Grinzane Cavour is a little borough which celebrates Camillo Benso count of Cavour, who has been the mayor for 17 years. Camillo Benso owned many territories and he experimented new enological methods and thanks to his experiments, he can be considered along with the marquise Vitturnia Coulbert Falletti of Barolo, one of the fathers of this wine.
What to see
The parish church of Maria Vergine del Carmine has been reconstructed in the first half of the XVII century and it has been amplified in 1890. The structure has a neoclassical façade and three altars: the major, the one dedicated to Santa Lucia and the other of San Bovo. In 1833 it become the parish church at behest of Camillo Benso of Cavour.
The parish church of Maria Vergine Immacolata was built in the first ‘40s of the last century to cope with the growing population and it became an independent parsonage in 1940.
The castle dates to the XI century, even if its architectural elements belong to the XVI century. At the beginning of 1800, the marquises of Cavour bought the castle with its 200 hectares of territory. The count Camillo Benso became mayor of Grinzane on September 1832 and he continued to administrate the municipality and his territories until 1848. After his death, in 1861, the castle and his territories were inherited by his niece, Giuseppina Benso and then, by her daughter, Adele, who gave all these properties to the municipality of Alba in 1932. Since 1948 Grinzane is an independent municipality again and consequently the castle belongs both to Alba and Grinzane. Today the castle hosts the Enoteca Regionale Piemontese, the Ethnographic Museum, the memorabilia of Cavour, the room of the masks and an important restaurant. It is also the headquarter of the Ordine dei Cavalieri del Tartufo e dei vini di Alba e dell’Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi (ONAF).
Thanks to its good conditions since 2014 the castle is part of the Unesco World Heritage.
Eat & Drink
Here is where the crunchy Alba nougat is produced. In 1885 Giuseppe Sebaste decided to procuce it using the piedmontese hazelnuts instead of almonds.
What’s on
- Alba White Truffle World Auction: November
