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Wine or Mountains in Piedmont?

I'm considering visiting Piedmont for about a week in July/August.

Would fly into Milan or Turin, spend about a week split between Turin and Aosta, depending on which region I wanted to target.

Mostly interested in scenery, to photograph, to hike, etc.

Visited Torino and Aosta about 10 years ago in early June, didn't get to really experience the mountains because Montebianco was shut down then due to avalanche risk. Also, not sure the summer cable car services were fully running by then. I drove up to Breuil-Cervina as well but it was pretty much shut down, again maybe not open for whatever summer activities and services they have.

I like wine but not an oenophile. Visited the Lavaux for the scenery more than the wine, for instance. The Piedmont wine region is suppose to be a UNESCO site as well. I briefly searched for wine tasting tours but they're kind of steep, way more expensive (at least several hundred) than similar things you can find in Tuscany.

I do see nice images of the rolling vineyards in this region but they don't seem necessarily more scenic than say the Val d'Orcia, which doesn't have a lot of vineyards but more fields of hay with towns like Pienza rising majestically above them, as well as beautiful rows of cypresses, to make the landscapes so remarkable.

So my initial inclination would be to try to revisit Courmayeur and Breuil-Cervina again. I've been to Chamonix and Aiguille du Midi so maybe Montebianco in the summer might not be that new an experience, though I didn't make it out to Pointe Helbronner.

Is there something I'm missing about the Alba/Asti/Langhe/Monteferrato areas?

Posted by
539 posts

Mountains.

Unless you’re a wine geek who wants to make a pilgrimage to Giacosa or something, imo there’s no reason to visit wineries. I’ve visited plenty of wineries. I’ve seen plenty of vineyards. I’ve watched most steps of winemaking. If you've seen it… you’ve seen it.. I don’t care to see it made, I care what it tastes like with my shaved truffle pasta. You can buy barolo ( not talking Unobtanium/Unaffordium here) at a store. You can’t see the mountains of the Piedmont anywhere other than there.

Posted by
130 posts

Thanks, though I have seen vineyards in some beautiful settings.

FWIW, I would probably also finish the rest of the trip in Ticino and Como, so I will be seeing plenty of mountains, though with the weather in the Alps, even in the middle of the summer, you're not guaranteed to get the best scenery or even be able to make certain excursions.