Italy Countryside Break with Local Wine Tasting & Car Hire

An idyllic Italian escape to Piedmont’s wine-producing hills, a region famed for its cheese, truffles and natural beauty – includes breakfast, flights, car hire, a wine tasting and extras

Italy’s regional cuisine is famous the world over, but there’s a tiny pocket of hidden gastronomy in the rolling hills of Piedmont that’s yet to be overrun by hoards of hungry tourists. Langhe Monregalesi is quiet and beautiful, notable for its fresh air, unspoilt scenery and culinary delights. Nearby, you’ll find the wine-making hills of rich Barolo, the caves in which mountain-made Raschera cheese is seasoned, and pretty villages where traditional ‘pate di meliga’ corn cookies are baked by hand.

Set within the UNESCO-listed landscape is the stately, rosy-hued residence of Duchessa Margherita Chateau & Hotel, an antique-stuffed villa where you can spend a few days de-stressing on luxurious linens and bubbling away in spa baths with Hermes toiletries to savour. Generous hosts have laid on the works: a bountiful breakfast spread, a tea room for sweet snacks when you’re in need of a quick nibble and a well-stocked bar from which you can help yourself. If you can tear yourself away from the views – over the Sanctuary of Vicoforte – there are Piedmont restaurants to indulge in and historic gelaterie dating back to 1900.

Drag yourself way from your dreamy digs and discover the flavours of the region – visit vineyards to sample the rich Barolo wines, head to Alba to enjoy its celebrated white truffle and explore the epicurean enclave’s clutch of gastronomic restaurants and traditional pastry shops, swinging by the boutique shops sitting pretty beneath the Palisades portico. Hike in the ski resort of Mondolè – capped with snow in the winter – and discover the mountain cheeses, or stop in at family-run patisseries to pick up a bag of corn biscuits to take home.