Being a chef comes first and foremost, yet it always comes along with something else. It comes along with a love for the territory and a continuous search for a story made of ingredients, experience, innovation, and imagination. It comes after finding the core of the story we want to tell, cooking for ourselves and for others. At the heart and in the realization of Chef Mariangela’s cuisine, there are wild herbs, which she gathers from the valleys of Canavese, Valchiusella, and the morainic amphitheater, untouched valleys and lands where inhabitants carry out agricultural work with integrity and respect for nature.

The herbs are studied, preserved, and protected, and skillfully used in dishes, season after season, with passion, elegance, and creativity.

The chef’s learning journey about wild herbs began over 20 years ago, following the advice and knowledge of the herbalist women of Valchiusella, a group of women who have been carrying out activities and education on the subject for decades, passing down popular recipes and botanical knowledge from generation to generation. Then, with a great mentor, Mauro Vaglio, the “erbolaro”.

Since 2014, an important collaboration has also been established with Lucia Papponi, an ethnobotanist and expert in phyto-alimurgy, a lecturer at the Minoprio Foundation in Como. With her, foraging walks and experiential workshops are organized every spring to search for and learn about herbs. In the events section of our website and on social media, you will find all the information about courses and experiences.