Cuneo

The provincial capital of Cuneo sits high in the reaches of the Italian North, amidst a flowing patchwork of vineyards and alpine foothills, peppered with rustic cellar doors touting Barbera and Nebbiolo and criss-crossed by the wandering channels of the River Po. This regional centre is dotted with ancient towns of royal ancestry, from redbrick covered Alba with its bulbous truffles, and grand Fossano with the exquisite Borgo Vecchio, to picture-perfect Mondovi, shrouded forever in the shadow of the serrated peaks of the Maritime Alps. In the heart of Cuneo town itself, the enchanting Church of St Francis keeps watch over the Centro Storico and the colossal Piazza Galimberti, where grand statues converge on ad hoc markets touting Cuneesi al rhum chocolates and white truffles. Ask your Cuneo tour guide to be directed to the best Piedmontese pasta joints, before heading off with them for excursions on the funicular to the Natural Park of the Gesso and Stura Rivers high in the hills, or subterranean jaunts through the dusky Grotta di Bossea. And there’s skiing here too, hundreds of kilometres of pistes’ worth in fact, headed up by the burgeoning resorts of Limone Piemonte and Franosa Soprana just to the south.