The light taste of a day on the Ticino: a walk in Turbigo

A nature park with woods famous for their wealth of wildlife, a river with blue waters where you can come and fish with a rod on Sunday afternoon, a quiet village where you can take long walks through history: this is the beautiful Turbigo, about half an hour by car from Milan. But as well as reaching it by car, it is also possible to arrive here by bike, pedalling along the Naviglio Grande, and remembering that it was precisely the excavation works of the Naviglio, begun in 1179, that gave life to the Turbigh in Giò district, characterised by the presence of mill races, bridges and streets that still preserve the atmospheres of the past. Set in the Lombard Park of the Ticino Valley, the historical importance of Turbigo is also due to its strategic position, as a place of crossing of the river between Como and Novara.

Over the centuries it was a fief of various families including the Tatti and the De Cristoforis, as recalled by the presence of Villa Tatti and the eighteenth-century Palazzo Gray De Cristoforis, currently the seat of the Town Hall. That the symbol of Turbigo had always been the river can also be seen in the various hypotheses about the origin of its name: it could derive from the Latin "turris bis", recalling the two head towers of the bridge over the Ticino, which already existed in Roman times and appears in the coat of arms of the Municipality, but it could also derive from the Germanic "turba", that is hut, yet there are also those convinced that "Turbigium" or "Turbiscus" come into it, terms that evoke the breaking of the waves of the Ticino.

With these premises, even our Turbigo day could only begin on the banks of the river, where, thanks to the mild and sunny weather of late winter, we saw many people strolling, fishing and riding bikes. Moving towards the centre, we admired the seventeenth-century three-arched bridge over the Naviglio Grande, with nearby the remains of the old Austrian customs house of the late eighteenth century, and then made our way into the heart of the village after visiting the thirteenth-century Church of Saints Cosma and Damiano. It is said that it was the church of prayer during the construction works of the Duomo of Milan. And here we are living a spiritual emotion that begins by climbing a scenic staircase that from Via Vittorio Veneto leads onto the terrace where the Church of the Beata Vergine Assunta and the Castle are situated.

This place unites past and present thanks to the historicity of the Castle, existing already in the 9th century, today private property, and the imposing parish church built in 1936 also with the collaboration of the sculptor Carlo Bonomi. Beside the church and the castle, the artist created a hermitage-studio called La Selvaggia, which today is a fascinating museum-gypsotheque. We wanted to crown the day with a tasty and light dinner at the same time, at the Ristorante Leggero, in Via Roma, suggested to us by a couple of friends who often come here to enjoy the numerous quick dishes of the business lunch, as well as having attended some company receptions organised in the venue's ceremony room. The old exposed beams are in perfect harmony with the white brightness of the setting, which had also inspired the name "Leggero". "This place was an old inn, it existed already in 1896.

We have been running it for a year and a half. We follow seasonality and prepare everything in house, from bread to pasta and desserts," the owners Marco Rocco and Diana Airaghi tell us as we take our seats at the table. We start with crispy pan-fried octopus with pearl barley with artichokes, Taggiasca olives and a light basil pesto, scallops seared with dry Martini, pea and watercress cream, and the buffalo ricotta flan, puntarelle in oil, truffle cream and a sunny-side-up egg. We follow these excellent starters with chestnut and cocoa stracci, with artichokes and scampi with ginger, then the Carnaroli creamed with yellow pepper cream, scallop carpaccio and a hint of truffle, and the spelt pappardelle filled with seirass and thyme with guinea fowl strips.

In choosing the second courses we divide between the buttered perch fillet with red pepper fondue and pesto potato tartlet, the rabbit legs filled with sausage, wrapped in speck with potato croquettes and aromatic Traminer sauce, and the veal fillet scaloppined with Nebbiolo with green beans and bacon potatoes. We wash these treats down with wines chosen from about a hundred Italian labels, among them also the zero-mile ones of the nearby Cascina Zoina di Oleggio. Next time we could try the "Il mare" or "Il territorio" tasting menus, available for the whole table, and now we close in refined sweetness with the crispy apple puff pastry with vanilla sauce and mint strawberry salad, the coffee jar, liquorice crème catalane and sambuca shot, and the warm chocolate cream with Baileys and hazelnut semifreddo.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Ristorante Leggero Via Roma, 10 Turbigo (MI) 0331/890564