The via delle Gallie, the Roman road built by Augustus to connect the Po Valley with Gaul, once passed through Borgofranco d'Ivrea, a town of few souls in that stretch of territory between Turin and the Val d'Aosta. It was a stop for the Piedmontese stretch of the Francigena, the route of pilgrims who descended from northern Europe to the Holy Land, and until the last century it was on the route of travelers in carriages who went north. Here the Vicina family owned a Posta at the beginning of the 900th century, an inn that took care of changing horses exhausted from travel and offered a comfortable meal to travellers. Even if the horses have remained a postcard memory, the Vicina family has continued to manage the inn which has since been transformed into a restaurant, offering farmed meat and game roasted on a spit according to the old family tradition.
Claudio Vicina began working in the family restaurant at an early age, he was fascinated by the stories of his grandfather and then of his father Claudio about travelers who stopped to change horses and continue their journey in a carriage or about pilgrims who faced hardships and risks to go to pray on the tomb of Christ in the Holy Land or at least in Rome to receive the papal blessing.
When it was his turn, very young, to take over the management of the family restaurant as fourth generation, Claudio Vicina thought well that the time had come to make a leap in quality to keep alive the memory of that food and wine field that is the Canavese, his land, which his grandmother Amelia and then his mother Bruna had made him know and love when he helped them in the kitchen. The memory of that ancient world, made up of old stories, legends, lost worlds that had so fascinated him in his youth, had to be absolutely safeguarded, renewed and reinterpreted in a modern way to transfer it to those who had not known that world.
Strengthened by the teachings of his grandmother Amelia who had given him a substantial culinary flour, Claudio sees fit to enrich his knowledge and his professionalism. Starting with yeasts and pastry which, with its strict rules, gives an excellent rigorous framework to those who want to approach the world of cooking with awareness. And for this reason, after completing the two-year enology course in Caluso (To), at the age of eighteen he moved to Saint Vincent for a few years with the great Rolando Morandin, a master who personally selects the raw materials, passionate about ancient processing methods, but with an eye projected towards innovation: just what is needed for him. From here he then enters the heart of quality cuisine with an experience of two years of hard but fruitful work in Guido Alciati's historic Guido da Costigliole restaurant, a name that has marked the history of Piedmontese catering and is closely linked to his son Andrea. But Claudio, a mild person, very soft, who speaks so softly that it's difficult to understand him, but who has developed a very rigorous and fussy character, still doesn't feel satisfied. He wants to learn as much as possible, and this is how his path is intertwined with that of the great Gualtiero Marchesi where he carries out an internship that deeply marks his style.
Borgofranco d'Ivrea, to which he remains very close with all his family, is however a bit close to him and this is how in 2003 the young Claudio decides to transfer Casa Vicina in Turin to the Crocetta district. You change location but the name remains the same (a name that is already a program in itself, with the word "home" which wants to make it clear that here you enter a healthy family kitchen, of respect and love for traditions, heritage of ancient knowledge of the countryside where his wife Anna works alongside Claudio, once in the dining room now in charge of the pastry shop but a strong presence of comparison and critical verification in the kitchen and his brother Stefano, sommelier; and Vicina, which is indeed his real surname, but which when married to Casa becomes a reassuring inviting claim for the customer not to feel like a stranger, because here everything speaks of the purest Canavese-Piedmontese identity.
And the chef explicitly declares it: “I love to reproduce the tastes of memory: the memory of home and of the Piedmontese tradition. My dishes must “feel good”. Tasting them, the flavors are real and distinct, entering the memory and heart of unique and authentic flavors that take you back to childhood and warm family atmospheres”.
In this work of re-proposing traditional cuisine in a modern key, Claudio, with his maniacal fussiness, succeeds in a real miracle: that of restoring ancient sensations and flavors by subtracting all that load of objective even if characteristic heaviness of peasant cooking. She does this by modifying cooking techniques, harmonizing the balance of ingredients, adopting different cooking techniques for each dish and certainly shorter than that of the housewives of the past, and studying, meticulously studying each component with her fussy and obsessive character and, finally, obviously doing a lot of research. The result? The incredible amazement of experiencing new and old sensations at the same time, harmonized in a balanced concert of flavours.
So it's no surprise that in the face of so much rigor and a great desire to excite the palate in re-proposing a cuisine of atavistic tradition, the judges of the Michelin discovered Casa Vicina by assigning it a star in 2002. And one can well understand why a few years after Casa Vicina was called to be part of the Eataly project by transferring the restaurant inside the mega-structure in Via Nizza thus becoming a sort of permanent representative of the highest values of the Piedmontese gastronomic tradition.
And so what was once a humble horse post is today a refined restaurant on the lower floor of the Eataly complex, housed in the heart of the wine shop, with soft lighting, relaxing colors in shades of gray and beige, wooden details, refined and design furnishings and an entrance sitting room that leads to the House which create a soft and relaxing atmosphere that well prepares the senses for "listening to the dishes and wines".
