The 7 best wine towns you can reach by train within 90 minutes of Torino
Autumn is when the Langhe and Monferrato make their case: fog sitting in the valleys until mid-morning, vines turning rust and gold on slopes too steep for machines, and the smell of fermenting Nebbiolo drifting out of cellar doors in the middle of a village. The houses here are brick and pale stone, roofed in worn tile, and the towns sit on ridges because the vineyards wanted the slopes. Tables run to tajarin cut thin as thread, agnolotti del plin, vitello tonnato, raw veal dressed with nothing but oil and lemon, and white truffle when the season allows it. Barbera in the everyday glass, Barolo and Barbaresco when something is being marked, Moscato and sparkling wine from the tufa tunnels cut deep beneath Canelli. Torino's Porta Nuova and Porta Susa put much of it within an easy regional train ride.
The wine map most people follow is small and well worn. Barolo village fills its car parks by late morning through harvest, La Morra's belvedere carries a queue for the same photograph of the Cannubi slope, and the enoteche along that stretch price themselves accordingly. It is a genuine landscape and the wine deserves the attention, but the road between the two is narrow, the coach traffic is constant, and a September Saturday there feels less like the countryside than a tasting fair with hills behind it. Most visitors arrive by hire car, which is part of why the villages feel full.
The hills do not stop at the famous names. The same Nebbiolo slopes carry on north into Roero and east across the Belbo and the Tanaro into Monferrato, where the cellars are older, the cru names less traded, and the towns still keep a station on a working line. Further out, the Dora Baltea valley grows Nebbiolo on terraces below the Alps, on the railway towards Aosta. These are the towns on that map, all of them in the national wine towns association, all of them reachable without a car.
Of the 34 communes we have mapped in within 90 minutes of Torino, 7 qualify as wine towns you can reach by train: each belongs to the national association of wine towns, and we have confirmed each is reachable without a car. The smallest, Verduno, has 567 residents.
Two more lists worth reading alongside this one: The best hidden hill towns you can reach by train within 90 minutes of Torino and The 6 best hidden towns you can reach by train that eat well within 90 minutes of Torino.
Verduno
Why visit Verduno
Verduno sits fifty kilometers south of Torino on a Langhe ridge above the Tanaro, its vineyards the only ones among the eleven Barolo communes to lean partly toward the river plain rather than folding back into the hills. That position, facing the water and the Alps beyond it, sets the village apart from the rest of the DOCG even before the wine is considered.
The other thing that sets it apart is Pelaverga Piccolo, a native black grape cultivated commercially in only three Langhe communes: Verduno, La Morra and Roddi. It yields a light ruby red with strawberry, rose and a distinct white-pepper finish, and the first single-variety Pelaverga vineyard on these slopes was planted in 1972.
Between the castle on the ridge and the vine on the plain-facing slope, Verduno holds two things most of its neighbors do not: a wine that is Barolo's own, structurally, and a wine that belongs to almost nowhere else.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Verduno
- Castello di Verduno. The castle stands on the Langhe ridge and passed to the Burlotto family in 1909, who still work it as a winery producing Barolo and Pelaverga.
- Centro storico. Small hilltop village arranged around the castle and the parish church, with views across the Tanaro and the northern Barolo vineyards.
- Vigneti di Pelaverga. Indigenous Pelaverga Piccolo plantings on the Verduno slopes, including the first single-variety Pelaverga vineyard planted in 1972.
How to get to Verduno
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 60 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June is the green window in the Langhe, hillsides striped between Nebbiolo and Pelaverga vines, mild evenings on the Verduno ridge. September and October are the harvest months: Pelaverga first, Nebbiolo last, with the surrounding cantine open for tastings and walking through the rows possible without crowds. July and August touch the low thirties on the hills; the centro storico thins after lunch and the cellar tastings move under stone vaults to stay cool.
Cocconato
Why visit Cocconato
Cocconato sits thirty kilometers east of Torino, on a ridge whose south-facing slope catches enough sun to keep olives, palms and mimosas alive this far north, the reason locals call the area the Riviera del Monferrato. From the tenth century the ridge was held by the Radicati counts, a Manfredian family, as an imperial fief for four hundred years, until 1586: the centro storico that survives is their seat, not a later reconstruction.
The town's two anchors sit close together but answer to different authorities. The civic palace, built in the fifteenth century, faces the seventeenth-century parish church of Santa Maria della Consolazione across the upper piazza, government and religion holding opposite ends of the same small square.
Beyond the built center, the ridge opens onto a belvedere looking south across vineyards toward the Alta Langa and, on clear days, the Monviso massif. Since 1970 the six frazioni of Airali, Brina, Colline Magre, San Carlo, Torre and Tuffo have raced their donkeys in the Palio degli Asini, a modern rivalry laid over an old administrative one.
