Among the Miracles of Authentic Monferrato Cooking: A Weekend in San Salvatore Monferrato

An ancient corner tower, twenty-four metres tall, one metre for each of the hours that have passed since 1413, the year it was built at the behest of Marquis Paleologo Teodoro, lord of Monferrato. This tower, symbol of the town, has watched over the inhabitants of San Salvatore Monferrato for almost six hundred years, and will continue to do so for eternity, thanks also 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, often drew inspiration from the Monferrato landscapes, portraying them in a dreamlike dimension suspended between fantasy and reality, as shown by his watercolours dedicated to San Salvatore in the 1940s and '50s, including "Vedute di Valparolo", "Colline", as well as "La Torre".

Arriving in this charming town nestled among the hills of the Casale Monferrato area, 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, a craft town whose influences are clearly tangible. From the Alessandria Ovest tollbooth we reach in a few minutes the Locanda dell'Arzente, created in a beautifully restored nineteenth-century farmhouse. We settle into our rooms, tidy and spotless, furnished with rustic antiques, and set off to discover the town.

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 vast garden populated with rhododendrons and azaleas. A short distance from the town centre stands the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pozzo. The church, built in the eighteenth 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 at Capurso, in the province of Bari, where in 1705 a priest was miraculously healed after drinking the waters of a sacred well. After the legendary miracles, we move on to more earthly ones, returning to the Locanda dell'Arzente for dinner. In the garden we meet a Dutch couple staying here.

They tell us this is already the third time they have come back for a few days, drawn above all by the excellent traditional cuisine, as well as by the warmth and friendliness of the owners and the beauty of the place. Chatting with the owner, we discover that they took over the establishment about a year ago. "We are extremely careful and demanding in choosing our raw materials, which come strictly from the local area. We serve exclusively specialities of authentic Monferrato cuisine, also to spread a little food education by offering an excellent quality-price ratio." We begin with a Roccaverano mousse with four cheeses and herbs, served with a bitter-orange jam, a Livorno cockerel salad with porcini mushrooms, Taggiasca olives and sun-dried tomatoes, local cacciatorini, the fantastic Monferrato battuto and the pepper with bagna caoda.

We also taste the pè, a typical winter dish, served with the green bagnetto and the red sauce, various timbales and puff-pastry baskets with artichokes and asparagus, as well as one of the venue's strong points, the leek tartlet with truffle cream. We follow this very rich appetiser with the signature dish of Monferrato tradition, the house-made agnolotti. We also taste some of the 68 types of risotto on offer, including the liquorice and saffron-thread one with asparagus tips, creamed with Castelmagno. We wash down these delicacies with excellent local wines, in particular the Barbera di Nizza Monferrato, the Grignolino del Monferrato casalese, the Dolcetto di Rocca Grimalda, as well as some sparkling wines, the Gavi di Roverato di Gavi and the Malvasia greco, recovered after many years.

Among the main courses we taste the traditional donkey stew, the guinea fowl with Dolcetto, the Ligurian-style rabbit, prepared with the owner's mother's recipe, the snails in green sauce, as well as roasts and braised meats. We discover that once a month the Piedmontese mixed fry is also prepared, pan-fried, while from October onwards once a week "the triumph of boiled meats" is celebrated. The sweet conclusion to dinner sees us enjoy delicious spoon desserts, including persimmon panna cotta and bunet, all accompanied by the exquisite gelato dell'Arzente. After this lovely weekend of walks and good food, we are certain we will be among those guests who return here many more times.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Locanda dell'Arzente Regione Guatrasone, 100 Loc. Squarzolo - San Salvatore Monferrato (AL) Tel.: 0131/233969