Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 0376 32 94 78; Vicolo Nazione 4; meals €10-15; 12.30-2.30pm Mon-Sat)
Take a pew at
wooden tables beneath echoing barrel-vaulted ceilings and order up pumpkin pancakes,
pike in sweet salsa or
risotto alla pilota.
It is rustic and extremely well priced.
Fragoletta Antica
MANTUAN
€€
( 0376 32 33 00;
www.fragoletta.it
;
Piazza Arche 5; meals €35; noon-3pm & 7-11.30pm Tue-Sun;
)
Diners eagerly tuck into Slow-Food accredited
culatello di Zibello
(lard) at this
friendly local trattoria. Other Mantuan specials such as
risotto alla pilota
and perfectly
seasoned steaks feature on the menu. Dine in the back room with its bright homemade art
amid stacks of wine crates.
Il Cigno
MANTUAN
€€€
( 0376 32 71 01;
www.lesoste.it
;
Piazza d'Arco 1; meals €55-65; 12.30-2.30pm & 7-11pm Wed-
Sun, closed Aug)
The building is as beautiful as the food: a lemon-yellow facade dotted with
faded olive-green shutters, and dining rooms adorned with Venetian glassware. Inside,
Mantua's gourmets tuck into risotto with spring greens, poached cod with polenta or
gamey guinea fowl with spicy Mantuan
mostarda
.
WORTH A TRIP
DAL PESCATORE
Petals of egg pasta frame slices of guinea fowl caramelized in honey saffron, while silky tortellini are
stuffed to bursting with pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon and candied mostarda. You can practically eat
the Mantuan countryside in Nadia Santini's internationally-acclaimed restaurant
Dal Pescatore
(
0376 72 30 01;
www.dalpescatore.com
; Località Runate, Canneto sull'Oglio; meals €150-250;
noon-4pm & 7.30-late Thu-Sun, 7.30-late Wed; ) . What's even more surprising is that Italy's best
female chef (2013) is entirely self-taught and has only ever cooked in this singular restaurant, origin-
ally the modest trattoria of her husband's family. Beneath the tutelage of her now 84-year-old mother-
in-law, who still cooks in the kitchen, Nadia learnt to cook Mantuan cuisine deftly and creatively. Des-
pite her background in food science the food isn't remotely high-tech, but rather quietly brilliant, fo-
cusing on the essentials and balancing simplicity with the very finest natural produce.
The restaurant is located 40km west of Mantua in a green glade beside the Oglio river. Nearby,
9
Muse B&B
(
335 800 76 01;
www.9muse.it
;
Via Giordano Bruno 42/a, Canneto sull'Oglio; s/d
€45/75;
) provides elegant and charming accommodation.