Cocconato is the only commune in the province of Asti to hold the Bandiera Arancione, a fitting distinction for a ridge that has been organizing the same handful of parts, fief, palace, church, frazioni, for centuries.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Cocconato
- Palazzo Comunale. Pointed-arch porticoes and terracotta-framed windows on the Late Gothic facade, still the building the ridge town organizes itself around.
- Chiesa di Santa Maria della Consolazione. Seventeenth-century parish church anchoring the upper piazza, the religious counterweight to the medieval civic palace below it.
- Centro storico. Medieval ridge town that was the seat of the Radicati counts from the tenth century until 1586, well preserved on the south-facing slope.
How to get to Cocconato
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 57 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September through October are the months that earn Cocconato its Riviera nickname: dry warm days on the ridge, vineyards in green or gold, and the palms in the lower gardens visibly out of season. July and August are warm and busy, with Cocco Wine at the end of summer drawing crowds into the centro storico. November through March is the quiet half of the year.
Donnas
Why visit Donnas
Donnas sits at 322 metres at the south-eastern mouth of the Aosta Valley, where the Dora Baltea slows and the cliffs close in on the old road. The Romans built the Via delle Gallie through here in the first century BC to connect the Po Valley with Gaul, and a 221-metre stretch of paved road, cut for more than 200 metres directly into the bedrock, still survives with cart-wheel ruts in the stone, a single Roman arch, and a milestone marking the thirty-sixth mile from Augusta Praetoria.
The medieval village rebuilt itself against the cliff face after the 1176 landslide that destroyed the older settlement of Treby a kilometre west. Wine has been documented here since 1200.
In 1971, Donnas became the first Valdostan wine to earn DOC status: 85 to 90 per cent Nebbiolo, grown on terraced slopes along the Dora, vinified at the Caves Coopératives de Donnas above the historic centre.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Donnas
- Strada Romana delle Gallie. First-century BC Roman road carved directly into the bedrock for more than 200 metres, with surviving cart-wheel ruts, a single arch and a milestone.
- Arco Romano e Miliario. Roman arch cut from the rock and a milestone indicating the XXXVI mile from Augusta Praetoria, anchoring the surviving stretch of the Via delle Gallie.
- Borgo storico di Donnas. Medieval village rebuilt against the cliff face after the 1176 landslide that destroyed nearby Treby, with stone houses along the old consular road.
How to get to Donnas
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 85 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September through October are the working months in Donnas. The vineyards bud and leaf out in spring, the harvest runs through September into early October, and the lower-valley light is at its clearest. The Via delle Gallie is walkable year-round but most pleasant in shoulder seasons, when the rock-cut road is dry and the sun reaches the cliff face.
Castagnole delle Lanze
Why visit Castagnole delle Lanze
Fifteen kilometers south of Asti, Castagnole delle Lanze lies in the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont, on ground once crossed by a Roman road branching off the Via Aemilia between Acqui and Pollenzo. In the Middle Ages the lands belonged to the counts of Loreto, with Manfredo I the count most tied to the community; their castle, probably destroyed in 1255 when the contado fell, has not survived, and from the thirteenth century the town passed under the Comune of Asti.
The main square and Piazza Balbo hold the two churches that anchor the lower town, while the Parco della Rimembranza occupies the highest ground of the village, looking over the Tinella and Tanaro valleys. What remains is a settlement built in layers: a Roman route, a lost medieval castle, a pair of Baroque churches, and a nineteenth-century tower, each belonging to a different century and none of them replacing the one before it.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Castagnole delle Lanze
- Chiesa di San Pietro in Vincoli. Parish church of 1681 on the main square, Ligurian-Piedmontese Baroque with a twin-bell-tower façade.
- Chiesa dei Battuti Bianchi. Confraternity church of 1668 in Piazza Balbo, deconsecrated and now used as a space for cultural events.
- Torre di San Robert. Built by Count Paolo Ballada di San Robert, the tower stands at the top of the Parco della Rimembranza and still functions as a lookout over the surrounding hills.
How to get to Castagnole delle Lanze
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 72 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June brings the vines into leaf and the Tinella valley into clear light, with the Torre di San Robert opening on weekends. September and October are harvest, the high season for the Langhe-Monferrato hills and the time the Adotta un filare initiative runs its tastings. July and August get hot on the south-facing slopes; mornings in the Parco della Rimembranza and evenings on the main piazza are the cooler hours.
Canelli
Why visit Canelli
Canelli sits at 157 meters on the Belbo, in the south-east corner of the Asti hills where the Langhe and Monferrato meet. The town is the birthplace of Italian sparkling wine: Carlo Gancia produced the first Asti Spumante here in 1865, on the model of Champagne.
Underneath the centro storico runs a network of cellars cut into the tuff by pickaxe and chisel from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, descending as deep as 32 meters and extending about 20 kilometers through the hill below town. They are called the Cattedrali Sotterranee, and they were inscribed in the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont in 2014.
