The perfect way to spend a weekend away is enjoying the unique spectacle offered by the fascinating ecosystem of paddy fields between Vercelli, Biella and Novara. The cultivation of rice creates a magical landscape poetically known as the “chequered sea”, where nature, culture, traditions, food and wine merge together into “tasty” itineraries.
We start from Vercelli, the rice capital, past which the Sesia River flows, with the magnificent Gothic church of Sant’Andrea, as well as some prestigious art collections.
Not far off is the Principality of Lucedio, the very centre of the rice industry, where you can admire the fascinating abbey of the same name. In Cascina Colombara in Livorno Ferraris, the Museum of the Mondine dedicated to the women who worked in the paddy fields, is a little jewel of historical and social memory, bearing witness to a life that made the history of the Po Valley. Here you can buy the high-quality rice of the Bassa Vercelli district. Traditional local dishes cuisine obviously those associated with the rice fields. “Brudera”, “mache” and “panissa”, which, in Novara, with some variations, is called “paniscia”. Novara is also home to the cultivation of two types of aromatic rice: Venere black rice and Artemide black rice. The dome of San Gaudenzio, the finest work of the architect Antonelli, together with Mole Antonelliana in Turin, is worth visiting while in Novara.
