Author: La Cascina Langa

At about 10 minutes by car, and about two hours walk, there is the splendid Mombaldone, rightly elected to be one of the most beautiful villages in Italy.

To reach it on foot or by bicycle, you can pass by the village of Denice, take a small road (via Mombaldone) that starts a few steps from the center of the Denice weighing area and stay at high altitude.

You enter the old Mombaldone from an ancient door and you are revealed in front of the country that has remained as such for centuries: a central street paved in stone and houses and houses on the sides, all in stone … at a certain point a small square opens up that seems painted, with two churches side by side of the sweet baroque country style … At the top, there is a castle of which only the square plan remains, which was, like the whole village, owned by the Marquises del Carretto, one of the noblest families of Italy, which owned much of Piedmont and Liguria.

Marquise Gemma and Marquis Umberto … you can easily meet them, because among all the possessions they chose to stay right there, in Mombaldone. Gemma is an artist and has embellished the village with paintings, rhymes written on tiles; Marquis Umberto, on the other hand, opened a special restaurant, the Hereafter in a part of the noble palaces, where he proposes exquisite dishes of the Piedmontese noble tradition and receives the guests in rooms and lounges that look like the set of a film set in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and instead … they are really authentic!

Town festivals and fairs :

The fritters festival is held at the end of May

The festival of medieval Mombaldone, with re-enactments of period costumes, has been suspended in recent years: a real shame.

The admirable Bormida Monastery Castle can be reached in 6 minutes by car, but it is fun and pleasant to go there on foot or by bicycle from La Cascina Langa, passing through the hamlet of Santa Libera. The outward journey, on foot or by bike, is easier than the return, because it is downhill … so it is possible to calculate about 1 hour on foot and 20 minutes by bike, with times to double for the return, because the difference between La Cascina Langa (480 m asl and Monastery, 191, is almost 300 meters).

The castle was initially built and inhabited by monks, who produced huge quantities of wine already many centuries ago; it then passed to feudal lords, knights, and noble families … but the enormous underground cellars, very suggestive, remained and are worth the visit! Today the castle belongs to the Municipality that leaves free admission or offers a guided tour for 6 euros per person (lower rate for groups) and rents it for ceremonies and events.

The base is medieval, like the defensive walls, the drawbridge … but over the centuries it has been enriched with details: the original bell tower has become an imposing tower, the sixteenth-century loggia, seventeenth-century frescoes in the great rooms of the noble floor.

For those arriving from La Cascina Langa following the suggested narrow road, the entrance to the Castle is through the authentic Romanesque bridge.

Stopover for those who go on foot or by bike, the tiny fraction of Santa Libera consists of a small religious building but above all a little school … which has a beautiful story. In the first half of the twentieth century, the inhabitants of the surrounding hills did not have a school where to send their children: the present roads were modest paths, therefore they lived in substantial isolation, with rare episodes downstream in the summer months on foot or board wagons or beasts. To ensure basic education for their children, therefore, the peasants of these hills all built the little school together and looked after its maintenance. Inside the school, they had made the room-home for the teacher, who lived there for the duration of the school year and in turn, brought her food to eat and wood to keep warm … Other times!

Santa Libera was also the base and hiding place of the partisans during the struggle for Liberation.

Town fairs and festivals in Bormida Monastery:

Second Sunday of March: Polenta Festival. A beautiful, very ancient festival, evocative and deeply felt by the local inhabitants. An enormous cauldron is brought to the medieval square in front of the Castle and a giant polenta (10 quintals!) Is cooked early in the morning, while other stalls of local gastronomic wonders converge on the spot. At lunchtime, the polenta is served and in the afternoon there is a costume parade with over 100 participants.

The Polenta Festival recalls an act of great generosity made by a Marquis del Carretto, who had seen the magnin coming from a neighboring country, that is the specialized craftsmen of the repair of pots and pots. One year he saw them arrive exhausted with hunger and starvation and offered abundant quantities of polenta, omelets, and other food. The same festival is also held in some neighboring countries on other dates in Ponti, in Bubbio, in Roccaverano.

Montechiaro d’Acqui Alta. It is an ancient village located at the top of the hill on the other side of the valley from La Cascina Langa. To get there by walk you descent from La Cascina Langa to Montechiaro Piana, then uphill from Montechiaro Piana to Montechiaro Alta.

Perched around a castle that has been demolished, Montechiaro Alta preserves the charm of the ancient village that has remained almost intact in the cobblestone streets, stone staircases, small and delightful houses, with the church of San Giorgio and its carved stone portal … A little gem is the little church of Santa Caterina, which is located slightly isolated on a hill in front of the castle. Today deconsecrated, it has been transformed into Farming Museum, and the Municipality can make it available for events or celebrations of weddings and civil rites. In Montechiaro Piana, for the curious of ancient architecture, a baptismal font that dates back to the eighth century AD has remained intact .. a large basin where baptism by immersion was practiced; for those who appreciate proto-industrial architecture, the little-used red-brick chimney is the only remnant of an important furnace.

Town fairs and festivals in Montechiaro :

On the first Sunday of May, in Montechiaro Alta, the anchovy festival takes place, Anciuada del Castlan. It has an ancient tradition because these lands were transit nodes of salt and salted fish that went from Liguria to the Po Valley. Arrived on the back of a mule in these lands, anchovies were also exchanged for local products: wine, cheeses, and Piedmontese meats.

This festive occasion coexists with another re-enactment: the feast of the Holy Thorns, which recalls the transport, by a crusader knight, of some thorns of the crown of Jesus: he had found them in the Holy Land and he took them to Montechiaro.

To commemorate the event, therefore, every year 12 men from Montechiaro dress in the flagellant costume and after Mass, they carry the Holy Thorns around the streets and alleys of Montechiaro Alta. On the occasion of the Anciuada and the Holy Thorns, various local producers of food and wine delights converge in Montechiaro. Visitors can taste the anchovy sandwich combined with a sauce based on wonderful herbs prepared by the Montechiarese ladies, plus wine, cheese, salami, etc.

8 December: Fat Bue Festival, held in Montechiaro Piana. It is the competition of the best bovine specimens, which converge in different heads from various farms in the area, and are carefully observed by local farmers. Local authorities and industry experts converge to form a very serious jury. The best ox and his master win a prize. But the festival is a feast for the whole town: markets, games in the square, and lunch of boiled meat prepared by excellent local cooks, along with other typical dishes.

For those coming from the city, this festival is an interesting opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Piedmontese breeders, to admire their attention and their competence towards cows, calves, and oxen.