Above ground, the Sternia, a steep stone street, climbs from the Borgo Villanuova past the Torre dei Contini at 371 meters to the Castello Gancia, a medieval fortress transformed into a noble residence by the Scarampi in the early 1600s and still occupied by the Gancia family. The Belbo grows Moscato Bianco, Barbera and hazelnut.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Canelli
- Cattedrali Sotterranee. Network of tuff-cut cellars under the centro storico, 20 km of tunnels descending to 32 meters, part of the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape since 2014.
- Castello Gancia. Medieval castle on the Sternia hill above town, transformed into a Scarampi residence in the 1600s and now home of the Gancia family.
- La Sternia. Historic stone-paved street climbing through Borgo Villanuova to the castle, the original access road to the hilltop fortress.
How to get to Canelli
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 82 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the months the Belbo hills work best. The vines leaf and harvest in those windows, the cellars stay 12 to 14 degrees year-round, and the climb up the Sternia to the castle is in shade most of the day. July and August get hot in the valley; the Cattedrali Sotterranee are the coolest space in town and double as a refuge between two and five in the afternoon. National Truffle Fair and San Martin Fair falls in November.
Nizza Monferrato
Why visit Nizza Monferrato
Nizza Monferrato sits at 267 meters in the south of the Asti province, thirty kilometers from Asti city. It was founded in 1225 by inhabitants displaced from castles in the Alessandria area, joined the Marquisate of Monferrato in 1264, and grew through the 19th century as the commercial center of the Barbera-growing hills around it.
The medieval grid from that 1225 founding still holds the centro storico together, with Renaissance and 18th-century palazzi lining Via Pio Corsi and Via Carlo Alberto, while the vineyards that made the town's fortune spread out beyond it at 200 to 400 meters. That agricultural hinterland and the market town at its center still explain each other: the Foro Boario, the old cattle market on Piazza Garibaldi, is the physical record of a town that existed to move what the hills produced, and it still does that job as a multipurpose hall for the antiques market and for the November weekend known as Nizza è Bagna Cauda.
At that gathering, long communal tables fill with the Cardo Gobbo, a hunchbacked cardoon grown only here and protected by a Slow Food presidium, alongside Barbera raised to DOCG status in 2014. A town built to trade a hillside's produce has ended up defined by two of that produce's most particular forms.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Nizza Monferrato
- Piazza Garibaldi and Foro Boario. Main square with the old covered cattle market, now a multipurpose hall used for antiques fairs and the November bagna cauda weekend.
- Chiesa di San Giovanni in Lanero. Baroque parish church on the centro storico, with a tall bell tower visible across the surrounding vineyards.
- Museo Bersano delle Contadinerie. Wine-and-farming museum in a former cellar, with one of the largest collections of historic Piemonte viticulture tools.
How to get to Nizza Monferrato
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 78 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June and September into October are the months the Monferrato hills work best. October is harvest, with the Barbera coming in late and the cellars open for visits. November is the Cardo Gobbo and bagna cauda weekend, the largest event of the year, when the Foro Boario fills with communal tables and the Cantina di Nizza pours through the night. Mercatino dell'antiquariato nicese falls in August.
Alba
Why visit Alba
Alba sits at 172 meters on the right bank of the Tanaro, the regional capital of the Langhe and the centre of one of Italy's most concentrated wine and food economies. The Roman city of Alba Pompeia stood on the same site, and the Piazza Risorgimento, locally called Piazza Duomo, is laid out on the line of the old Roman forum.
The Duomo di San Lorenzo dates to the twelfth century and carries a late Gothic red-brick façade and a vaulted nave. In the medieval centuries the town was known as the city of a hundred towers; a few dozen survive, the tallest along Via Cavour.
The Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco runs across October and November, the oldest white truffle fair in the country. The Palio degli Asini on the first Sunday of October recalls a 1275 dispute with Asti.
The town is the headquarters of Ferrero, the family company that invented Nutella, and the home of Beppe Fenoglio, whose Partisan novels are set in these same hills.
We confirmed you can reach this one by train.
What to see in Alba
- Duomo di San Lorenzo. Twelfth-century cathedral with a late Gothic red-brick façade, vaulted nave and 16th-century inlaid wooden choir, on the line of the Roman forum.
- Piazza Risorgimento. Central square on the site of the Roman forum, framed by the Duomo, the Palazzo Comunale and the surviving medieval brick towers.
- Torri medievali. Roughly forty of the original hundred or more brick towers still rise above the rooftops, most clustered along Via Cavour and Via Vittorio Emanuele.
How to get to Alba
There is a railway station in the town, so you can arrive without a car and never need one while you are here. Torino is roughly 58 minutes away by road.
Our tip
April through June are the green months in the Langhe hills, with mild evenings and vineyards in full leaf. July and August touch the mid-thirties; the centro storico empties between two and five in the afternoon. September and October are the heart of the year: harvest in the surrounding cantine, the Palio degli Asini on the first Sunday of October, and the opening weekends of the white truffle fair. Fiera Internazionale del Tartufo Bianco d'Alba - Alba falls in October.
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