Eight centuries ago it was the heart of a castle. The castle is gone; she remains, watching over the Langhe. Climb with us, one metre at a time.
The first decades of the 13th century. On the highest point of the village stands a tower with a square base, exposed stone and perfectly squared corners: the keep of a fortified complex overlooking the road between the Langhe and the sea.
Of the castle, today, nothing remains. Of her, everything.
Look up: the entrance isn't at the bottom. The door opens at seven metres above the ground, where once arrived the walkway from the castle. When the castle disappeared, the door stayed there, suspended over nothing.
It's still the only entrance today: from here you climb all the way to the top.
Of the Marquises of Saluzzo until 1463, then the Savoy. It saw Napoleon's troops pass by and, in the years of the Resistance, the partisans of these hills: the ones a boy from Alba, on holiday right here in Murazzano, would later put in his books.
At the top, the wind greets you with the finest all-round view in the Alta Langa: Monviso and Monte Rosa on one side, the Ligurian sea on the other, on the clearest days. In between, all of the Langhe.
Coming back down, the village feels a little more yours.
Turn with the ribbon: the compass follows you.
3,841 metres: the Stone King closes the horizon on clear days, with the whole Alpine arc.
The second-highest peak in the Alps, genuinely pink at dawn: from up here it seems to float above the plain.
The hills of the great reds slope down towards the Tanaro: 35 km of vineyards, towers and wineries.
San Benedetto Belbo, the Bossola, Mombarcaro: the hills of his stories, all in a row.
On the clearest days, they say in the village, you can see the glimmer. We can confirm: it happens.
from Piazza Umberto I it's 260 steps: counted, a gentle climb
The Luna and Sole apartments are 260 steps from the tower. In the evening, when the village goes quiet, she keeps watch.