Relais Le Marne

Relais Le Marne

At Relais Le Marne, dinner happens between two walls thick with jasmine, inside a vaulted cellar that once held wine, with the dining room's sightline running out to a cherry orchard behind the hills of Piedmont. This is a 13-room resort in Costigliole d'Asti, set among vineyards in the Langhe and Monferrato wine country, an area now listed as UNESCO World Heritage territory, three kilometres from the town centre and its Valentino Castle and Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Every room takes its name from the artwork chosen to furnish it, a detail that suggests the place was built room by room rather than block by block. Guests can go truffle hunting in the surrounding hills with a professional handler and dogs, a short drive from the gate, or work through the estate's own winery and vineyards, with a picnic area and hiking trails threaded between the rows. What separates Relais Le Marne from other Piedmont retreats is a permanent cyclocross, gravel and mountain-bike circuit built on site and designed by Daniele Pontoni, technical director of Italy's national cyclocross team, offering a four-kilometre course and a sharper 2.3-kilometre variant for racers. Beyond that there is a spa, sauna, indoor pool with hot tub, a 25-metre pool, and Radici, the restaurant, serving a daily breakfast of local cuisine. Anyone chasing wine, truffles and a working agricultural landscape will find the days full here; travellers wanting nightlife, a beach, or a hotel large enough to vanish into should look elsewhere, since 13 rooms keeps this a small, quiet operation rather than a full-scale resort. Pets are allowed for a fee, and parking and Wi-Fi are complimentary throughout the property. Relais Le Marne is a 13-room resort among the vineyards of Costigliole d'Asti, with a restaurant in a jasmine-walled cellar, a spa, and a permanent cyclocross circuit designed by Italy's national team coach. It suits travellers here for wine, truffles and quiet ground rather than nightlife or crowds.