Grotto? Great-o! summer in Ticino wouldn't be complete without visiting a grotto. These stone-built, rustic restaurants are found throughout the canton and are the perfect place to grab some shade and a bite to eat. And if you're fortunate, a memorable view is thrown in for free.
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Virtually unique to Ticino--though there is a handful of 'crotti' found over the border in Lombardy and Piedmont--the name grotto comes from the Italian word for cave, grotta.
Long before every home had a fridge, the Ticinesi kept perishables cool near granite rocks, and with so much good food and wine stored in the one place, it naturally became a meeting point for the locals who gathered to chat, eat local cheeses and salame, and drink a glass or two of merlot.
Granite paradise
Today grottos appear in many guises, thanks in part to tourism and the availability of electricity in all but the most inaccessible of places. At one end of the spectrum, there are grottos in name only, serving everything you might expect in a restaurant. Credit cards are accepted, the menus are extensive and children's dishes are offered.
At the other end, are the tiny, stone buildings 1,000 metres up, with a perfunctory kitchen powered by a rumbling generator, serving wine that'll strip the enamel off your teeth. Here, cash is the only currency.
However they differ, one thing all grottos have in common are the granite benches and tables, sometimes big enough to seat more than a dozen people. No granite? Not a grotto, insist the purists.
In the spring and summer grottos are frequently a riot of floral colour and vines grow on pergolas above the tables. The grape harvest in late September often signals the imminent closure of grottos for another year: the season can last just seven months, from March/April to October. Others keep going until Christmas, closing for only the first two or three months of the year.
Personal recommendation
Grotto Pedemonte in Verscio, some ten minutes outside of Locarno, is a personal favourite. Set back from the road, with vines, a mature fig tree and even a banana plant to complement the natural scenery, it's a first-class grotto.
Ugo Beretta has been running the place for more than 16 years, serving up seasonal dishes such as polenta with funghi porcini, coniglio (rabbit) and lake fish alongside grilled meat, pasta dishes, the ever-present cheeses and piatto ticinese: cured meats, mortadella nostrana and salami.
At Grotto Pedemonte, service always comes with a smile, prices are very reasonable, portions are generous (the bread basket is stuffed with man-sized chunks), the piatto ticinese is one of the best around and the short wine list has been chosen with care, often including a number of local producers.
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