4 bedrooms house, 280 m²

Cocconato, Asti (province)

Montferrat

Located in the wonderful hills of the Monferrato, 2 km far from the village, a renovated property for sale, independent on all four sides, with a fenced garden. Currently it consists of two apartments, both with its own entrance. Downstairs: entrance living on salon and built-in kitchen with ventilated fireplace, terracotta floor with marble inserts – big bedroom with ventilated fireplace, office, bathroom with hydromassage shower, 120 square meters total. There are a big room used as laundry and walk-in closet, of 40 square meters. Renovation made with quality materials.
At the first floor three big rooms, a kitchen, an office and a bathroom. Very nice terrace on a covered arcade, overlooking the garden, balcony on the courtyard. Renovated in a very good maintenance, for a 120 square meters total and a 40 square meters balcony.
Autonomous heating.
Very good for 1 – 2 families or to be turned in bed and breakfast or rent a room.

In the village there are all the facilities: banks, grocery stores, bars, pharmacy, several shops that sells local products and needless to say three very good restaurants. There is a doctor office too.

Cocconato, a village on a high hill (491 meters above sea levels), 20 km far from Asti and not far from Torino, is well knows as the Riviera of the Monferrato, because of its microclimate all year long. Cocconato stands in a secluded location, almost aristocratic, emerging as an happy island from the cold and the fog, while summer is cool and nicely windy.
The climate is very temperate and very good for many valuable crops: the growth and reproduction of tree species as the palm, the olive tree and the mimosa. The collection of the white truffles is widespread.

The village is twinned with Caissargues, a french village located in the Gard Department, in the Languedoc-Roussilon region.

Cocconato is a very nice and tourist village all year long, with many feasts. The most awaited one is the “Spring feast”. Every year in April the circuit of the historical feasts begins, you can find every kind of stalls with typical food, such as the “robiola” cheese and cold cuts, accompagnied by a good glass of Babera wine d.o.c.g., nice local crafts and moments of entertaiments for all ages.

Between the most important feasts, we can remember the Cocco wine, with stalls where you can taste local wines and typical food of the Monferrato, there are always a lot of young people and a lot of fun.

The protagonists of the feast are as usual the wines, that are offered for tasting by the various companies of Cocconato and of the Monferrato, and by the visiting delegations, you can taste them having some very good dishes of the local tradition, carefully done by the various villages of the association or offered directly by the local producers.
There is always a cultural deepening on the Barbera wine, made by the local producers.

Monferrato is one of the most important producer of wine of the Piemonte. A quick look at the vineyards on the hills is enough to understand how much wine is important. Here in the Monferrato there are more than 300 producers of wine. You can see everywhere hills covered by vineyards and people who work in the wine field, there is always a lot of love and a lot of good quality.

The nicest of the September feasts is the Medieval one: for one night, the village comes back in time, over 8 century ago, when it was a very important feud of the Radicati Counts. Along the streets lit with torches the seven neighborhoods of the Palio recreate a medieval fair, with stalls, old jobs, fortune tellers, old inns, games, music.

There are always a lot of people, and hundreds of people wearing medieval dresses recreate very carefully the old times, you can see the flag bearers and the street artists that works with fire and swords.
There is the very nice ceremony of the investiture of the Palio captain too.

Since the summer of 1970 there is a donkey race. The night before there is a traditional dinner, while on Sunday afternoon, after the medieval parade in the old part of the village, the flag bearers, the Palio captain and the Carroccio open officially the race.
The donkeys aren't ridden, they are incited by two people, the race is divided in two qualifying races and in a final one, on an oval circuit, the last one wins the “saracca” e the following year gave a dinner to all the other neighborhoods, based on anchovies. The winner has the Palio for the whole year, a great honor for the neighnorhood.

Since last year there is downtown a White night too, from Saturday afternoon to late night, you can find a lot of music, around 60 stalls of local crafts and typical items, a mini flea market for children, the show “Settetè” based on the seven deadly sins, and paintings exhibits.

On Sunday morning there is the Mass, with the old ritual, before the high Mass, the ostension of the 1700 theca with the remains of the saint martyrs Fausto and Felice.
The musical band Aurora plays at the retirement home, so older people are able to join the feast, then the band plays in the Cavour square.

For all those who love sport.. there are soccer schools, where young players who plays now in important teams such as the Asti and the Alessandria team have begun their careers, important soccer and Green Volley tournaments, foollowed by a lot of people.

Those who love the tambourine will be able to follow the various tournaments, while those who love cars will love the “cronoscalata” from Rabiella to Via Roma.

There is of course the Christmas market, with over 70 stalls, you can buy everything, from food to local crafts, from jewels to home items.
The same day there is the “The Borgo and its Presepi”, there are 69 representations of the Nativity set up by various associations, shop owners, schools, Palio neighborhoods and citizens in shops, windows, nice corners of the streets downtown, following a circolar route che let strangers discover sights of the Riviera of the Monferrato.
There is a very nice exhibit with representations of the Nativity made of paper from the collection of Marisa Novelli and the ones of the collection of Achille Maria Giachino, made of papier-mache, plaster and natural materials coming from all over the world, a very rich Nativity from the Piemonte tradition, puppet statues made of materials and fabrics by the people living at the retirement house.
The Epiphany day, during the tombola, they reward the most beautiful and the most original nativity, according to the results of a vote among the tourists and the people living in Cocconato.

And finally, the “buttonhole”, the “bevilonga”, at the first edition there were 20 participants, now there were almost 200!
It is a walk of 10 km among woods and vineyards, stopping in various places to taste typical food.
One would think that putting together fatigue and tasting wine wasn't easy to do, but it was not, the participants are very happy to partecipate at this wonderful walk.