
The Wineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato.
50th Italian World Heritage Site
The first italian Vineyard cultural landscape
Dramatic views, delightful houses scattered on a hill that the succession of the seasons fondles bringing out the colours, the tastes, the history. In a dominant position, at the top of the village, a 1761 church with its great quality frescoes and what remains of the Castle, witness and actor of the wars that have plagued the Monferrato in '600: this is Ottiglio. A Cluster of houses following the curvature of the hill, making a circle shape around the central nucleus along the narrow and steep streets which climb up on top, facing outwards and looking at the magnificent hilly landscape. Then there's Moleto, the most beautiful village corner, ancient settlement dating from around the year One Thousand, with the mysterious Caves of Saracens, where for many years the locals spent their spare moments digging in search of the alleged Treasure of the Saracens. Treasure that no one has ever found it maybe because it is protected, as the legend goes, by the sorceress Alcina who in this context full of mysteries, light and shadow, it is said to appear again in the Valley during certain times of the year.
We are in Monferrato, the land that coincides today with the territory in the provinces of Alessandria and Asti but which previously extended to include Alba, Langhe, Basso Canavese, Oltrepò Vercellese and the border with Liguria. A territory proving in its long and rich history being a composite and changeable entity that rather than by territorial identity, lacking certain natural geographical boundaries, is characterized by the complex consolidation of a historical and cultural identity of the lands subject to the jurisdiction of the Marquisate first and Duchy then, of the Aleramici, the Paleologi, the Gonzaga respectively, and at the end of the Princedom incorporated into the Savoy’s Piedmont.