Pampucet is the Piedmontese name of the primrose. A flower that sprouts in our meadows from the ground hardened by the winter frost and blooms in the first rays of the sun, light caresses that speak of life. Sign of awakening and restart. This is what we offer to our guests: a break and a restart. A place to regenerate and flourish surrounded by the many loves that are breathed in this ancient eighteenth-century rectory. The love for nature and roses, for the views of the gentle hills of Monferrato, for the silence broken only by the chimes of the nearby bell tower. Antonella’s passion for books, many scattered everywhere in the house and for the poetry that we often read aloud on Sunday mornings with some poet/artist friends who pass by. Love for music and art, for the beautiful things in life, good food, local wines, intimate chat at sunset.The love for simplicity. But also the love of Antonella and Silvano, the owners, because nothing else in the world could have convinced Silvano, an old sea dog, to abandon his sailing boat. Pampucet is a memory. The memory of the ancient dialect of this land, a world that was and will be. Finding our roots is essential to bloom again.

Antonella's connection with Monferrato has ancient origins. Her grandmother Antonietta Vicario was born and raised together with her sister Adelaide in Cocconato. In the small town cemetery, there are the graves of that branch of the family. Antonietta, primary school teacher, married Ferdinando Parigi, heir to a family of vermouth producers in Chivasso. During the war the Parigi family fled to Cocconato to escape the bombing of Turin in the Second World War. In those hills Antonio, Antonella's father, a young eighteen year old man, joined the Partisans risking his life many times to preserve freedom and democracy of Italy. Today you can find traces of this history by tasting the Paris vermouth recently put back into production. After a life entirely spent in Turin, Antonella rediscovered her roots by being the Councillor for Culture and Tourism of the Piedmont Region for five years. Travelling up and down the hilly landscape of Monferrato, she reconnected with a piece of herself and her childhood.

Monferrato extended between the provinces of Asti and Alessandria, which was recognized as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2014. Characterized by hills and small villages perched on each hill, it is still an intact and authentic destination, where every small community maintains customs and traditions that have been handed down and maintained over the centuries. Each town has a castle and by walking through the meadows, you will unexpectedly encounter wonderful Romanesque churches, real jewels of art. On the hills grow the vineyards that give rise to extraordinary wines, all to be tasted: Barbera, Ruchè, the most famous of the wines produced thanks to the renewed interest in indigenous vine variety. This is what is visible, but the most precious treasure is underground: the white truffle called “trifula” in Piedmontese. In autumn you will find it in the numerous stalls of the many village fairs or grated on the plates of the best restaurants. A marvel of smell and taste. Only one warning: never ask the "trifulau" (truffle hunter) where he found it. You would certainly make yourself an enemy because the places of the trifula are secret.