A Belvedere with a View of Six Regions: A Weekend in Alice Bel Colle

A weekend was enough for us to discover the secret of living for more than a hundred years, and to do so we did not even have to face a long journey: in a little over an hour's drive from Milan, we reached Alice Bel Colle, a village located about 8 kilometres from Acqui Terme, at 418 metres of altitude, in a position that allows you to enjoy an unparalleled view. We are on the border between the Upper Monferrato and the Langa, and perhaps, in the mists of time, it was precisely Mother Nature who decided to give travellers this lovely surprise: a hill not too high to climb, but from which you can see as many as six of the nineteen Italian regions. As soon as we arrive at the Hotel Ristorante Bar Belvedere, Mr Giovanni, the owner who had created this establishment in 1956 together with his wife Bruna, takes us upstairs, onto the hotel's belvedere.

Around us we see immensity: vineyards as far as the eye can see covered with snow, whose whiteness is made even more intense by the rays of the Sun. "When there is no haze, from here you can see the Superga of Turin, but even now we can range with our gaze between Piedmont, the Aosta Valley, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. During the warm season we set up a professional telescope with which to scan the sky and the stars," Mr Giovanni tells us. Not far away, on the white background, the bell tower of a church stands out. In Alice Bel Colle there are several interesting churches: besides the Parish Church of San Giovanni, which preserves inside it a wooden pulpit and an eighteenth-century altar, we visited the fourteenth-century Confraternity of the S.S.

Trinità, the Sanctuary of the Fraschetta and the church of the Madonna del Poggio, where the statue of the Assunta by Giovanni Pellengo of 1795 is kept. The beauty of this village also inspires many artists: in Alice Bel Colle several painters and sculptors in fact reside, as well as musicians and poets. Luigi Tenco spent his early childhood in the very close Ricaldone, where every year thousands of people go to visit his grave. During our weekend in this enchanted place we also devoted ourselves to some lovely walks along the trails of the tourist routes, perfect also for mountain bike rides. Besides nature, in Alice Bel Colle the cellars also deserve a lot of attention; in fact Mr Giovanni accompanied us to visit some of them, as well as the amaretti factory of Mombaruzzo and the Berta Distilleries.

Until a year ago Alice Bel Colle was the longest-lived village in Italy: in fact, as many as four centenarians lived here, a huge number compared with the number of inhabitants of the town. One of these elderly people is still alive, and he is often seen around, walking through the streets of the village. And here is the elixir of long life identified: what makes people live so long is simply the good air you breathe here and the tranquillity, as well as the good food and wine of these lands. As aspiring centenarians, we did not spare ourselves at the table either, savouring succulent dinners based on local dishes at the Ristorante Belvedere. "It all began 55 years ago with a company of ex-servicemen. The first television in the village was here, at our bar. People came to watch the Sanremo Festival paying twenty lire.

Then when I got married, thanks to my wife Bruna, the restaurant took off as well. Now we still run it ourselves, together with our three children. Besides traditional cuisine, on the occasion of ceremonies our chef prepares refined dishes," Mr Giovanni tells us, who has also been awarded the honour of Cavaliere del Lavoro. We start our dinner with a rich appetiser, of 7-8 different dishes, including the raw meat tartare, the Catalan lobster, the vitello tonnato, the peppers with bagna cauda, the vegetable flan with Raschera cream. We follow these delights with the homemade agnolotti alla Monferrina, with roast sauce, butter and sage, and with the Castelmagno risotto with Barbera reduction. We cannot even resist the idea of tasting two tagliatelle with mushrooms.

In choosing the main courses our group divides between the braised meat with Barbera, the mixed boiled meats and the fillet with Barbera. We wash it all down with excellent local wines, tasting, besides the Barbera, also some Gavi and Arneis. We conclude the dinner in great sweetness with a house dessert with Moscato, an affogato with Brachetto and with some dry little biscuits called "brit e bon", that is, ugly but good. So as not to miss anything, at the end we even drank a small glass of Moscato, hoping to return here soon. Next time we will admire this panorama during the warm season and will also take advantage of the nearby pool, as well as the agreement with the Acqui spa, for mud treatments and other pampering.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION: Hotel Ristorante Bar Belvedere Piazza Guacchione, 9 Alice Bel Colle (AL) 0144/74300 0144/74139