Celle was an ancient settlement of Ligurian and Celtic peoples, which was subsequently further developed by the Roman authorities in view of its agriculture. There are various mentions of the village from 899 AD, in the high Medieval period. Ottone III granted it to the monastery of Novalesa in 990 and enfeoffed it to the lords of Vaglierano. The castle which once stood in the town is mentioned in various documents, as numerous contracts were drawn up within its walls, and it played host to various bishops.
It became part of the Commune of Asti in the Low Middle Ages. In the Medieval period the area was an alternation of fields, woods, uncultivated areas and a few vineyards, around the “castra”, farmhouses and hamlets. From the 12th and 13th century the “domus” began to expand: the uncultivated land was ploughed for arable crops (above all wheat) and pasture land, and the woods near the village were cut down. In the mid 14th century the countryside emptied, due to the plague, but this trend was reversed in the 1400-1500’s, when the prices of cereal crops took off once more and the population began to grow again. In the same period wine growing also developed on the hillsides, and the plains below the village were irrigated and prepared for use. In the seventeenth century the situation stabilised in terms of both agriculture and politics. The village passed from the Malabaila family to the Vercellis family, then to the Mestiatis and Berlinghieri families.
From 1688 to 1793 the Counts Ramelli of Celle rose to power, owners of a palazzo and a tower in Asti (on the corner of via Carducci and via Borgnini, adjacent to their palazzo which joined up with piazza Cattedrale). The Ramellis ruled Celle until 1793, but continued to be important figures of great prestige in the town until the end of the nineteenth century. One member of this dynasty, born in 1666, was Giovanni Felice, abbot of the Lateran canons and painter of miniatures. Pope Clement XI appointed him custodian of the illuminated codexes in the Vatican Library. Many of the works he painted are in Rome, others in the miniatures room in Palazzo Reale in Turin (portraits of Savoy princes, of the painters Van Dyck, Albani, Reni....that he presented to King Carlo Emanuele III). Other works can be seen in the Biblioteca Canonica in Padua and the Museo Civico in Asti, including “Giuditta ed Oloferne” and “Sisara e Giaele”. It was thanks to the Ramellis that Asti played host to the painting “Cena in casa di Simone” by Subleyras, brought from Rome in 1739 to the refectory of the Chiesa di Santa Maria Nuova, where it stayed until the arrival of Napoleon I, who had it taken to the Louvre. In ‘700 Celle was invaded by the French and there are written records describing the destruction of houses, crops and woodlands being set on fire, and the attacks. After the Ramelli family, Celle passed to the families Vagnone, Bianco and then to France. In Celle in the 18th century, like in the rest of Piedmont, the practice of renting out farmland, with labourers paid by the day, and sharecropping, became widespread. From the mid nineteenth century Celle ceased to be purely a farming community and a number of craft workshops appeared. The 1844 register of craftsmen shows two master stone masons, two cobblers, five carpenters, two blacksmiths and five tailors. In 1854 two inns opened, to be precise “coffee shops for the sale of spirits, wine in bottles and sparkling waters”. Wine was the number one local product, and what is now known as Barbera was produced back then, but much stronger, a hearty drink which was dark red, almost black in colour. Wine was consumed in great quantities in that period, as a foodstuff first and foremost, as well as for its inebriating effects. Barbera even inspired and lent its name to a comedy entitled “Il vino di Barbera” written by Giuseppe Cotti. It was put on at the Vittorio Emanuele Theatre in Turin during the 1866 Carnival. The choir sang: “When all is said and done/Barbera is a very fine drink/it makes the blood in your veins run/and keeps you in the pink./To keep the youngsters at play/Barbera is a must/and if drunk every day/it makes the men robust./So long live Barbera/and long live wine.” Giovanni Pascoli also seemed to have a taste for it: “Keep your finest Barbera wine/for the day near at hand/when in his flag entwined/Galliano returns to this land”. The farmers brought their grapes to the wine cellar in the village square, built on the foundations of the castle, where the lengthy process of making Barbera was carried out.
In view of its wine production, Celle actually changed its name, becoming Celle Enomondo in 1863. The word Enomondo derives from the Greek enos meaning wine and mondus meaning pure: indicating the cellar of pure wine. Nobles, farmers and craftsmen all gathered on Sundays to attend Mass in the parish church, or in one of the other churches in the various areas of the town. In 1906 there were the churches of San Rocco, Ss. Sacramento e del Rosario and San Vincenzo in the hamlet of Merlazza. There were also little chapels, like that of S. Maria, for which there are documents regarding its property, and that of San Martino, as well as numerous devotional shrines along the roads and in the fields, some of which still remain today.

Celle Enomondo lies on the top of a hill and is laid out in a semi-circle in typical Piedmontese fashion. It is an agricultural village south west of the provincial capital, known above all for its production of Barbera. Worth visiting in the centre of the village is the parish church, which dominates the wide valley against the backdrop of the Alps. The church preserves its Romanesque bell tower and boasts a late fourteenth century fresco inside. Also worth a look is the ancient Chiesa di San Rocco.

" LE MASCHE "

If we go back in time, to the days of the ancient tales told by our grandparents, we can rediscover the magic and warmth of the winter nights in the stables. Stories of strange women known as “masche” were told – solitary recluses who were able to weave all kinds of magic and mysterious spells. These were gathered in an ancient book written in Latin or some other ancient language