Piedmont on a plate: Italy’s lush land of food, wine and art

This region of north-west Italy is brimful of brilliant small food producers. Meanwhile, a British-born artist has slapped a wodge of vivid colour onto its bucolic scenary

It’s brown, muddy-looking and could make your breath a bit stinky, but for lovers of the pungent and salty, bagna càuda is glorious. The recipe is simple: sliced garlic (a whole head per person!), olive oil and anchovies, cooked slowly to a sticky sludge into which diners dip potatoes, peppers (roasted or raw), celery, spring onions and, in Piedmont especially, cardoons – a thistle-like artichoke relative. With good friends, good bread and jugs of good red wine, it makes for a convivial evening.

It was wine that had drawn us to this part of north-west Italy: the Langhe area is famous for premium wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco. But I’d been intrigued also by a hilly area next door called Roero – Unesco-protected since 2014 – whose wines are starting to make their mark, and by the food specialities they compliment.