A brief, uphill section from the hazelnut groves to the realm of mushrooms and truffles, immersed in the history of these villages and the authenticity of nature.
Although the village’s coat of arms bears the image of a goat, Cravanzana is the realm of the hazelnut. Cravanzana has the most beautifully preserved castle of the entire Belbo Valley, partly because so many others have been destroyed, but also because this one is truly monumental. Now privately owned, it may be visited on special occasions, such as within the scope of the “Castelli Aperti” (Open Castles) initiative. Its current form is partly due to restructuring work done in the 17th century, which transformed the castle into a more comfortable residence with a garden for the Fontana Family, members of the new aristocracy under the House of Savoy, which replaced the Aleramo Family and then the Monferrato families of Del Carretto and Scarampi.
Wander through the narrow roadways of the village and then come out to the south on Via Ferrera. Continue to the right along the road from before. At the first crossroads, head uphill into the woods to the left until you get to a farmhouse. Keep to the right and at the next farmhouse cross the farmyard and continue along the cart track that crosses a paved road and continues on up to the crest of the hill to Case Codin. Here, head to the left on the paved road briefly until Cascina Cattivo. From here, continue again on the dirt road along the Bricco del Sole crest until just about the roundabout of the village of Feisoglio, the third of the Alta Valle Belbo.
Situated atop a rolling crest along the right side of the Belbo Valley, Feisoglio overlooks Serravalle (or Villa, to be precise) in the same way that Niella overlooks Bossolasco and that Cravanzana faces Arguello and Cerretto. This long strip of village runs parallel to the massive Church of San Lorenzo, which looms over the village in the same way the castle surely once did just to the south, although now only a few stones of the foundation remain, the castle having been destroyed during the wars of the 17th century.
Outside the town, trees rule the land, both in the untamed woods of mushrooms, truffles, wild bore and deer and in the hazelnut groves, which are as popular here as the vineyards of Nebbiolo grapes in the Bassa Langa. Feisoglio has maintained this atmosphere of days gone by, especially as you wander its narrowest streets to the church square, its elegant confraternity to one side overlooking the fragrant, fertile valley below.