If the context has totally changed, one thing remains in line with the history of Casa Vicina and is its backbone, the family. Because under the guidance of the meticulous and scrupulous Claudio here they all grew up and trained under the banner of excellence in an environment of mutual and reassuring comparison. Starting with his wife Anna Mastroianni Vicina, a discreet but vigilant presence, who entered the Borgofranco d'Ivrea restaurant while still very young as a waiter and whom Claudio eyed not only for her tenderness but also for her competence. The wedding followed accordingly. Anna moves from the dining room to the kitchen and soon specializes in filled pasta, leavened products and desserts. In 2015 she gave life to a new project: in fact, with the precious help of her daughter Silvia, she takes care of the fresh, dry and praline pastry offered in the Eataly Lingotto pastry shop from Wednesday to Sunday.
And Silvia, fifth generation, is in line with the family tradition. After graduating from the Liceo Scientifico, she could only follow in the footsteps of her parents. “Our parents – she says – showed us the importance of looking to the future. So our contribution focuses on giving a young and sparkling touch to the proposals of Casa Vicina to maintain the personal and contemporary style ", a style which, as far as she is concerned, having painting among her great passions also manifests itself in giving a personal touch and scenographic to each dish.
And then there is also the eldest daughter Laura who takes care of the room and Claudio's brother, Stefano, sommelier in charge of a respectable cellar which presents a wide choice of the most important national and international wine production and who leads the room.
In short, a family war machine (it is not uncommon that sometimes grandparents Roberto and Bruna come back with a flashback, in which all the components give their contribution to arrive at that result that the Michelin Guide summarizes as follows: "a cuisine of great quality. Worth the stop! Top quality products, finesse in the preparations, distinct flavors, constancy in the preparation of the dishes".
A cuisine that is like a fascinating journey back in time, in search of seasons of lost eras and the many values of people, humanity, territory, which Claudio Vicina reads with the magnifying glass of a collector of precious sensations that make part of our gastronomic history and which with the grace that is typical of its character and the passion that it carries within it embeds in modern solutions for the pleasure of its patrons who are thus involved in a unique emotional adventure.
But it's time to sit down at the table and see how everything that has been said turns into something concrete. The flag on the highest banner of the nearby ship is certainly the Bagna caoda to drink. A dish of the purest Piedmontese tradition and totally revised, born from a project linked to Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. Claudio Vicina was inspired by the 5 Olympic rings, recreating them through the five flavors of vegetables. The Bagna Caoda in this case is proposed in the form of a thick ragù, to give maximum prominence to the anchovy. Each vegetable puree is blended with the addition of a drizzle of oil: no thickener, therefore, it's all natural. Finally, the artist's touch, the Bagna Caoda is served in a Martini glass as a tribute to the aperitif, born in Turin. And it is served to everyone at the beginning of the meal, like a business card for the Chef and his staff.
Another highlight of Casa Vicina's kitchens is the tuna with rabbit and sweet and sour pickled vegetables, created in 2003. It represents not only the union of two classic Piedmontese appetizers, but above all the family spirit. In fact, the idea of combining the two recipes to create something unique was born of a special "round table" with Claudio and Stefano Vicina, their grandmother Amelia and their parents Roberto and Bruna. A dish that combines not only taste and creativity, but aesthetics. In fact, it was immortalized in a famous shot by the photographer Bob Noto and is among the works of the photographic exhibition "Queens and kings of cooks".
And we could continue with a scenographic Millefoglie di lingua with green bath and natural red wine jelly that comes from a very specific stimulus: the idea of giving a note of cooking and presentation technique to a historical dish of the Piedmontese gastronomic tradition. La lingua al verde, in fact, is a classic appetizer of very large consumption, from village festivals to grandmothers' Sunday lunches. The gelatin used in this preparation is 100% natural, with no added thickeners.
Or again with the new guinea fowl composed of salmì and breadcrumbs with butter. A dish that has been handed down for generations in the Vicina family. The chef's grandmother, Amelia, also served pheasant with salmì sauce. She cooked the whole guinea fowl, then filleted the breast and placed it on a butter crouton. On top, she poured the salmì, a sauce obtained from the cooking juices with the addition of the liver. Claudio Vicina interpreted it by working the parts of the guinea fowl separately. The thighs are cooked in a pot, after which they are deboned and arranged to compose a terrine with the breast emulsion alternating with the thigh meat. Everything is accompanied by salmì and breadcrumbs with butter: in this way, in a single bite, you can taste all the elements that make this dish great. And the Batsuà in breadcrumbs with thyme and sweet and sour ginger salad also deserves a mention. A dish that in 1902 was served as a dish directly at the bar counter in the family inn. They came in large pieces (1 foot divided into 4 parts), with the bone, placed on straw paper to absorb the excess grease from frying. Vicina takes up this dish by cooking the pig's feet in broth, then debones them into small pieces and finally breads them in Milanese style. The breadcrumbs are flavored with thyme, and give the aromatic note that was missing in the past. To lighten the palate from the pork fat, the Batsuà are served together with a salad dressed with a ginger, lemon, mustard and salt dressing. Ginger also present in the form of light sweet and sour candy, for a pleasantly spicy final result.
If this is not a concentration of family identity and territorial identity, one cannot think of others of the same meaning and value.
