Daily Tours of Piedmont Italy
Piedmont – Piemonte in Italian – owns its name to its geographical position. Piedmont means “at the foot of the mountain”. The Alps, in fact, embrace three sides of the region.
Piedmont is in the north west of Italy, where the country borders with France and Switzerland. It is famous for its excellent cuisine, its fine wines, the Alba white truffles, and the city of Torino. For the nature lovers, the mountainside and the beautiful lakes in the northern part of the region are just top notch. Any tour of Italy should include at least a half week in Piedmont.
Daily tours or longer experiences will immerse yourselves into this amazing part of Italy.
Piedmont counts five UNESCO world heritage sites and the largest concentration of vineyards in the world. It is a region of excellence. Piedmontours wants to show this side of the region, but also the back roads, the little family-run wineries, the small authentic restaurants.
Every experience of your tour of Piedmont will be private and intimate, and it is going to make you feel at home.
The main city of the Piedmont region is Torino. Torino has been Italy’s first Capital city. It became such in 1861, after the country unification, but just for a short period. Still today, it is possible to visit the numerous palaces and residences that the royal family wanted to build in the very heart of the city. If you desire to take a tour of Piedmont, you cannot miss its capital city.
Torino is the city of many things. Daily tours will have you discover that chocolate and coffee are among the protagonists of the scene. If you take a walking tour of Torino, you will have the chance to see the splendid historic cafés that opened here in the early ‘800 and ‘900. Most of them are well known for their specialties. The Bicerin, for example, takes the name from the drink it invented, a delicious mix of chocolate, coffee and cream. The modern history of Torino goes along with that of coffee. Three of the most renowned Italian coffee brand saw the light here: Lavazza, Vergnano and Costadoro.
Daily walking tours of Torino will also introduce you to the world of Vermouth. This liquorous wine flavoured with herbs and spices was invented here. At least the modern recipe was! The credit goes to Antonio Carpano. In 1786, Carpano experimented a mixture of sweet Moscato wine and spices. He offered the result to the then king Vittorio Amedeo III… who loved it!
The first Eataly store opened in Torino in 2007 thanks to Oscar Farinetti. The fortune of the Eataly stores is now worldwide, but here is where everything started. The first shop opened in what used to be the old Carpano Vermouth factory, right next to the Fiat car factory, in the Lingotto area of Torino.
If you are a food lover, daily walking tours of Torino can show you all this and a lot more. Coffee and chocolate tastings, Vermouth and Bicerin, and last but not least, gelato cooking show and labs!
From Torino, if you travel south, you will encounter the rolling landscapes of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato. These are the wine regions of Piedmont. All this area has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2014. That is for its history and beauty. Here the food and the wine culture meet the tranquillity of the countryside life. Daily tours in the Langhe area are a dream for wine lovers.
Daily or longer tours in the wine regions of Piedmont will introduce you to the secrets of wine making. You will learn the difference between the most famous wines. You will understand how to pair them with delicious food. Talk to the producers, and tour various wineries to get a better idea of what the real deal is. By touring the three wine regions, you will learn to compare the different kinds of soils that will give different structures to the various wines.
Arneis, Barbera, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo are just some of the most typical grape varieties. In fact, the Langhe hills are home to the “king of the wines”, Barolo. This is made with Nebbiolo grapes and aged for at least two years in wooden casks and one year in bottles. Barolo wine needs to age for five years to become a Riserva. The wait always pays off.
This part of Piedmont connects the coast of Liguria to the hilly countryside of Piedmont all the way to Torino. Piedmontours daily experiences will take you to the best location where to enjoy the vineyards, the castles, the hamlets. This daily tour of Piedmont offers a rich variety of experiences in the most authentic restaurants and wineries and cultural sites. Family run business or historic ones, let the adventure begin!
If you are a cheese lover, enjoy a daily tour up in the Alps and taste the delicious Piedmont cheeses. Among the most popular: Bra, Castelmagno, Murazzano, Raschera, Robiola, Toma. Any tour of Piedmont should include a cheese tasting. This daily tour of Piedmont will take you to the perfect location where to discover the story of one of the most famous Italian cheese producer.
The Cheese tour will take place in a small Alpine village accuratly selected to become the ageing place for the cheese. Almost daily a track travels from the valley down below and brings fresh cheese to the mountain village. Here three large cellars awaits. The fresh mountain air, the pure spring water and the high level of humidity create the perfect condition for the cheese to age.
Tour the cheese ageing cellar and immerse yourself in the tranquillity of this cozy village. After the private visit, a delicious meal will follow. Cheese and polenta are the two protagonists of the menu. But you will be able to choose among many other traditional delicacies as well.
The south of Piedmont also hosts the famous “Salt Route”, the Via del Sale. Along this road, you can find one of Italy’s true hidden gems: the Sanctuary of Vicoforte. A place of Cristian devotion – its history dates back to the end of the 16th century – today open to the public. Piedmont tour will take you here for a daily tour and you will have the chance to climb the almost three hundred steps all the way to the top of the copper Dome of the Sanctuary of Vicoforte.
Can you imagine admiring the Alps and the surroundings at about 177 feet high while you walk next to frescos that date back to hundreds of years ago? Get ready to tell your friends you have climbed the fifth largest dome of the entire world! The dome of Vicoforte is in fact the fifth largest dome of the world after the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican, the Pantheon in Rome, Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and the Gol Gumbaz Mosque in India.
This dome is the largest in its genre. This is the largest elliptical dome in the world.
Daily tours of Piedmont have so much to offer. Centuries of history, art and architecture. And today Piedmont is also renowned for its superb culinary art. The city of Alba, the heart of the Langhe hills, is worldwide famous for its white truffles. The white truffle of Alba – tartufo bianco d’Alba – is delicately shaved on top of eggs or fine pasta dishes. This special truffle is only found in the fall and in the winter time. But other kinds of truffles grow all year long.
Daily tours in the Langhe area will introduce you to the world of truffles and truffle hunting. The truffle hunting experience is one of the most traditional experiences to do while you tour Piedmont. While walking through very special woods, you will learn how truffles grow and when they get to maturation. You will learn all the regulations about truffle hunting in Piedmont, and how dogs are trained as well. This daily tour is fun and illuminating! A fabulous truffle tasting is the ideal conclusion to this daily tour in Piedmont.
Travel designer & Tour guide at Piedmont Tours
I'm the founder of Piedmontours, if you wish to start creating your dream trip to Piedmont, contact me!
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