You leave Alba over the bridge across the Cherasca river, situated just beyond the cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace and head up the Altavilla hill, from where the Partisans descended into the town on 10th October 1944 to win it back from occupying Nazi forces – as Beppe Fenoglio relates in his most famous novel. The hill is divided by a steeply rising country road that rapidly brings you to the other side.