Day 1

Arrive in Alessandria. Visit the Borsalino Museum to discover the most famous hat in the world, much loved by the skillful wordsmith. Stop for specialty coffee experience with De.C.O. pastry.
Dinner at leisure and overnight accommodation in central hotel

Day 2

Guided tour with stops at the most significant places of the life of Umberto Eco in the city:

Piazza Matteotti- Liceo Classico former Plana now dedicated to Umberto Eco
Piazza della Libertà - the Mosaics by Severini
Piazza Duomo - Gagliaudo Aulari, the peasant hero
Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the library and the monument to Eco by Marco Lodola
Piazza Valfrè - war and displacement
Via Verdi - the Supercinema
Piazzetta della Lega - meeting point of the people of Alessandria
Via San Francesco d'Assisi - Associazione San Francesco and Gelindo with "La Divota Cumedia" a dialect show (during the Christmas period, from Christmas until mid January, possibility to see the show, afternoon / evening)
In the afternoon, visit to the Art Rooms with the magnificent cycle of frescoes inspired by the stories of King Arthur

Including tasting lunch with farinata ("bellecalda" in the local dialect - on open days tasting in one of Eco's favorite haunts on
Via Bergamo)
Dinner at leisure and overnight accommodation.

Day 3

Transfer to Nizza Monferrato, the city where Eco was displaced with his family during the war and where he attended the Oratorio Don Bosco. In 2010, he received the honorary citizenship of Nizza Monferrato and the civic library is dedicated to him (Foucault's Pendulum - character Jacopo Belbo)
Walking tour at leisure and light lunch in Wine Store of Nizza
Transfer to Turin, dinner at leisure and overnight accommodation in central hotel

Day 4

Morning- walking tour of the city center. Tasting of bicerin, a warm alcohol-free beverage based on coffee, chocolate and whipped milk typical of Turin (in Eco's favorite cafè and mentioned in the book "The Prague Cemetery"). Lunch at leisure. In the afternoon, visit to the Radio and Television Museum, a short distance from the Mole Antonelliana. This will be a fascinating journey through the history of Italian television and radio (following his degree, Eco worked in Rai in Turin). Alternatively and depending on the day of opening, visit to the Officina della Scrittura, the first museum in the world which celebrates the Sign in all its forms. A fascinating journey through the birth and development of writing, extraordinary tool of expression and communication. Visit to Aurora manufactory set up in 1919 , the first Italian company to produce fountain pens.
Dinner at a restaurant in the city center and overnight stay.

Day 5

Transfer to Chiusa di San Michele, close to Avigliana. The Sacra di San Michele, the symbolic site of Piedmont, inspired the literary construction of the abbey which is home to the young monk Adso da Melk and his teacher Guglielmo da Baskerville in late 1327, in the best-selling international novel Name of the Rose. The historical crime novel joins semiotics and narrative, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, and has been translated into 47 languages with thirty million copies sold.

The abbey challenges the principles of physics and dominates the peak of Monte Pirchiriano, at the entrance to Valle di Susa: A magnificent location, full of spirituality, originally guarded by the Benedictine Monks and from 1837 entrusted to the Rosminiani Fathers.

Guided tour of the Abbey, with the imposing Staircase of the Dead, the Portal of the Zodiac, the Church, the panoramic terrace and the Ruins of the New Monastery
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