Italy Travel And Hotel Guide

Asti’s tourist office is on Piazza Alfieri (Mon-Sat 9.30am-1pm & 2.30-6.30pm, plus occasional summer Sundays 10am-1pm; tel 0141.530.357, fax 0141.538.200), and has information on the Palio and maps of the town. If you’re intending to go to Asti on the Palio weekend, book a room well in advance; at other times there should be little problem. The best of the inexpensive options are the conveniently sited Cavour at Piazza Marconi 18 (tel 0141.530.222; L90,000-120,000/¬46.48-61.98) and the slightly cheaper Genova , Corso Alessandria 26 (tel 0141.593.197; L60,000-90,000/¬30.99-46.48). As somewhere renowned for its food perhaps should, Asti has a wide choice of restaurants , ranging from basic and cheap pizzerias like Monna Laura , Via Cavour 30 (closed Mon), to places serving local cuisine like Trattoria Aurora , Viale Partigiana 58 (closed Mon), and the excellent Gener Neuv , Lungotanaro dei Pescatori 4 (closed Sun evening and Mon). If you’re into spumante or want to sample the other wines of the region, there is a wine festival from the second Friday to the third Sunday in September, the Festa della Douya d’Or, with wine tastings in the piazzas of the centro storico from primeval evening until midnight.

Tags: alfieri, piazza, sat 9, tourist office