By Bike in Tassarolo, Under the Protection of Saint Roch

Who would ever have thought it possible to enjoy a long holiday weekend between bike excursions and authentic Ligurian cuisine while staying under the Madonnina yet at the same time in the hills of Lower Piedmont? The secret of this unique experience lies in the choice of location: Tassarolo, in the province of Alessandria, a few winding kilometres from the road that leads from Ovada to Novi Ligure. We cross Capriata d'Orba and take the road that from Francavilla Bisio, home to a very pretty castle, leads to Tassarolo. The route is one of those that stay in your heart: gentle uphill bends, dotted with views of vineyards, woods, hills and green meadows. Tassarolo's patron saint is the Madonnina di Sant'Ambrogio, which is why the place feels familiar to Milanese people.

The patronal feast is celebrated every year on the second Sunday of September, with a religious service and a procession of the Confraternities. Our long weekend between bikes and good food, however, takes place under the protection of another saint, the one who also protects pilgrims, Saint Roch. The people of Tassarolo have always been devoted to Saint Roch, and his feast day, on 16 August, is always celebrated not only with religious services but also with cheerful festivals based on the typical dishes of the area. Having read these curiosities before our trip, we could not have chosen a better place to stay than the Locanda San Rocco. The inn's building was once a school, and after the school moved elsewhere, a young Ligurian couple, Cecilia and Gigi, came to renovate the building, still owned by the municipality, turning it into an elegant inn and restaurant.

We settle into the 'Ortensia' room, the most romantic one, while our friends take the 'Girasole' one, and we set off to discover the village. Tassarolo is a village full of pleasant surprises, starting with its name: while we were arriving here, we played at making guesses about its origin: someone said taxes were involved, someone else that Tassarolo is named after the badger. Asking around among the locals, we discover that we were all a bit right; in fact scholars credit both hypotheses, but also the one according to which the name would derive from 'tasso' meaning the yew tree, and moreover, according to the Marquis Marco Spinola, descendant of the historic dynasty still owning the Castle of Tassarolo, at the origin of the name would be the tassarie, which were heaps of hay or grain.

Today this place is a peaceful paradise for practising sports: trekking, trips, but also golf, and for regenerating amid nature, leaving behind the bustle of the big city. A few centuries ago, however, Tassarolo even minted its own coinage: it was one of the thirty-nine Piedmontese localities with the right of mint. There still exists a large building called 'La zecca' (the mint), adjacent to the Castle, which was presumably the place where the Spinola coins called luigini were struck. Another curiosity we discover chatting with the locals is that a private collection of vintage radios exists here. A gentleman born in Tassarolo in 1940, Fernando Ermanno Zarri, known as Nanni, a former radio telegraphist and lover of the world of radios, has collected and repaired many old radios that people had thrown away with the advent of television.

His collection was even exhibited in 1995, on the centenary of Marconi, and several television stations talked about it. We even managed to visit this curious museum; a single phone call was enough to make an appointment. Our other days pass under the banner of sport and good food: we covered thousands of kilometres by bike along the trails of the signposted routes nearby, and in the evening we rested in the flowered veranda of the Locanda San Rocco. It was like magically landing by the sea, in Liguria: Cecilia and her husband Gigi offer excellent Ligurian cuisine based on very fresh fish. We began with a citrus-marinated tuna carpaccio, then moved on to taglierini with lobster, seared amberjack on salt flakes and, to finish, a delicious warm tarte tatin with ice cream. We washed it all down with an excellent Gavi, the famous local wine, and with a Roverello di Broglia.

After this little holiday of ours as 'pilgrims of the bike and of taste', protected by Saint Roch, we can only agree with the badgers, whether animals or trees: in Tassarolo you really feel good.

Francesca Bertha

For information: Locanda San Rocco Via dei Martiri, 1 Tassarolo (AL) 0143/342418