We are taking a slow route in mid October from Prague to Geneva via Nothern Italy (first time in Italy other than as a non-food oriented 10 year old in Rome and Florence). We expect to spend 4-5 days in each of the three regions (Sud Tyrol, the lakes and Piemonte), centering our plans around restaurants, rather than sites. I’ll plan the accommodations and any activities based on the dining locations.
No need to ask where will be. We are just looking for your top spots, tips, favorites in these regions. In general, we like restaurants medium-small sized cities and smaller towns but any suggestions are welcomed. We tend to stay away from 2-3 star places but appreciate the full range of options aside from that. I’ll come back with full reports at the end of year. Thanks in advance for you tips and ideas
Juicy question. I’m not sure I ever used “juicy” like that but early morning my vocabulary always feels limited.
The Langhe to me has some of the best concentration of great dining in Europe. The Basque of Italy if you will. Might be peak or at least approaching peak truffle season, but a good chance its early. The mushrooms should be great.
I like La Morra for the size, town and the close proximity to great dining within 10 minutes. But my absolute favorites are a bit further out, but still close enough
Trattoria La Coccinella - Decades old legend operated by three brothers. Elevated classics with plenty of seafood. Get the mushrooms pasta if available. Tell
Il Centro in Priocca - My favorite restaurant in the world! Tell Giampiero Ziggy sent you. But regardless, he’ll take good care of you. His mom is like a food magician. One Michelin, but great value.
Osteria Imperfetta - My favorite discovery last year. Not terribly different than the rest, but does the classics really well.
If you opt to stay in/near La Morra, I can list all the places nearby. There are quite a few.
Our favorite in Turin was actually a food tour called I Eat Food Tours.
Favorite meal in Turin was L’Acino
Not clear which lakes you’ll visit. Other than Lake Maggiore, I’m a little rustic with the rest as its been a while. In the Stresa area our favorite was Rampolina, for both the restaurant and accommodations.
Happy planning!
Where will you enter Italy as you approach from Prague? Near Bolzano/ Bozen? Or will you start your visit in Friuli? I realize you mention Trentino-Alto Adige, but not Friuli in your subject line. I’m just asking because I’m curious, and I know a lot of Friulians here in Canada, and I’m familiar with some of the gastronomy after 20 years of dining with those friends.
I’ve taken the train through Bolzano a few times. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity to explore the region on foot.
Thanks Ziggy, a great start! I have followed the CH and HO on Piemonte over the years and La Morra seems like a good bet. We don’t mind a longer drive to get to places and so your top options are preferred. If you can add some favorites places close to La Morra that would be great (one star Michelin is fine, we just avoid 2-3 star places). We’ll definitely do Il Centro with the personal reference and add the two others to our list. For the lakes I think we are looking at Maggiore or Como but really will depend on what dining options we find.
It’s tempting and we could go via Styria and enter through Fruilia and we’ve never been to that part of Austria. Do you have one spot you or your friends like? We could stop there for a night and drive to Trentino via Cortina. I’ve seen a lot here over the years for Piemonte but not Trentino Aldige or Fruilia.
I haven’t been with them. I have had their home cooking here in Canada, and 2 of my friends were chefs who trained in Italy.
Most of their families moved to the Toronto area after a horrible earthquake in May 1976.
I know they spend the most time in Udine and San Daniele when they go back to visit.
I did a lot of reporting on the area in CH. Now it is all perished…
Would like to enthusiastically endorse Ziggy’ s suggestion of La Coccinella in Serravalle Langhe . It is one of my favorite restaurants in the world. I have been there 4 times. Loved it every time.
My favorite plates - tajarin con conglio and frito misto (the meat version). As well, despite being quiet far from the sea, their seafood is sublime.
On Alto Adige area “allende” in CH use to write a lot. I always appreciated his authority on the subject. I have not been to the area for many years. Remember loving onion pasta in Baita Fraina near Cortina D’Ampezzo (allende’s suggestion). I remember allende liked a lot Schöneck near Brunico. We had a bit dicey service there, but the food was delicious. As well delicious bur very rustic meal in Signaterhof near Bolzano. Il Libertino in Trento was OK.
Thanks for the recs, exactly what we are looking for! I do remember Allende’s comprehensive coverage of these region. I wish I had saved some of those threads.
In La Morra I highly recommend Relais Le Rocche as a nice small boutique hotel
Inside La Morra Osteria More e Macine is very popular and probably the best option.
Fairly close you got Osteria La Torre (Cherasco), Agnulot (Verduno), Ca ‘del Re (Verduno), and the famous L’Osteria del Vignaiolo and Osteria Veglio. Agnulot is a tiny one woman show and requires months in advance. I wasnt successful trying three months prior.
There’s also Langotto Ristorante which gets rave reviews but I was too sick to properly enjoy
In terms of Trentino/Alto Adige, the geography is rather complex (given the dolomites) so if you have to do through there, some of your choices will exclude others, more perhaps than other geographies. Very close to Austria (east of Bolzen and just west of Brunick) is the pleasant genteel town of St Lorenzen. We stayed at Gasthaus Sonne there (and had a vey good dinner) with a special lunch at Lerchners in Runngen, a stroll in the countryside (or short drive) away. It was bucolic and stylish, refined regional cuisine with views of the mountains, wildflowers on the table and delicious rustic dishes.
Note we went there because we were heading up to Corvara, and there was a big bicycle race we were trying to avoid and we were not sorry to spend a day wandering through the old town, meadows and by the river. The corvara fare did not match up to these 2 meals though we ate well a mixture of italian and sudtyrol dishes
Thanks for these two recs! I am somewhat aware of the variation across the region and have looked at that exact area east of Bolzen so perhaps these will work out. Looks like 45 min to Runngen but it may work with a lunch as we explore the valley.
