Ai Due Santi In Orta san giulio

14/01/2025: First date and anniversary dinner. Wonderful place. Maybe wanting to look for a little one critical issues... but I struggle a lot... to improve table service. It should be informal and confidential but it shouldn't come across as too friendly and jokey. For me the best in Arona! I hope you continue with these standards. Well done

30/12/2024: On the shores of Lake Maggiore, in Arona, chef Michele Commisso cooks and invents. Flavors of the land nearby, with excellent chestnut and mushroom gnocchi, a foie gras dégraissé, which Gianni Mura treated to himself during the breaks of the Tour. But here the goose comes from nearby lands, between Vigevano and Mortara. The croaker with Mornay sauce evokes distant flavours, and makes you forget the desire for whitefish. One can still imagine the shad dried in the « Roman mansio » and former lakeside emporium of Arona. The eggnog with berries, flambéed at the stove, is worth the trip. As well as the cellar, which Michele could push even more towards the Ghemme and Bramaterra as well as the excellent Nebbiolo Cinzia Travaglini enjoyed by the glass. The cellar timidly opens up to Piedmontese sparkling wines (the Valsellera Brut is excellent, always by the glass). Michele talks about discoveries of minor champagnes that are already reaching the Aube and displacing the Dom and the Ruinart. We will be back to taste them. But we also expect a Calabrian « gaglioppo » from Strongoli mindful of Ceraudo and an additional Ciro'. He promises us as he leaves. As a tribute to the traveler who sadly leaves the splendid view of the place, he distils an excellent Francone grappa, grouped between the signature Nonino, Maroldo and Berta (the excellence of Italian distillation). The bottle of Rochelt Weiselt (sour cherries distilled in Styria...) does not escape. He promises us next time. Going out, the air is humid with tabards and hats, the horizon is clear where the Angera fortress lights up. Borromeo ruled and sanctified himself here, the land of the Spanish, Austrians and Piedmontese.