Old flavours among enchanted hills: a day in San Salvatore Monferrato

An extremely old corner tower, fully twenty-four metres high, one metre for every hour of the days gone by since 1413, the year it was built at the wish of Marquis Theodore Palaiologos, lord of Monferrato. This tower, the symbol of the town, has watched over the inhabitants of San Salvatore Monferrato for almost six hundred years, and will go on doing so for all eternity, also thanks to the fact that it was immortalised in one of the paintings of the Alessandria artist Franco Sassi. The Piedmontese painter, born in 1912, whose works are even held at the British Museum in London, was often inspired by the Monferrato landscapes, portraying them in a dreamy dimension, suspended between fantasy and reality, as his watercolours dedicated to San Salvatore in the 1940s and '50s show, among them "Vedute di Valparolo", "Colline" and "La Torre".

Arriving in this charming town set among the hills of the Monferrato of Casale, it is not hard to notice its historical and artistic wealth, as well as its beauty and strategic position, already appreciated by the ancient Romans who called it Villa ad Vites, while from 1048 it was known as Castrum Sancti Salvatoris. Today San Salvatore, a city since 1894 by royal decree of Umberto I, lies in the triangle of Alessandria, Casale Monferrato and Valenza, an artisan town whose influences are very tangible. During our walk we visit the sixteenth-century churches of San Martino and San Siro, as well as Villa Genova, part of the Piedmontese Open Castles, and known in particular for its very large garden filled with rhododendrons and azaleas. A short distance from the built-up area is the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pozzo.

The church, built in the 18th century in memory of the miraculous rescue of a soldier, one Martino De Nava, who had fallen into a well, is dedicated to the Madonna venerated in Capurso, in the province of Bari, where in 1705 a priest was miraculously healed after drinking the waters of a sacred well. After legendary miracles, we move on to more earthly ones, discovering that along the road leading from San Salvatore to Lu Monferrato, a short distance from the built-up area, there is a small earthly Paradise called La Serignola. A Trattoria del Gusto, with a large private car park and a very pleasant summer outdoor area, where you can enjoy the old flavours in tranquillity, in a cosy setting, in contact with the wonderful nature of the hills of the Lower Monferrato. "The Cascina Serignola was once inhabited by the tenant farmers who worked the surrounding land.

We bought it in 1990 with my husband Mauro Porzio, renovating it gradually and working on it ourselves, to make it our home as well as the Trattoria. This room was once a tool shed," the owner, Mrs Daniela Camurati, tells us as we take our seats at the table, in the charming, family and rustic setting of the little room, with old farming tools hanging on the walls. Everything is cared for down to the smallest detail, with the greatest attention to sourcing raw materials. "We offer trattoria food with restaurant service. Our menu changes from season to season, embracing all the classic dishes of Monferrato cuisine," is the philosophy of the owners, and that is why Mr Mauro buys the best products in their places of origin: the filetto baciato of Ponzone, the organic crudo of Moncestino, or the Paletta di Coggiola, an ancient mountain ham from the Biella area, baked in the oven.

We start with a large platter of traditional cured meats and cheeses and a three-course tasting of house starters, and continue with spring gnocchi sautéed in the pan with dried tomatoes and capers, a house recipe, and with lean ravioli with borage and other herbs in Monferrato extra-virgin olive oil and egg yolk. We follow these treats with another dish of Piedmontese tradition, Chicken alla Marengo, prepared according to the basic recipe. We also taste a special grill with top-quality meats: besides pork fillet, the salamini della Fraschetta, typical of the area, and rustic skewers. We wash it all down with some of the best quality Piedmontese and Monferrato Casalese wines and finish the dinner with home-made pastries with passito or chinato wine, as well as a slice of home-made chocolate and pear cake and chocolate and caramel pudding.

To finish we also taste the La Serignola Chamomile Elixir, a wonderful low-alcohol liqueur, created with the Trattoria's own label. A visit to the Serignola also helps love: during the warm season it will in fact be possible to spend a romantic evening at the "Posticino", a terrace for two, separate from the room, lit only by natural light and immersed in the intimacy of the Monferrato hills. You will fall in love with it at first sight.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

La Serignola – Trattoria del Gusto Loc. Squarzolo, 2 San Salvatore Monferrato (AL) 0131/233406