Welcome to the South in Piedmont: a journey within a journey in Novi Ligure

"Go Girardengo, go great champion, no one follows you along that highway," sang Francesco De Gregori some years ago, and since the destination of this trip of ours is the hometown of Costante Girardengo, one of the greatest Italian cycling champions of all time, it's only natural to hum this song. Arriving at Novi Ligure, we see dozens of professional cyclists training on the main road that leads here from Ovada, clear proof that the memory of the great champions linked to Novi is still very much alive. Fausto Coppi, even though he was born in nearby Castellania, often trained on the roads around Novi, and his name too is indissolubly linked to the town. The first stop of our day is at the Museo dei Campionissimi, the largest cycling museum in Europe, which across a full three thousand square metres pays tribute to the history of cycling.

In the Sala dei Campionissimi we admire a series of relics and mementos linked to Coppi and Girardengo, while in the Virtual Reality Room we try our hand at being cyclists ourselves, on computerised bikes that let you feel the thrill of racing and make it incredibly lifelike. Approaching Novi Ligure, some large signs on the main road inform tourists of the town's main attractions, including the painted palazzi, chocolate and sweets. Novi, set on the northern slopes of the Ligurian Apennines, among the hills of the Upper Monferrato planted with vines or covered by often unspoilt woods, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was a holiday town for wealthy Genoese families. Here the Doria, Balbi, Spinola, Durazzo and several other dynasties had their summer residences.

Their palazzi, all richly decorated and painted in various colours, are a tourist attraction remembered even in some eighteenth-century French chronicles. The most important painted palazzo in the town is Palazzo Negroni, which also has two sundials, one of them based on the French revolutionary calendar. Palazzo Negroni stands in the most important square of the historic centre, Piazza delle Piane, itself named after a historic Genoese noble family. If Via Girardengo, which leads here, is a lively shopping street with many little shops selling everything from clothing to bric-a-brac, arriving in Piazza delle Piane you find instead an atmosphere of times gone by, steeped in art thanks also to the presence of a handsome fountain, as well as the splendid collegiate church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Continuing our tour of the centre we also admire the imposing church of San Nicolò, as well as the fourteenth-century church of Sant'Andrea, which was probably once linked to the castle. Climbing up beside the church you reach the remains of the castle, and at the top of the hill stands out the tower, built in the thirteenth century. Around the castle ruins we also notice some parts of the ancient town walls that once enclosed the village but were dismantled in the second half of the nineteenth century to allow the town's urban development. Even though it lies in Piedmont, the name Novi Ligure has a smell of the sea about it and evokes the great Ligurian seafaring culture, almost like an invitation to set sail.

That may be another reason why, after a lovely stroll through the historic centre, we feel like swapping the champions' bicycles, in our imagination, for a great sailing ship that will carry us straight to Calabria and Sicily. A journey within a journey, a cultural, historical and culinary link between North and South, an occasion to relive the atmosphere of summer dinners by the sea, a cruise during which to recall unforgettable holidays spent in Sicily and Calabria and to catch up with relatives and friends who live down that way. A fantastic adventure that is possible in Novi Ligure thanks to the new Ristorante Benvenuti Al Sud, set in an atmospheric historic palazzo along the Strada del Turchino, just outside the town, heading towards Ovada.

We leave the car in the large private car park and, before going in, admire the beautiful courtyard which, together with the spacious rooms, makes a perfect venue for events and private parties. Welcoming us with warm kindness is Mr Fiore, the owner who in a short time has managed to turn a place that had been searching for its identity for years into a successful restaurant. His secret? Enthusiasm and quality. "All the Sicilian and Calabrian specialities we offer are prepared with original, guaranteed ingredients from our South. Our meat menu includes twenty-six starters, plus first courses, main courses, fruit and a wide choice of desserts from the two regions. The fish menu, available on reservation so that we can guarantee the freshness of the produce, is structured in the same way and begins with a rich variety of starters.

We are also a pizzeria; our speciality is pizzas with a stuffed crust," the owner explains as we settle into the beautiful room with its ancient vaults and sun-bright colours that successfully help create a Sicilian-Calabrian atmosphere. Our dinner promises to be gargantuan: we start with a very rich parade of starters, each more delicious than the last. With a mix of cured meats and cheeses including salame Santangelo, spianata calabrese, provola, primosale, toma and baked ricotta, we combine treats such as crushed olives, sun-dried tomatoes in seasoned oil and seven-year chillies with anchovy. We also taste 'nduja, caponata and pan-fried artichokes, as well as Sicilian specialities like panelle and little rice arancine. We're very fond of the plain meatballs and the sweet-and-sour ones too, and we find the fresh ricotta in the pan and the flavourful bruschetta irresistible as well.

Part of our group carries on with the exquisite pizzas, available in a huge range of flavours, from the classics to the more inventive, such as the pizza pinolosa (with cream, cooked ham, mozzarella, pine nuts and pesto), the risottina (with cream, saffron, mozzarella, rice, sausage and pancetta) or the bufalaccia (with tomato sauce, pancetta, sausage and buffalo mozzarella). Among the first courses we choose an excellent baked pasta that sends our imagination flying to Mondello beach, though the spaghetti alla palermitana with sardines, the spicy penne and the maccheroni with pork sauce are a great success too. We continue with excellent meat dishes including mixed grilled meats and mixed sausage, as well as lamb, pork and veal specialities.

The flavours of the South travel hand in hand with its sun-bright colours, which we find on our plate even in the fruit: spectacular prickly pears, as well as sweet dried fruit. As for desserts, here we truly arrive in the realm of fairy tales, where trying to resist temptation is utterly impossible. Our Southern dinner ends with wonderful cannoli, available with either ricotta or cream, but we also taste the tempting Sicilian cassata and almond paste, as well as a rich variety of house desserts. After this fantastic experience we're sure we'll gladly set off again soon on a new gastronomic "cruise" of the South, and next time we might enjoy a fish dinner that will let us savour the flavours of the sea, starting with fully thirteen starters including fried squid rings in flour, anciove beccafigo, Marsala prawns, smoked fish, octopus in sauce and maccaredde di mare.

No doubt about it: in Novi Ligure our ship of the gourmands has found a safe harbour.

Francesca Bertha FOR INFORMATION: