It has a great shopping centre with covered porticos and piazzas. It has a nice calmness, being more of a rural city than a true metropolis like Turin. Be sure to visit, you wont be disappointed. The people of Asti and Alba didn’t used to like each other much so went to war. Every year there’s a horse race called the Palio – a re-enactment of the victory over Alba. This is a great place to buy property as it's much more accessible than the Langhe(in most parts) and is often cheaper than the Langhe. We live and work in this area and can truly say we love the place! Asti has good transport links - motorways, train station and is within an hour of Turin airport and about 90 minutes from Milan.