Cascina Fontane

Cascina Fontane is a farm founded in 2016 in the heart of &' alta Langa, in Castino, in the province of Cuneo, from a &' the idea of the two young entrepreneurs Cristina Boffano and Dario Sandri. Thanks to their passion, Cascina Fontane has become a true Piemonte IGP hazelnut atelier that has a &' only prerogative: l&' excellence.

She, Cristina, born in 1984, decides to personally take care of the family properties: the 12 hectares of hazelnut groves in Castino. He, Dario, at the same age, took up the job that already belonged to his grandfather ten years ago, namely that of a flower farmer. Together they create Cascina Fontane, where dreams with a hazelnut flavor are created, products made with craftsmanship following a &' the idea of a very short supply chain that allows you to control paragraph' excellence of the raw material.

A very special hazelnut is born in the heart of the Langhe

Today Cascina Fontane cultivates 32 hectares of hazelnut groves between Castino and Dogliani. The territory is that of the Langhe, with their noble vineyards, with the rolling hills and with the beautiful castles that dominate the valleys, dotted with villages, villages and churches, which make this area of Piedmont unique in the entire peninsular landscape. For this reason, on 28 June 2014, the 38th session of the UNESCO Committee, meeting in Doha, Qatar, officially included the Langhe, together with Roero and Monferrato, in the list of World Heritage landscapes.

The Alta Langa is the natural home of an excellent variety of hazelnuts, belonging to the Corylus Avellanae species: the Tonda Gentile Trilobata, awarded the term “Protected Geographical Indication” since 1993. Cascina Fontane produces exclusively IGP Piemonte Hazelnuts, which, due to their distinctive properties, are the most requested by the confectionery industry, as well as being universally considered the best in the world.

Cascina Fontane: a real PGI Piemonte Hazelnut atelier

In the Cascina Fontane artisanal workshop located in Diano d&' Alba, which Cristina and Dario love to call “Hazelnut Atelier” given the tailoring of every operation involving Piedmont IGP hazelnuts, there is technical and technological equipment suitable to satisfy every type of customer.

Cristina and Dario thus try to innovate, through increasingly modern and mechanized agronomic methods, the centuries-old tradition of hazel cultivation in the Alta Langa, which, with its peculiar orography and its pedoclimatic characteristics, is the ideal place for the development of coriliculture.

The most recent technologies are put at the service of an artisan commitment made of meticulous attention to the product and to all its development and processing phases.

Like the roasting of hazelnuts performed with the patented “Vertiflow” system. In practice, a jet of hot air allows the product to be suspended, making it rotate on itself. In this way, uniform cooking is guaranteed. In addition, the hazelnuts, completely dehumidified, are perfectly cooked inside for a decidedly more fragrant taste.

The roasting process does not affect the flavor of the product and cleans the fruits almost completely, safeguarding the oily component in the last phase, that of sorting.

The hazelnuts are selected manually one by one to eliminate those defects and guarantee the perfection of the product both for direct consumption and to be processed to create pasta and creams.

Cascina Fontane: this is how you've never tasted Piedmontese hazelnuts

Cascina Fontane's products are truly able to satisfy any palate: among the various goodies we find gianduja hazelnut cream, cacao hazelnut cream, Piedmont IGP hazelnut paste, hazelnuts & salt, toasted Piedmont IGP hazelnut, Piemonte IGP hazelnut kernels and Piemonte IGP hazelnut flour. These are unique products, appreciated by international consumers and used by numerous starred chefs from our territory and

beyond.