Looking for a taste of the ‘real’ Italy? Piemonte – tucked between the Alps and the Ligurian sea – is one of the Europe’s best-kept secrets. Recently named by the Lonely Planet guide as the ‘number one place you must travel to next’, it has everything the better-known regions of Italy have – rolling hills, miles of vineyards, ancient cities, picturesque hilltop towns and fields of sunflowers that would make Van Gogh weep. But (whisper it) there’s not a tourist bus in sight.