Ca’d Becon’s History – Bed and Breakfast in Monferrato

The structure is located in a beautiful hamlet (Geirone which comes from the great Italian gravel) made up of about ten rural houses in typical dry Langa stone that stretches along 2 sides of the county road forming a striking and characteristic avenue. This is ample evidence of the remarkable handicraft activity that animated and gave importance to the hamlet in the first few years of the XX century. A few metres from us there is a very large beautiful dwelling in stone that housed an old flour mill where, in the first half of the XX century, most of the peasants of the neighbourhood met for the transformation of their products.

In front of it there is a modern mechanical workshop in full activity that came about from the transformation of an old carpentry workshop where, besides furniture, the first wooden barrels for the collection and transportation of grapes was constructed.

All these activities centred around the main structure of the old Social Wine Cellar of the Agrarian Consortium of Asti also situated near to the owner’s property, now in misuse but that for decades it was the centre of collection and transformation of all the grapes of our area and therefore core of the agricultural, handicraft and commercial operations of our town.

And also Cà d’ Becon (which is derived from our surname Becchino), (current name of the owner) which in the past was a workshop of primary importance not only for the country of Bubbio but also for the neighbouring municipalities until becoming an important point of reference on all the road maps of that time. The Beccone house is still evident on the map today.

Here , in the first few years of the twentieth century, my grandfather began his blacksmith-wheelwright activity continued then by my father until a short time ago. Careful and detailed renovation has allowed us to keep practically intact the old workshop and the old wood saw (see Museum Link) that characterises the current striking entrance of the owner and also in the furnishing of the interiors of the building we have used almost exclusively old furniture in rustic art of the late nineteenth– early twentieth century restored in light of their uniqueness.