BELVEDERE DAL 1919

A heroic restaurant, which is almost a century old, managed by the Rebollini family with taste and friendliness, of the kind that Serena oozes from every pore. She and her sister have given new impetus to Belvedere, a destination known by many gourmets. You are in a small hamlet, in a two-floored restaurant with large dining rooms and a cuisine that expresses passion, territory and fusion with the nearby Liguria, but also Lombardy and the area of Piacenza. Take a seat at the lovely round and square tables with the orange chairs and if they offer you the traditional “latte brusco”, a sort of local semolina, accept it. It is their welcome gift. We move on to the starters (€12) the selection of cured meats, the whipped stockfish pie, the onion soup with asparagus and boiled egg, the vineyard snails with wild herbs, the Jewish artichoke au gratin and Montebore. A fish dish will be the pumpkin soup with roasted scallops and oyster dip or of celeryturnip, with passatelli and roasted shrimps. The “culo nudo” agnolotti are one of the long-standing first courses here (€13), but also the risotto with 36-month old Parmesan with beef and porcini base, the passatelli in hen broth, sour cream and egg yolk. On to the seconds (€15), a dish which has won approval is the chicken cooked in three ways, or chicken “of our father” alla cacciatora. Of other visits, the grilled grass-fed sirloin, the slice of turbot ‘alla mugnaia’. For the desserts (€7), “our” tiramisu, or carle apple cake with its sorbet in summer. Tasting menu €32, carefully-crafted wine list (there is also the Montegioco beer). Here, several courtyard animals are reared directly on site, the vegetables are of the nearby garden, the bread and grissini are homemade. What more could you ask for?