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What’s up: Langhe, Monferrato, Roero
Ready for some art, culture, food, landscapes and education?!
Over the coming months, Langhe, Monferrato and Roero will come alive with a series of national and international events that encompass the outdoors, art, landscapes and culture. They constitute an extra reason for a break among the green spring hills, which vaunt an array of outdoor activities and gourmet specialities. However, the area also offers education and innovation, with a forum for tourism professionals, journalists, bloggers, students and start-ups to compare and improve their digital skills on the theme of Food and Wine, as part of the week of UNESCO celebrations.
Food Events & celebrations
It starts with the Slow Tourism Festival in Alta Langa, on 8th and 9th June: a weekend dedicated to all lovers of outdoor sports (athletes, competitors and families), offering sports such as trekking, MTB (also with e-bikes), free riding, horse-riding and Nordic walking, accompanied by qualified guides and instructors. The weekend will be held in in Alta Langa, the celebrated production area of the Piedmont Hazelnut IGP and PDO cheeses. Among its high hills, the typical vineyards of Bassa Langa gradually give way to hazelnut groves and thick woods, offering the ideal backdrop to outdoor sports in an unspoiled natural landscape. A dedicated website will soon be available for further information.
On the subject of landscapes, the end of June marks the 5th anniversary of the nomination of the Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Langhe Monferrato Roero is celebrating this important acknowledgement by holding a UNESCO Week from 17th to 23rd June 2019: seven days of important events spread over the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria to pay tribute to the art, flavours and music of the six sites that constitute the cultural-landscape heritage of the Lower Piedmont hills. The varied programme of the event includes the UNESCO PARTY at the castle in Grinzane Cavour on June 22nd, preceded by the Food & Wine Tourism Forum 2019 on 20th and 21st June, also in the medieval castle, one of the iconic locations of the culture of wine. The Forum is an event focusing on education, information and debate on the future of food-and-wine tourism. The programme will range from technical themes – some very specialized – to wider strategic ones, from social and digital communication to sustainability policies, international best practices, applied technology, video storytelling and food design. The many guests will include digital big players Google, Booking.com and TripAdvisor. Studies by ENIT, ISNART and Travel Appeal will be presented, and great attention will be given to wine tourism and the “best pairings”, particularly bicycle touring and outdoor tourism. It’s an unmissable event for understanding, learning and acting.
Music Festival & Concerts
Live music finds its natural stage among the Langhe Monferrato Roero hills, with live music events of national and international calibre. Barolo will once again host Collisioni, the Agrirock Festival, with its eagerly awaited concerts. The Festival will be held in the old town of Barolo on 6 and 7 July, and the following dates have so far been confirmed: Eddie Vedder on 17th June, Liam Gallagher on 4th July, Carl Brave & Max Gazzè on 5th July, Måneskin & Salmo on 6th July, Thirty Seconds To Mars on 7th July, Macklemore on 10th July, Calcutta on 13th July, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead on 16th July.
Also in the Langa of Barolo, this time in Monforte d’Alba, Monfort in Jazz offers a series of concerts in July and August in the spectacular setting of the town’s Auditorium Horszowski, mixing blues, ethnic music and singer-songwriters. The following dates have been confirmed: Marcus Miller on 9th July, Graham Nash on 12th July, Calexico and Iron&Wine on 26th July, Xavier Rudd on 28th July, and Mario Biondi on 3rd August.
Asti will host the 24th edition of AstiMusica, a music festival of national and international resonance, directed by Massimo Cotto. The concerts will be held in the cathedral square. Although the programme is not yet definitive, many dates have already been confirmed: Lacuna Coil on 3rd July, America on 4th July, Negrita on 5th July, Donatella Rettore on 6th July, local talent show Asti God’s Talent on 7th July, Morgan & Andy of Bluvertigo with Massimo Cotto on 8th July, Bobby Solo and The Broadcash Play Johnny Cash on 9th July, Treves Blues Band special guest Dennis Greaves in “70 IN BLUES” on 11 July, Edoardo Bennato on 12th July, Rancore on 13th July, I Farinej D’la Brigna on 14th July, and The White Buffalo on 17th July.
The Monferrato On Stage festival, on the other hand, will be staged in 16 towns across the province of Asti. The fourth edition will commence on 30 June and will end with two concerts in the city of Asti itself on 20th and 21st September.
Art & Culture
The Creativamente Roero artist residencies return to the winegrowing region of Roero, in the villages of Monticello d’Alba, Pocapaglia, Vezza d’Alba and Sommariva del Bosco from June to October 2019. The theme of the second edition of the event, which aims to promote Roero’s historical villages and sites associated with wine and creativity by pairing each municipality with an artist, is woods and the relationship with nature. Sabrina Oppo, Johannes Pfeiffer, Gian Luca Favetto and Emiliano Bronzino are the artists involved in the project, hosted by Monticello d’Alba, Pocapaglia, Vezza d’Alba and Sommariva Perno respectively. An initial reconnaissance week was already held between 28th March and 1st April, during which each artist was accompanied on a tour of discovery of the village and its surrounding area to find the place to create their work and draw on the inspiration offered by the setting. After a 3–4-week period of residency in the assigned village in September, the artists will unveil their works on 13 October during an event that concludes the programme.
