The Palio d'Asti

The month of September a Asti is a really special month. If a month ago in the year you want to be in Asti is this one!

Programme :

• Golden Douja
• Festival delle sagre
• Palio d’Asti

Golden Douja

The first weekend of September is the Golden Douja in Asti, where the oenology is celebrated. During this weekend, we reward the best wines from Italy and do business. This is especially a big wine festival where you can attend exhibitions, tastings and other activities related to the vintage and production of Italian wines.

Festival delle sagre

The salt festival in Asti also celebrates wine and gastronomy but is much more focused on wines and local gastronomy. On the programme of this second weekend of September: the specialties of all provinces around Asti. For those who don’t know Agnolotti and Taglierini, it’s time to plan your stay for Asti!

Discover the Palio d’Asti

During the first 2 weeks of September, Asti is partying and lively as ever. But it is the third weekend of September that the party reaches its paroxysm.

The Palio d’Asti is the oldest Palio in Italy. If the most famous Palio is, of course, that of Siena, that of Asti holds its roots of the 12th century when one began to celebrate a military victory against the rival town of Alba.

Since 1988 the race takes place in Piazza Alfieri and sees the 14 districts of the city of Asti.

The Palio d’Asti is obviously not just a horse race but a real party where you can attend dozens of medieval processions as well as various and varied shows.

Since the images speak better than the long descriptions here are some pictures of this event :

Attend Palio, practical modalities

Accommodation To get the chance to attend the Palio, it’s better to get there in advance! Indeed, the small town hosts thousands of visitors for the occasion and it is hard to bet that the hotels will be full if you take it in the last minute. To get better prices for housing look in the surrounding cities like Alba, Alessandria or even Turin who are not so far from Asti.

There are some B facingB around Asti as La Valle which are a good quality/price ratio. To find the right hotels, use this Compare hotels .

Coming to Asti To go to Asti, it’s better to be by car even if there’s the train, bus or plane to come (you can watch the flights to get there on there Kiwi ). Arriving by car will allow you to be free and not to have your accommodation in the middle of the city in effervescence. If you come from France, you can go by Genoa or by Grenoble (attention to the tunnel of Fréjus at 42€ a simple go!).

Have you ever been to the Palio d’Asti? What did you think?