Timid Art with a Medieval Charm: Horseback Trekking in Cassine

Just two steps up a tree-lined slope are enough to admire, from the shade of a pine, a landscape of rare beauty: the rust colour of the roof tiles, the red of the brick houses, the arches that bear witness to times gone by. Strolling through the streets of Cassine you are wrapped in a warmth and a tranquillity that would be unthinkable in a big city. As my gaze wanders from a bell tower to the green hills glimpsed in the distance, and my imagination begins to populate the alleys of the old town — which preserve, almost entirely intact, the memory of a suggestive medieval past — with knights, a song by Luigi Tenco comes to mind: "You, my dear old tree, you have been the castle of a kingdom and you don't even know it".

Luigi Tenco, the great singer-songwriter who sang the most visceral love, the most romantic and profound, was born right here, in Cassine, a town in the Alessandria area about 15 kilometres from Acqui Terme, where he lived — also often visiting Ricaldone, his mother's birthplace — until the age of ten, when his family moved to Liguria. But Tenco is not the only important artist born in Cassine: the town, mentioned as territory of the bishopric of Acqui as early as 10th-century documents, also gave birth in 1912 to a distinguished painter, Franco Sassi. Several of the artist's works are kept at the Pinacoteca Civica in Alessandria, and five of his watercolours can even be admired at the British Museum in London.

Few painters have known how to paint fog as he did: the farmhouses in his watercolours capture the imagination even though they are veiled by timid brushstrokes of genuine Piedmontese fog. His "Medieval Landscapes" are famous because they pay homage to the 14th-century Church of San Francesco, a marvellous Lombard Gothic monument in Cassine, turning it into a fantastic element through surreal pictorial visions.

But in Cassine art is not only in paintings and music: it is also breathed in the way people think and work. Last summer, with a group of friends, we decided to leave the city behind and turn ourselves for a few days into knights of times past, rediscovering the nature of the hills of Alto Monferrato through exciting horseback trekking trips. We found the ideal place to launch into this reinvigorating adventure at La.Ti.Mi.Da., a farm stay run by four young siblings, who managed to convey to us their genuine love for the farming world and for nature. "Not everyone in life can afford to choose, and for this reason many are dissatisfied and at times feel they are suffocating. We only suffer when we are far from home.

Like when, as children, an illness wouldn't let us spend our days chasing crickets, or saddling the horse and losing track of time wandering among the woods and vineyards of our beautiful hills", Francesca told us, and we could see that it is all true: when she or her sister Danila talk to their horses, the animals really seem to understand their words. In their stories animals are the absolute protagonists, and as they recount the story of a little goat they saw born when they were small, they introduce us to other four-legged friends, including some beautiful tortoises and even a very funny sleepy ferret.

After the horseback rides we gave ourselves up to the pleasures of the palate, without denying ourselves anything: from the five starters right through to the wine, we enjoyed abundant and succulent dinners based on typical local products, prepared with imagination and an artistic touch, such as the risotto with strawberries and rose petals. We also tasted the homemade ravioli, the game and the tarts made with jam, a "gift" of the fruit trees that grow near the old farmhouse. Even our friend, who suffers from gluten intolerance, was able to enjoy her meals exactly like us, because the farm stay specialises in gluten-free cooking. After dinner, the concert could not be missing: that of the crickets, of course, which we listened to sitting on the terrace while our friends the horses rested in the stables.

We came back from this long weekend not only full of fun experiences, witnessed by countless photos we took of the beautiful horses, but also with a renewed love for the simple, authentic things in life. As well as returning to Cassine in summer, we are thinking of popping over in September too, when the famous Medieval Festival takes place, the only historical re-enactment in the province of Alessandria. After all, we are already knights; becoming medieval knights will be the next step...

Francesca Bertha

For information:

0144/715371