We drove from the UK to Northern Italy in October, specifically for the truffle festival and wine harvest. Planned three days in Barolo and three in Alba (over an early festival weekend). We prefer low key, non-glitzy places and finally found Casa Dellatorre through TripAdvisor. Even though all the reviews were in Italian, they were 5-star and we took both to mean it was good. And it was.
The B&B is in the old middle of Alba, which is great, although not that terrific when you are driving a right-hand drive Range Rover. We found the Casa in a narrow street and one of the three sisters was in the Cafe and helped us unload our bags even though we were early for check-in. Between us we managed to create a map to locate the public parking in walking distance. Had to get help in understanding the parking ticket machine, but it turned out to be very sensible. The time elapsed in parking is only active during the time you can be charged for parking. For example, since parking is free for two hours over lunch, those two hours were not included in the charge.
The Casa is essentially a little bar/cafe with rooms. We had two on the ground floor. Not sure where the third is. Our ground floor room was very well appointed, with substantial, mostly older, furniture. A very comfortable bed, with very high quality bed linens. Bed side tables with good reading lights and a little clock radio on one. Lovely pillows. Large wardrobe. Television that had only Italian channels as far as I could tell. French doors to the outside.
The en suite bathroom was startlingly clean, white and bright. Excellent shower, basin, bidet etc. Plenty of good towels, and a reasonable selection of soap and shampoo. Some interesting small pieces that took the edge off the first clinical effect.
We could have breakfast either in the cafe, the room or on one of the little tables outside. Full version was coffee, water, OJ, croissant, bread, butter, Nutella, a ham pannini - we had that the first morning and then subsequently cut back. The cafe offered all of the above, as well as lots of other hot and cold drinks throughout the day and into the evening. A very comfortable retreat.
The "courtyard" was not as glamorous as their website shows, but we enjoyed sitting at one of the little tables for coffee during the day or a glass of wine in the late afternoon. Since it was the weekend, it got a little busy with younger locals getting together later in the day, but nothing to interfere with our enjoyment.
Good wi-fi connection from everywhere and we were able to use the Cafe printer for an emergency. The sisters had booked us dinner for each of the three nights ahead of time at the restaurants I had selected. They also arranged for us to go on a truffle "hunt" one morning. Knew it would really be a tourist event, but was worthwhile. And when we were charged 50 Euro a head instead of the described 30 Euro, Liliana went straight down the street and got all our 20 Euros back for us.
This place really suited us well - comfortable, friendly, efficient, low-key, great location and not too much English spoken (I had our reservation emails translated by a friend into Italian). It's also near the railway station which suited out friends travelling back to Paris. I hope we have the opportunity to return.