ACTIVITIES IN PIEMONTE

La Villa Hotel On-Site Activities

TRUFFLE HUNTING

The area around the hotel is a well-known truffle-rich terrain. We are fortunate that one of the best local hunters, Gianfranco, has his own private reserve 5 minutes’ drive from the hotel. Truffle hunting with him and his dogs, takes about 90 minutes through open fields and woods, a good pair of sturdy shoes or wellies is recommended (we have some available if necessary). At the end of the hunt, it will also be possible to purchase the products found.

Prices start from €75 per person depending on total participants with the possibility of a small tasting of local cold cuts and cheeses with an extra 25€ per person (to be booked in advance).

Please be informed that in case of rain, the hunt will be cancelled.

WELLNESS

Our intimate spa has a sauna, a hydromassage pool, a chromotherapy shower, a massage room and both indoor and outdoor relaxation areas. We offer the spa exclusively from 10am to 7.30pm in 90 minute slots and by appointment only. Spa entrance for couples - 20€ per person, price includes access to the spa and its facilities, bathrobe, towel, flip flops, drinks and fruit.

Cancellation for spa entrance and or treatments within 24 hours of booking is subject to a 100% fee.

The treatments take place in our massage room from 9:00 to 18:00 by reservation only:

Total Body Massages - 110 € per hour

Partial Massages - 60 € for 30 minutes

Facial Treatments - from 20 €

All the products used are completely natural and sourced from La Quintessenza, a local producer.

Off-site activities

WINE TOURS

Book a custom wine tour in Piemonte with Into the Vineyard (travel.intothevineyard.com).

TOUR & TASTING

Piemonte is the breadbasket of Northern Italy and there are as many passionate cheese, pasta, chocolate, salami, amaretti, honey, the list-is-endless makers, as there are wine producers.

Hazelnut and Amaretti

One-hour guided tour of the organic hazelnut groves of SediciFoglie in Mombaruzzo, where you will discover the various stages of processing of the product, from cultivation in the field to transformation into desserts in the laboratory. At the end, a rich tasting of their products and their amaretti biscuits. The price is €10/pax.

Cheese tastings

Giolito Formaggi in Bra: Visit to the sales point, the maturing cell, the cellars and their Museum of Cheesemaking Art. The tour lasts an hour and a half and costs around €35/pax. This includes the tasting of 10 types of cheeses accompanied by water and breadsticks with the possibility of adding wine pairings (price of the bottle excluded).

Borgo Affinatori in Asti: The tour includes a visit to the cave and a cheese platter with breadsticks and honey or jam. Possibility of visiting the refinement laboratory and pairing of 2 glasses of wine + a meal based on seasonal cheeses. The price is between €20 and €55 depending on the experience chosen.

Grappa tasting

Do you want to know how pomace, from a secondary product of wine production, becomes a wonderful distillate? You can visit the Berta Distilleries where you can see the distillation plants, the aging cellars and the alambicco museum, at the end you will be offered a tasting of 3 grappas. The tour is free and available every day from 9am to 10.30am and from 2pm to 4.30pm by reservation only.

Visit to chocolate and nougat factory

Davide Barbero in Asti: visit to the historic company with its nougat and chocolate production and the small museum of historical processing machines. At the end a tasting of chocolate and nougat with a glass of Moscato d’Asti will follow. Only 2 time slots available: 10.30am or 3pm. Price is 15€/pax.

Bodrato Cioccolato in Novi Ligure: 45-min visit to the roasting of beans and chocolate production area and tasting of 5 different types of chocolate with the possibility of purchasing the products. The visit has a total cost of €40 for up to 5 participants or €8/pax for groups of more than 5 people. Reservations from Monday to Friday 9-11 am or 2-4.30pm (visits are suspended the month before Easter holidays).

Out and About

We recommend visiting our picturesque local village Mombaruzzo, the little town of Nizza Monferrato but also Canelli for its unique “Underground Cathedrals”, historical underground wine cellars. You can’t miss Acqui Terme, a very attractive Roman spa town which still has its hot springs and old cobbled back streets, it still boasts viaducts and other Roman remains as well as an archeological museum. On Tuesday it also hosts a very nice local market.

Worth the travel Asti and Alba too, 40 min by car, they are quaint and attractive medieval towns with beautiful shops, archaeological museums and nice cafés.