Il grotto ticinese

Nothing is more typical for life in Ticino than the grottoes, simple taverns in quiet hideaway places, well in the shade of trees. They usually consist of a kitchen and a generous garden with solid granite tables and benches, where everybody sits in the coolness of the trees, drinking and eating the products of the local cuisine: homemade, air dried sausages like salami and mortadella, the vegetable soup minestrone, busecca, risotto, marinated fish, vitello tonnato, (cold and warm) roast beef with salads and fried potatoes, polenta and joint of roast beef, rabbit stew, Cazzöla (savoy cabbage and pork), mushrooms, a choice of hard and creamy cheese; zabaglione, breadcake and peaches marinated in wine for dessert. The Merlot, Nostrano or Barbera with Gazzosa - a local lemon soda - tastes best in a typical Boccalino.