This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Castell’Alfero is a village nestled on a hill at the entrance to the Versa Valley, acknowledged as a “balcony on the Monferrato”, due to the splendid countryside around it; the latter features, in fact, cereal cultivations, vineyards, pedestrian, bicycle, and horseback trails.

In 1774, Giovan Battista De Rolandis was born here, the creator of the Italian tricolor flag.

The XVIII century Castello dei Conti Amico, now housing the Town Hall, also includes “L Ciar” Museum: a collection of ancient objects, tools, and toys of the XIX and XX centuries.
The castle can be visited on many occasions and during “Castelli Aperti” festival, on Sundays, between May and October.

Also worth mentioning is the Church of the Saints Peter and Paul; in the hamlet of Valle, there’s also the XII century Romanesque church Madonna della Neve, with XV century frescoes, while in the village of Callianetto features the “Ciabot ‘d Gianduja” – the birthplace of the homonymous carnival mask and the symbol of Piedmont; Callianetto also includes the church of SS Annunziata.

Finally, in the hamlet of Serra Perno, there is “Roseto della Sorpresa”: belonging to the collection of Piedmont historic gardens, it boasts 500 ancient and rare roses, beautifully arranged in a XIX century garden.

Roseto della Sorpresa

Roseto della Sorpresa is actually a XIX century country house, surrounded by a garden with a small wood, covering about 3.5 acres along the hillside.

The garden has a slightly wild look which truly respects the local environment: oaks, hornbeams, lime trees, walnuts, hackberry trees grow abundant here (respectively: Quercus robur, Carpinus betulus, Tilia spp., Jugland regia, Celtis australis); there are also some centuries-old Celtis and some large beech trees (Fagus sylvatica); birds and small animals of the undergrowth thrive in this untainted natural environment.

For some 30 years, Professor Piero Amerio has created a collection of botanical and ancient roses, now reaching 500 varieties. The presence of wild species is particularly relevant: there are almost 100 species out of 160 catalogued in the botanical texts; not to mention old European garden roses created before the hybridization techniques with Chinese germplasm, and ancient varieties of Rosa gallica (about 100 cultivars, some of which extremely rare).

The Roseto also includes almost all the ancient European roses of the alba, centifolia, damascena, and Portland groups, as well as many “Bourbon”, “Noisette”, “chinensis”, “rugosa” and perpetual hybrids. Last but not least, there are also some 100 modern “old” roses (very rare).
Included in the official list of historic gardens of Piedmont, Roseto della Sorpresa benefits from the patronage of the Region itself, the Province of Asti, the Municipality of Castell’Alfero, and the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Turin.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)