View over the Hills by Moonlight: A Trip to Tagliolo Monferrato

When you sip a good glass of Dolcetto d'Ovada, the typical wine of this area, you are enraptured, through the senses, into a world of extraordinary beauty. During the long months of work, immersed in the greyness of the big city, one almost forgets that there exist hills so green, a sky so blue even in autumn, and a tranquillity as deep as in the places where that wine is produced. We chose, for a weekend of relaxation in the name of good air and long walks in the midst of nature, a locality immersed in this wonderful landscape: Tagliolo Monferrato. As its name reveals, we are in the Alto Monferrato, a hilly area that connects Liguria to Piedmont. The Po plain is a few kilometres away, but from here you cannot see it: those arriving from Milan or Turin have already left it behind, those coming instead from Genoa do not encounter it.

Framing the breathtaking view of the gentle hills and vineyards are the mountain chains of the Ligurian Apennines. Reaching Tagliolo, a town with a name of medieval origin, which recalls the deforestation activity started in that period to create new cultivable spaces, is simple: from the big cities of the North it takes about an hour of travel, while from Genoa half an hour is enough. We exited at the Ovada toll booth, and after not even ten minutes we had already arrived at our destination, the Cà Bensi farm, where the Agriturismo Al Chiar di Luna is also located. We settled into the bright rooms of the farmhouse, and immediately set off to discover the town.

It is a true jewel-locality, in which you breathe the mysterious air of medieval towns, especially thanks to the suggestive Castle of Tagliolo, still privately owned and venue of important events, but also thanks to the beauty of the little alleys. Among the colourful houses in perfect Ligurian style and the Mediterranean gardens, at times the view opens onto the vineyards of the valley, granting unique emotions. While we daydream about the history of a curious house with a tower that we noticed shortly before, we reach the site of the famous Mechanical Nativity scene, beside the Church. The Nativity scene extends over an area of about sixty square metres and is positioned in the shape of a horseshoe.

In a stage setting of the early years of the last century, you see a multitude of moving figures: the carpenter turning a piece of wood, a fisherman pulling the net near a small waterfall, a woman stirring polenta on the stove, a farmer with a horse ploughing a field, but also a friar ringing the bell. From the mechanical Nativity scene, visitable all year round, to the birds of rare species, the step is short: in Tagliolo there is an important Ornithological Museum, in which about nine hundred stuffed specimens of the local fauna are exhibited, including some very rare or endangered ones, as well as exotic species. After this long tour of the town, the pleasant tiredness and hunger made us return to the Farmhouse, where however we could not resist taking a further walk among the rows of vines. We admired the enormous bunches of grapes, almost ready for the harvest.

"We cultivate eight hectares of vineyard, of fairly old vines. We are of the idea that it is better to produce a little less, but pay the maximum attention to the quality of the wine", Federico, one of the owners, explains to us. Walking in the vineyards we also notice a photovoltaic system. "Thanks to this system our company is self-sufficient from an energy point of view", Federico adds. Here is a reality that thinks about the future: a green company, immersed in greenery, where moreover you eat very well: we ascertained it at dinner, savouring a typical menu: the agnolotti, a typical dish of the Ovada area, which here are always available. Our friends instead chose a seasonal first course, with mushroom sauce. In choosing the second courses, we let our wild side out, opting for excellent wild boar roasts. The menu also includes boiled meat, rabbit dishes, and in winter polenta.

Naturally we washed it all down with the wines produced by the farm: the Dolcetto d'Ovada, the Ovada docg, and the Monferrato bianco. We dedicated the rest of our weekend to long excursions on the paths among the hills and nearby woods, roads immersed in uncontaminated nature, along which you also come across small country churches of extraordinary beauty. When, once back home, we sip the wine bought at Cà Bensi, its authentic flavour will bring back to mind the beautiful days spent here, and will certainly make us want to return soon.

Francesca Bertha