.

You go in through a metal turnstile (we're not at a stadium), into a room dedicated to Cavour with a giant screen where he himself (a good actor impersonating him) talks about his life amid paintings and banners with photos of the castles of the Langa. You go up to the first floor to admire on the left a beautiful room, a room where meetings and councils took place, currently used for meetings etc. since it's in this castle that part of the activities of the famous Alba truffle fair take place. The room has comfortable little armchairs, frescoed coffered ceilings, banners with coats of arms and photographs of important men who have come here. A large old fireplace, inlaid wooden furniture, antique chairs, wooden benches. The room is very beautiful and spacious.

From here you move on to another room dedicated to the truffle, with a sort of little room where videos about truffles are shown. The little room is wooden and everywhere there are references to the famous tuber of Alba. Then you move on to a large room with beautiful frescoed ceilings — hunting scenes, cherubs, cupids, women, etc.... a ceiling definitely worth admiring. At the end of the room there's a large meeting table, on the side panels with advertising monitors, large signs with images and explanations in 3 languages about the wine and foods of the Langa. A projector casts on the floor a white light image of an alpini "pen". Original. Then you go into a narrow corridor with a little tower full of famous and historic wines, bottles of fine wine "on display".

At this point you reach the furnished rooms of the upper floors with display cases and more display cases to admire, containing all sorts of objects from the past and old settings, an old 1600s kitchen perfectly assembled, religious garments, 19th-century tools, and so on......there are lots of people admiring all this celebration of the Langa... We go up again and reach the top floor where in a large display case are exhibited the tools used by farmers in the early 1900s, Cavour's bedroom, the Count's documents, photographs,..... Coffered ceilings and frescoes everywhere. We're in a castle.....and what a castle. From on high you can see the inner courtyard occupied by the bar's little tables, and in a narrow corridor, a secondary entrance, there are paintings dedicated to Alba and another modern reception. On the way out the camera is smoking........

but my small store of culture grows, slowly. It's a very beautiful castle and I recommend everyone to go and visit it, for 4.50 euros...... moreover it's part of the "open castles" initiative that takes place every year in Piedmont and beyond. Children will perhaps get a bit bored here... but whoever loves the Langa and castles... will be in seventh heaven!!