Asti and the surrounding

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Only an hour by train from Turin is this city with a long history. Asti has many grandiose palazzo and churches, especially those tower own by rich families, the city was known as the city of 100 towers in the old day and now only 12 still survive. the most famous are the 13th century Torre Troyana and the oldest surviving tower Torre Rosso that could date back to Roman era, said it was actually part of the ancient city wall as a small part of the wall could be found nearby, in fact...Sections of the ancient Roman city walls remain on the North side of the city. The Corso Vittorio Alfieri is the main historic street where most of the museum located. The city Cathedral is the Santa Maria Assunta with all the interior wall covered by painting, very impressive! The most well known event in Asti is the bareback horse race - Palio di Asti, held in late September every year, said to be the oldest in Europe, unfortunately I gonna miss it. It must be an incredible scene to see horse racing inside the old town! Asti old city still preserved its charm with narrow cobble street, now most turn into shopping quarter great for wandering around. I would not know about Asti if not for the work exchange program, and again I got a wonderful host family , they like to cook and eat, so we had different dishes every meal and I really got the chances to taste something authentic home cook. I thought they were just trying to impressed me but one day we went to the local supermarket, I asked my host why there were no instant can food in there? "because we really like to cook" was the answer! Asti and the nearby Alba is the important wine production area in this region, and the name Barolo is highly rated. One afternoon they drove me to a lovely small village La Morra in Alba region where there is a view point for the vineyard in the area. There are many nice village near my host family, I could easily hike out in my free time, Azzano D'Asti and Rocco D'Arazzo offered enjoyable day trip.

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