Monferrato

The Monferrato hills were listed by UNESCO in 2014 with Langhe and Roero for their vineyard landscape. Under Canelli, cellars were cut into the tufa in the nineteenth century for sparkling wine production, some of them tens of metres down and arched to great height, which earned them the name cathedrals underground; several kilometres of tunnels run beneath the town and can be visited. The Infernot is a different thing: a small chamber cut without mortar or light into the soft Pietra da Cantoni beneath a house, used for storing bottles, and dozens survive in villages around Casale. Barbera and Grignolino are the local reds.

What you actually see

• The Canelli cathedrals - vast nineteenth-century sparkling wine cellars.
• The infernot - small hand-cut stone chambers under village houses.
• The vineyard hills - a UNESCO-listed working wine landscape.
• The local reds - Barbera and Grignolino across the hills.

When to go

April to October; harvest is September and October. Cellar visits at Canelli must be booked. Winter fog on the plain contrasts with clear hilltops.

Honest expectations

Both cellars and infernot require booked visits, often through local associations. It is a dispersed landscape needing a car. Cellars are cold year-round.

Nearby

The Langhe lie south; Asti is at the centre.