Living la dolce vita: A wine and dine tour in Piedmont, Italy

Our magical culinary tour around Piedmont lays down a marker barely an hour after landing as our driver Alberto, taking us to the beautiful and historic Castellana San Giovanni in the small town of Saluzzo, asks if we want to stop to get a quick coffee.
As we get out, we realise that the humble motorway service station is an Eataly, that global temple to Italian gastronomy, with incredible pizza al taglio – by the slice, Roman style – cream-filled cannoli, confectionery and a shop of produce to make us weep tears of envious joy back home in Asia. It’s a reminder of Italy’s innate ability to proudly celebrate food and wine like nowhere else.
We then race along the autostrada dei vini – the wine highway –  towards Saluzzo in north-western Italy, close to the French border. Rows of fruit trees and vines underline that this is prime agriculture country, home to stellar produce, much of which ends up in dishes served on pristine white-linen tablecloths at Castellana San Giovanni.
The restaurant sits underneath a fabulously atmospheric 15th century former convent, now a hotel of 13 rooms. If the walls could talk, you’d be in for a sequel to The Name of the Rose.
Looking through the bedroom window, church bells ring out right on cue as views stretch over terracotta roof tiles down to the vast plain of verdant agricultural tracts, with snow-capped mountains far on the horizon.
Saluzzo’s unmissable medieval sights include the imposing castle dating from 1280, the flamboyant Gothic interior of San Giovanni church and the undisputed gem of Casa Cavassa, a sixteenth century Renaissance style mansion. As we walk along narrow cobbled streets, nonnas lean out of ancient windows and watch the world go slowly by.
The entrepreneur behind the hotel and restaurant at Castellana San Giovanni is Matteo Morello, a Saluzzo boy who has also taken authentic Piemontese cuisine to new heights in Hong Kong. There, his restaurant is also called Castellana and sits just steps from the swanky Landmark mall in Central. It boasts one of the city’s finest collections of Italian wines and last year even took over the mantle from three Michelin-starred Otto e Mezzo as host of the famed annual white truffle auction.
At dinner in Saluzzo, one end of the vaulted brick dining room features a wall of the finest Barolos, Barbarescos and more, reflecting the region’s god-like wine status. Above the dining tables hang dried local herbs including oregano and sage, as well as wildflowers, eucalyptus and lavender.
The paired tasting menu begins with a glass of Perrot-Batteux Champagne, before elegant little amuses-bouche including a crispy ball of tuna and lemon and a tiny eclair filled with Parmesan cream, topped with truffle caviar from the famed local producer of white truffle foods, Tartuflanghe.
With the mood set by a soundtrack ranging from soft vocal jazz to Pharrell Williams, multigrain bread came with the whitest and creamiest local butter – the brilliant service team explain that this part of Italy is much more about butter than olive oil.
An elegant explosion of green heralded the first course, a carpaccio of octopus with an apple sorbet and parsley oil, finished with celery water. Next, thinly sliced cauliflower emerges from under a cauliflower foam which is topped with ginger and coffee granules. If it sounds unusual and unexpected, it was touched by genius as all the elements worked in beautiful, surprising harmony.
Nebbiolo Francesco Clerico 2021 paired with a plate featuring Jackson Pollock-esque splashes of parmesan cream and Marsala sauce. They served as the base for a flawless risotto al funghi – even if, sadly, we were a couple of weeks too early for white truffle season.
The primi brought a vitello tonnato like no other. Capers – they grow wild all over Saluzzo, sprouting from cracks in ancient walls like culinary weeds – and anchovies were formed into a crumb around Fassona beef, served atop a puree. Sublime eating, it was perfectly paired with a 2019 Barolo from Ceretto, an especially apt choice as the legendary winery was one of our destinations the following day.
It started with a visit to Saluzzo’s centuries-old market where our guide proudly pointed out local cheeses and ‘bianca di Saluzzo’, white roosters loved for their flavour and texture. They’re often eaten in a cold salad with aspic jelly, while other local specialties include filled ravioli called gobbi, or ‘hunchbacks’, as well as moreish rum-filled chocolate pralines called Saluzzese – get them from Pasticceria Delsoglio.
Our next stop of Ceretto, one of Italy’s most spectacular vineyards, sat a 40-minute drive away. Established in the 1930s, they craft legends such as Dolcetto, Barbera, Barolo and Barbaresco across a total of 170 hectares in four local estates – we learn that one hectare of land in Barolo costs between three and five million euros.
The Ceretto family were one of the first to invest in an on-winery tasting room and they built one of Italy’s most striking in the form of a large plastic bubble, based on the form of a grape on a stalk, which overlooks the hills of Barolo. A morning tasting revealed joys including Blangé, crafted from Arneis grapes, as our host explained: “If you’re not Italian, you don’t know how iconic Blangé is! It’s perfect for aperitivo, with fish or white meat, while there’s residual sugar which matches spices in Asian food and tiny bubbles which make it extremely fresh.”
