Bagna Cauda Day 2026: Fujot, Cardoons and Barbera in Asti
Two November weekends, more than 160 tables and one bubbling pot of garlic, anchovies and oil: how to book, what to order, what to pour.
Il Vino Bello ·
Garlic, anchovies and olive oil, kept hot over a small flame, with a table full of autumn vegetables to dip into it. That is bagna cauda, and for two long weekends this November it is served at the same price in well over a hundred places across Piemonte and beyond. Bagna Cauda Day returns on 20, 21 and 22 November and again on 27, 28 and 29 November 2026, and the organisers announced the details on 14 October.
What Bagna Cauda Day is
The event was born in Asti in 2013 and is run by the Associazione Astigiani, a cultural association that also publishes a magazine of local history. This is the fourteenth edition. According to the organisers, more than 160 places in Piemonte and abroad will take part: restaurants, osterie, agriturismi, wineries and other places to eat together. Past editions reached tables from New York to Shanghai, Japan and London.
The formula has not changed. The bagna cauda costs 30 euro everywhere, and the organisers say wine is offered at 15 euro a bottle. Some places add a "Bagna sovrana", a fuller menu built around the dish, at their own price. Profits go to solidarity and environmental projects, among them a future public wood on the hills above Asti.
How to book and what to order
There is no central booking. You choose a place from the list on the Bagna Cauda Day site, then phone or write to it directly. The organisers say more than 30,000 seats are already online; the venue page was still showing last year's participants when we checked on 15 October, with a note that the 2026 list is coming, so check each listing for this year's dates.
Each listing carries a traffic light for garlic. Red is the classic version, "come Dio comanda", as God commands. Yellow is the "eretica", the heretic, with the garlic softened. Green is the "atea", the atheist, with no garlic at all. Places marked "Finale in gloria" will end the meal the traditional way, with an egg cooked in the last of the sauce and a grating of white truffle on top, priced at the going rate for truffle. If you would rather eat at home, "Sporta a ca'" means a takeaway bagna cauda with its vegetables; book a few days ahead.
Every diner gets the Bavagliolone, a cloth bib that has become the event's symbol. This year's design, by the young artist Pedro Porro, shows a red Volvo Polar that belonged to his late father, who drove it in the event's vintage car rally. The slogan, picked from hundreds suggested by diners last year, is "Questo bavaglio ci rende liberi", this bib sets us free. New this year is a small metal spoon for moving the candle under your pot.
The dish, done properly
The organisers publish the recipe that the Asti delegation of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina registered on 7 February 2005 as the most reliable one to pass on. For twelve people it calls for 12 heads of garlic, six wine glasses of extra virgin olive oil (with a small glass of walnut oil if you have it) and 600 grams of red Spanish anchovies. The sliced garlic cooks very slowly in an earthenware pan without taking colour; the anchovies, rinsed in red wine, go in next, then the rest of the oil, for about half an hour, without ever letting it fry. A knob of fresh butter is optional.
It is served in fujot, small earthenware warmers with a flame underneath. The raw vegetables on the recipe include cardoons, Jerusalem artichoke, white cabbage hearts, endive, peppers fresh and preserved, and spring onions soaked in Barbera; the cooked ones include beetroot, boiled potatoes, baked onions and fried pumpkin.
The star is the cardo gobbo, the "hunchback" cardoon of Nizza Monferrato, a Slow Food Presidium grown in sandy soil between Nizza, Incisa Scapaccino and Castelnuovo Belbo. In September the tall plants are bent over and covered with earth; straining towards the light, they swell and curve, and after a month the stalks are white and tender. Slow Food says it is the only cardoon good to eat raw.
The site also has a short etiquette. Do not use a cabbage leaf as a shovel to scoop up the rich part of the sauce, and do not dip a piece you have already bitten. Watch the first mouthfuls, which burn easily, and forget about taking turns. Carlin Petrini, founder of Slow Food, writes on the site that the real thing is not the small starter many restaurants serve but "a sumptuous meal to be eaten without hurry, while outside everything is still" (our translation).
What to pour
The organisers pair the event with Barbera d'Asti, which they call bagna cauda's natural companion, and work with four Asti houses: Bava in Cocconato, Braida in Rocchetta Tanaro, Cascina Castlèt in Costigliole d'Asti and Coppo in Canelli.
If you are making it at home, their everyday bottles are the place to start rather than the oak-aged crus. Bava's Libera comes from younger vines and is made in steel. Coppo's L'Avvocata is aged in steel tanks. Castlèt calls its Barbera d'Asti, nicknamed Vespa, its simplest and most everyday, and also makes Goj, a lightly sparkling Barbera. Braida's La Monella, a Barbera del Monferrato Frizzante, is the wine the estate says has been made the same way since 1961.
If you are travelling for it
Listings run from Asti and the Monferrato to the Langhe and Roero, Alessandria, Acqui, Gavi and Turin. Under the name Bagna Cauda Nanna, the organisers list hotels and agriturismi with rates for diners, bookable together with the table. If both November weekends are full, the Bagna della Merla brings the fujot back in late January 2027. And if the truffle finale tempts you, our guide to what to pour with white truffle covers the rest of the season.
Sources
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/comunicati/torna-il-bagna-cauda-day-ad-asti-in-piemonte-e-nel-mondo-lo-slogan-2026-questo-bavaglio-ci-rende-liberi/ (14 Oct 2026)
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/comunicati/lettera-dinvito-al-bagna-cauda-day-2026/ (3 Aug 2026)
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/i-locali/
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/la-ricetta-della-bagna-cauda/
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/il-galateo-della-bagna-cauda/
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/memorie-dautore/la-bagna-cauda-insegna-diversita/
- https://bagnacaudaday.it/locali-bagna-cauda-nanna/
- https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/it/presidi-slow-food/cardo-gobbo-di-nizza-monferrato/