Costa Prà

Managed by its resident owners, the Zabot brothers, it is located on one of the best hills of the Langhe in the municipality of Clavesana. It enjoys a location ideally suited for vineyards. Of its 84 acres, only a little over 12 of the best-exposed are laid out for the growing of vines. The remaining are made up of woods, meadows, and fields; cared for in such a way as to maintain a natural harmonic environment. Paths wind through the woods that encircle the estate, suitable, in the warm season, for pleasant walks to admire the flora typical of the area. At dusk one can see the woods' inhabitants: hares, badgers, foxes, boars ... while during the day one can see the buzzards sailing in the sky.
The peacefulness, tranquility, and harmony of this place are made more pleasant by the extensive and captivating panorama. It's a panorama particularly enchanting in the autumn when the limpid sky permits to see up to horizon.

Story of Costa Prà

The parish priest, historical researcher and the collective memory, says that the foundation of Costa Prà dates back to 17th century, when it became a small community of farmers.
It isn't hard to believe, because the history of the town is very old and undoubtedly had its greatest historical splendor during the high Middle Ages when it was the seat of the Aleramic dynasty.

The Alermanic stock, with Salian-Frank roots, came down from the house of Kent in the sixth century. From this source would come the Italian kings of Provenza, the counts of Savoy and Aunate, the marquis of Romagnano, the dukes of Aquitaine, the counts of Toluse and Orange, the Capetians, the Valois, the Bourbons, and the dukes of Orleans.
This dynasty took its name from Aleramo, the marquis of western Liguria. This was one of the three great marquessates created from the Piedmont and Liguria by the emperor Otto I. The other two were that of eastern Liguria and that of Torino or Arduinica.
At the death of Aleramo about 1000 the marquessate was divided into three parts that resulted in two branches of the family tree: the Alermanic marquis of Monferrato and the marquis of Savona. From the second branch came Tete II who received a prize from the emperor Henry II, the lands of the count of Vasto in Abruzzo. His son Boniface was thus called the marquis of Vasto. Among the various princes that fought over the inheritance of the countess Adelaide it was Boniface that certainly did best by succeeding to conquer a territory that corresponds to the present province of Cuneo. After the death of Boniface, marquis di Vasto, sometime between 1130 and 1135, the sons including the disinherited firstborn, started many of the noble Ligurian and Piedmont families. From Boniface the disinherited came the marquis of Incisa; from Manfred I the marquis of Saluzzo; From William the marquis of Busca; from Hugo or Hugone (big Hugo) the marquis of Clavesana; from Anselmo the marquis of Ceva and Carretto; from Henry I the succeeding marquis of Savona; from Boniface the younger came the marquis of Cortemilia, and from Oddone the marquis of Loreto.
When Hugo became marquis of Clavesana in 1142 he took this town as his personal residence. He probably did this because it was easily defensible, being the highest terrain in the area and surrounded on all sides by insurmountable eroded gorges called "Perticali" (referred to by G. Carducci "Clavesana ... with its unusual Perches"). In some places they are more than two hundred meters deep making them a singular example of a natural fortress.
The marquessate of Clavesana besides the town itself, to the north took in the castles of Somano, Dogliani, Monchiero, La Morra, and Farigliano. To the east it included Mombarcaro, Gottasecca, Monesiglio, Camerana, Saliceto, Cengio, Rocchetta, Bormida, the entire Millesimo area including town and castle, Olazza and the land of Cairo to past Bormida, Carretto, Vignale and Vignarola along with the castle of Croce Ferrata (Wrought Iron Cross) and Biestro. Furthermore it controlled, in league with the marquis of Ceva, the lands and castles of the Renzo and Cedano valleys, along with the vassalage of the lords of Pornassio and Cusio, of Docio, of Almo towards the west, of Lavagna, of Aquila and Gavenola, of Castelvecchio, of Zuccarello and Balestrino. Additionally the marquessate would acquire part of the heritage of the marquis of Cortemilia who died without heirs, as well as Oneglia and its valley.
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Our story of Costa Prà

We arrived in Costa Prà at the end of '94, ending a long search for the place that could be the answer to our dream.
Our roots aren't in Costa Prà, though sometimes the faith brings people to their origins, even if they have done nothing for this to happen. So, after we moved in Clavesana, we discovered that our great-grandmother lived inthis area, not far from our present home.
We weren't vine-dressers.Our family traditions, if any, were closer to breading.
Our intention was to breed horses, but when we first saw Costa Prà we loved it, although inappropriate for our goal.
Lady Luck showed a new road and we decided to follow. Make a virtue of necessity, transform an opportunity into passion was matter of a twinkle.