The other standout was a Barbaresco Bernadot 2021, made from Nebbiolo and considered a very strong vintage, elegant with tight tannins. Ceretto have been certified organic since 2015 and their biggest market proudly remains Italy, although they export to more than 60 countries. Incidentally, the family’s patriarch Bruno Ceretto is 87 – and still in the office daily.Next came a visit to the castle of Grinzane Cavour, an 11th century UNESCO world heritage site atop a hill in the heart of Langhe. This magical, medieval place houses an engaging wine museum, the annual white truffle auction, celebrating 25 years this year, as well as a Barolo auction at the end of November, selling bottles en primeur.
It’s also the home of the envy-inducing Order of the Knights of Truffle and Wines of Alba, made up of more than 2,000 global members, who gather to indulge in both every autumn. Our visit was for lunch and showed just why chef Alessandro Mecca is so highly regarded in dishes including a sensational black risotto with squid and Moroccan lemon. Such accomplished cooking was also remarkable value, as the seven-course tasting menu with five local paired wines ran S$220 (US$167) per person.
We spent our penultimate night at another castle, Castello di Guarene, a flamboyant Relais & Chateaux property with just 12 suites. It dates from 1726 when a local wine, silk and wheat producer called Count Carlo Giacinto made it his incredible home.
Most of it has been left untouched, meaning that a dazzling array of original antique furniture graces the palatial communal rooms as well as the suites. Ours felt like something from a fairytale thanks to huge high ceilings with original Murano glass chandeliers, exquisite, tessellated floors, original frescoes, silk wall coverings and a canopied four poster bed which must have been 15 feet high. To cap it all, on opening the window, the views swept between the perfectly manicured gardens to the rolling hills and fertile plains of the Langhe.
It’s worth exploring the rest of the castle, notably Sale Cinesi, the extraordinary Chinese rooms which are decked in original 18th-century handmade wallpaper. Surprisingly they also offer an impressive Wellness Centre with a pool, sauna, steam bath and treatments, as well as a terrace with more jaw-dropping views, but soon dinner came calling at Limonaia.
It was another memorable setting for our dinner. Nine vaults of fine brickwork were covered in original frescoes of landscapes and prominent Renaissance figures, while more chandeliers and gilded mirrors added to the grandeur.
The four-course menu started with another take on vitello tonnato, with veal rump cooked at low temperature in a tuna emulsion, with capers and Cantabrian anchovies. Next, fabulous Plin agnolotti were filled with a mix of rabbit, pork and beef, served under a demi-glace sauce which demanded a ‘scarpetta’ – the Italian tradition of using bread to mop up every last drop.
That famed local cockerel appeared in the main course, having been marinated in ginger, yuzu and rosemary, then served with a chargrilled corn purée and asparagus. Unsurprisingly, a castle in the heart of Piedmont has an astonishing wine cellar, so oenophiles should ask to be taken down to see it in all its glory.
Finally, we head to Milan. Although Turin is the capital of Piedmont, Milan has by far the best-connected airports in northern Italy and is less than a two-hour drive from the hills of Barolo. Our last night came in another historic beauty with enviable dining, Four Seasons Milano.
Just as in Saluzzo, this hotel was once a Franciscan convent back in the 15th century, meaning more Renaissance architecture to admire, from original cloistered walkways to vaulted ceilings, frescoes in some guest rooms and even a preserved Chapel.
Today lifted by extensive new buildings channelling contemporary luxury, it’s brilliantly located in the heart of Milan’s fashion district, with boutiques, jewellers and galleries tempting at every turn. The famed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the scene of countless Instagram posts, is just a short stroll away, as is the city’s iconic Duomo cathedral.
Executive chef Fabrizio Borraccino leads the gourmet restaurant Zelo, crafting local classics with contemporary twists. It’s a lovely setting too, with daylight flooding the interior, but seats on the terrace amidst the cloister garden are obviously the most sought-after.
From the dinner menu, our final iteration of vitello tonnato on the trip bought veal from the famed Italian butcher, Damini, along with tuna, taggiasca olives and capers, making for another brilliant rendition of the Piemontese classic.
Next, carnaroli gran reserva rice was teased to perfection in a risotto, with crab and fragrant basil adding their own notes. Finally, there was perfectly cooked poached red snapper served atop Risina di Spello, a tiny type of bean, almost rice grain in size, grown in a small village in Umbria.
The other local ingredients on the plate were cime de rapa, better known as broccoli rabe. or the slightly less glamorous translation of ‘turnip tops’, long with a Piennolo tomato, harvested from the slopes of Mt Vesuvius – a fitting way to end an unforgettable Italian culinary journey.