The countryside

Tenuta Santa Caterina Relais, a Country House B&B is an integral part of the eponymously named winery - an architectural complex dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, now completely restored, in great respect to the local environment. It is located in the region of Monferrato – an area of rolling hills that spill out onto the horizon in a way reminiscent of sea waves, from when the Adriatic Sea once reached as far as here. The soil here retains traces of this geological era in the shells that are often unearthed when the vineyards are being ploughed.  In this area, little villages sit on top of the hills, recognisable by the Church spires poking out of the horizon, interspersed by small valleys beneath them. There are countless castles in this part of the world – memories of a historical wealth once lived by the region’s more privileged public. Spectacular views of the Alps, particularly on clear spring days, can be seen from these humble vineyard surrounds, with the Montviso pyramid and her succession of peaks that act as a fortress against cold northerly winds.    To the east, between the Alps and the hills, the fields extend, which in spring turns into a huge lake – becoming a paddy field, indicative of Piedmont’s agricultural heritage where some of the world’s finest rice varieties are grown. For all of these reasons, it is no coincidence that the area that surrounds Monferrato has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.    Stays at Santa Caterina’s Country House offer guests all of this and more besides. The unrivalled pleasantness of spring in bloom, summer mitigated by the breeze that comes in from the sea, autumns replete with grape harvests, and a winter that is always beautifully silent.