A lion on its road to the seaside: trip to Tortona. Piedmont region, Italy

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Flight across the sea from the big city is always somewhat of a little adventure. It becomes even more if halfway through, when we just left behind the Po Valley and in the distance begin to glimpse the foothills of the Alexandrian, suddenly appears a lion ... A silver lion on a red fire, holding between the paws a rose leaves and flowers of silver, and whose strength, according to tradition, three gifts of value, loyalty and courtesy. This is the famous lion of Tortona, formerly called Derthona city, whose motto, since Roman times, is: "Pro tribus Donis like Terdona leonis", ie, Tortona is like a lion, because of three gifts.
In fact the gifts, if you decide to leave the motorway at Tortona and enjoy, as we have done a beautiful day in this city, may be also more than three, because of the artistic wealth, but also landscape and food and wine of Tortona.
The city of the lion is in a strategic geographical position, the fact that for centuries was part of his cross, and part of his fortune. Crossroads of trade, a flourishing agricultural center in Roman times, today close to the main cities of the North, throughout history Tortona was also fiercely contested by various powers.
Our walk starts from the Cathedral in the center, built in the second half of the sixteenth century on an existing church. Inside we admired, as well as paintings by artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as Aurelio Luini and Camillo Procaccini, also the relics of San Marzano, the saint who, according to tradition, the city was responsible for the conversion to Christianity.
The characteristic streets of Tortona, which at times is reminiscent of old towns in Liguria, winding through curves and climbs to read between the houses with balconies full of flowers, the walls of old churches and the windows of smart shops. In front of the Oratory of San Rocco meet a group of students on a trip like ours, taking pictures of the facade of the religious. Continuing, we reach the Church of Santa Maria Canal, the city's oldest, dating back to XI-XII century. Inside there are frescoes of the Renaissance, as well as some interesting paintings of the sixteenth-and seventeenth centuries, including a Nativity school of Leonardo.
The pictorial art has always accompanied the history of Tortona, in fact the city has given birth to more than one major artist, including Angelo Barabino, student and friend of Pellizza Volpedo, and Cesare Saccaggi. And the tradition continues to the point that the artistic brush strokes take us even at the dinner table as soon as we enter the restaurant Infernot, a true wine cellar with kitchen via Pelizzari, a stone's throw from the Duomo, our focus is kidnapped by a framework that seems recall the atmosphere of the works of Caravaggio is a work of the painter Claude Magrassi Tortona, representing people at the table, including the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Angelo Paola. We settle for the typical wooden tables in a room by ancient walls, and the atmosphere there makes them feel special characters in a work of art. "The way Pelizzari was once a way of blacksmiths, in fact, there is a door in our local very high, now a solid door, which presumably passed the horses, and you can also see where he could be the forge and the hearth to heat the iron, "he says Mr. Angelo. We ask now if there is to worry about the fact that we are "all'Infernot," but we immediately reassured: the "evil" here we can only happen to commit some harmless sin of gluttony, eating and drinking very well. In fact, the word "Infernot" indicates the time of the underground rooms where they kept the vintage wine. So excited we decided to give in to temptations of authentic local cuisine, midway between the Piedmont and Liguria. Let's start with the starters of salami of the area, and also taste the peppers with anchovies abrupt. We continue with the typical rabatòn Piedmont, as well as ravioli made the old way. As a second, we choose a good pot roast, and our friends take advantage of the season to try the polenta with white truffles and blacks. Washed down with excellent wines from the Colli Tortonese, as Timorasso and Barbera, and to end on a sweet note, we took the bunet, sweet typical of the area, and pears cooked in wine, candy. The next time we come back here on Friday for an authentic seafood dinner, based on cod, salt cod and fried anchovies.
While we take the highway to our city, we think fondly of Tortona, a lion: he was very generous with us.

Frances Bertha

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.comune.Tortona.al.it
www.vivitortona.it
Infernot - Basement kitchen
Via Pelizzari, 9 Tortona (AL)
0131/894329
www.infernotcantinaconcucina.it