Angolo del Buongustaio di Messaglia & C.

This gastronomia, or deli, sells a host of homemade dishes and high-quality produce. Opened by Maria Margherita Messaglia and her husband Paolo Garigliet in 1976, it moved to its present premises 13 years later. In the early 1980s the husband-and-wife team involved their son Luciano in the business, and he now coordinates operations along with his wife Sabrina Rossetto and his brother Valter. A few months ago, the new generation also joined in when Marta, Luciano’s daughter started learning the tricks of the trade directly from her grandmother. Dominating the shop is the oven in which they cook dishes such as courgettes and eggs in carpione (marinated in onions and vinegar), roulades in aspic, octopus salad, and fried zucchini flowers. First courses include stuffed pasta, tofeja (a typical Canavese soup of beans and pork rind, and, in spring, bugleweed soup. The numerous meat and fish dishes feature rabbit roulade flavoured with thyme, swordfish with citrus fruit and hamburger with wild local herbs. There is also a vast selection of cheeses and charcuterie, some of which, such as the game and beef salamis, home-cured. The excellent dessert range includes bonet (set chocolate, amaretti and rum custard), panna cotta and fruit jellies without added sugar. Last but not least, the wine list is impressively comprehensive.