ristorazione — Graglia · Piemonte
On the hills of the Valle Elvo, within the complex of the Santuario di Graglia, a place of rest has welcomed pilgrims and travellers for close to three hundred years. Catia and Sergio's home-style Biellese and Piedmontese cooking is the destination for those who walk these paths.
Crossing the threshold of the Santuario di Graglia means entering a place that has sustained wayfarers and the faithful for centuries. Graglia is a stage on the Cammino di Oropa (Oropa Way), the route that climbs from Santhià to the Santuario della Madonna Nera: those who arrive here have walked, and the restaurant knows it. The welcome begins at the door.
The three dining rooms can seat up to three hundred people, and the frescoed walls turn every meal into something more than a simple lunch. Weddings, confirmations, family gatherings and group tours find here a historic setting that needs no added ornament: the frescoes are already the decoration, and the history is written into the walls.
Sergio Gaida, the restaurant's longtime cook, builds a menu each day that shifts with the season and with what the land provides. Riso in cagnone (butter-and-sage risotto), polenta concia (polenta enriched with cheese and butter), braised beef in Bramaterra with the local wine, bollito misto alla piemontese (Piedmontese mixed boiled meats): dishes that seek substance rather than effect, made with ingredients drawn mostly from the Valle Elvo and the Biellese area.
The dish that reaches the table is the culmination of three hundred years of Biellese cooking: simple, precise, rooted in the land.
