Castagnole delle Lanze

Castagnole delle Lanze sits between the Langhe and Monferrato hills, fifteen kilometers south of Asti, in the UNESCO Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont. A Roman road branching off the Via Aemilia ran between Acqui and Pollenzo through this ground. In the Middle Ages the lands belonged to the counts of Loreto, with Manfredo I as the count most tied to the community; the medieval castle, residence of the count, was probably destroyed in 1255 when the contado fell, and from the thirteenth century the town passed under the Comune of Asti.

On the main square stands the Chiesa di San Pietro in Vincoli, built in 1681, a Ligurian-Piedmontese Baroque parish with twin façade. Nearby, the Chiesa della Confraternita dei Battuti Bianchi from 1668 has been deconsecrated and now hosts cultural events. At the top of the Parco della Rimembranza rises a panoramic tower built by Count Paolo Ballada di San Robert in the second half of the nineteenth century as his astronomical observatory. The hills grow Moscato, Barbera, Dolcetto and Chardonnay.