14042 Calamandrana
Piedmont, Italy
Tel: +39 0141 769 011
Closed Mondays
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Her friends and neighbours loved Maria Lovisolo's cooking - so when she was widowed at a young age, they encouraged her to open a small restaurant. That was over 40 years ago, and today La Violetta is an institution, and Signora Maria is a celebrity among Piedmontese chefs.
We have known the restaurant for over 10 years, and are always greeted like old friends by Signora Maria's son Carlo and his wife Silvana. Carlo is in charge of the wine cellar, and always finds us the most wonderful wines. Silvana keeps the dishes coming, and never lets her guests wait: she also serves Coca Cola to our kids in stylish wine glasses, which they very much appreciate. Clearly, they are comfortable enough with their 'Slow Food' credentials not to be dogmatic about them.
Signora Maria only leaves her kitchen to see us off after we have been through her wonderful multi-course menu, which is always refined and unpretentiously simple. Our favorite antipasti are her wafer-thin sliced carpaccio drizzled with light Ligurian olive oil, topped with shavings of Parmesan cheese and finely chopped celeric; the delicious vitello tonnato; her prosciutto and vegetable aspic; and her flans which are made from seasonal vegetables - green asparagus in the spring, white cardoon in the winter - and dressed with fonduta, a sauce made from Piedmontese Fontina cheese, milk and egg yolks. Maria uses only the finest quality ingredients, but her secret is the lightness of her dishes - you never come away feeling that you have had a course too many.
The decor of the restaurant is friendly, light and modern. The tables are always immaculately laid with piles of freshly-baked grissini, invitingly placed in the middle of the table. During the summer months we enjoy lunches served outside in the courtyard, under the pergola. My advice: always book a table well in advance, and avoid Sunday lunch - on Sunday people come all the way from Milan and Turin just to have lunch at Violetta's.