Cascina Desderi
The vineyard apartment hotel “Cascina Desderi” has a hilltop location on a “collina” in the state of Piedmont in the north-western corner of Italy. The Po Plain is sloping ever so slightly from the spring green rice fields around Alessandria, through the rolling hills of Monferrato - ending in the French Alps. The name Piedmont – in Italian Piemonte – derives from the words foot and mountain. Thus this area is located at the foot of the mountain ridge separating Italy from France.
Piedmont is Italy’s second biggest state, just a few square miles smaller than the island of Sicily. It is, however, the largest and most influential when it comes to food, wine and culinary importance. Piedmont is lush and green the whole year – where Tuscany is brown and burnt in the summer and fall, Piedmont offers green meadows, lush gardens, rolling hills and vineyards. And the vineyards are exactly what the area is famous for. On every hilltop, ridge and southern and western exposed slope, you are likely to find vines – straight as arrows with its branches intricately entwined to allow the sun to shine on the cluster of grapes to grow sweet and bountiful for the harvesting.
Towns like Barolo, Barbaresco, Asti and Alba are associated with the rich, strong and full bodied – “corposo” - wines produced from the Nebbiolo and Barbera grapes. These grapes are unique for this part of Italy and thrive in the climate and soil that this region has to offer. You may associate Asti with Asti Spumante, the sweet and bubbly wine offered at discount rates in the supermarkets. But don’t be fooled! The region also produces the dry and sparkling wine on par with the champagne on the other side of the mountains. If you think Alba sounds familiar, you may associate the name with the white truffles – a culinary delicacy only to be found in the rich Piedmont soil. (The majority of all white truffles are, however, grown in and around Asti).
Asti is located more or less in the geographical center of Piedmont – Torino is half an hour away and Genoa one hour away (by train). Milan is a good hour away from Asti. It is easy to reach Asti by train as well as car. Torino Airport (or Turin) is situated northwest of the city, while Asti is southeast. From your arrival at Torino until you disembark the train in Asti, it does not take more than an hour. The vineyard Cascina Desderi is only a matter of 10 minutes away by car. From the Malpensa and Linate airports of Milan, the easiest way is to take the autostrada directly to Asti – use the Asti Est (East) exit – from here it takes less than 10 minutes to reach Cascina Desderi.
