Switzerland for Lunch – Italy for Dinner; Poschiavo CH

Chef Orlando Lardi Making Pizzoccheri
Wherever you go in Europe, you find al fresco dining and unique regional cuisines. In Val Poschiavo – a valley in the Italian-speaking corner of Switzerland – buckwheat, or what the locals call ‘Saracen wheat’, is a dietary staple. Pizzoccheri, a tagliatelle made from buckwheat, wheat flour, and a range of vegetables, is a much-loved local speciality.

Village in a Valley
Our train has transported us south through a magnificent mountainous landscape before dropping into the Val Poschiavo (see: Railway Dreaming). Our travelling companions have family in the town of Poschiavo, so we broke our rail trip south on the UNESCO-listed Bernina Express to meet them for lunch. (iPhone6)

Chef Orlando Lardi
The best short-cut to good dining is local knowledge. We follow our friends into town, and find Orlando Lardi, one of the general managers of Hostaria del Borgo, outside his restaurant making the local speciality: pizzoccheri. Also known as pizzoccheri alla valtellinese, this hearty alpine dish is popular throughout this valley that runs along the Swiss border and into Italy.

Pizzoccheri on the Boil
Like any other pasta, the trick is fresh ingredients: combined with love and kept on the boil until al dente.  The vegetables – most commonly chunks of potato, cabbage, and Swiss chard – are put in the pot first, and the pasta is added once they are partially cooked.

Ingredients
In addition to the basic tagliatelle ingredients of eggs and flour (buckwheat and plain wheat), pizzoccheri rely on the extra staples of garlic, potato, cabbage, Swiss chard, butter, cheese, sage, and mountain herbs.

Plating up the Buckwheat Noodles
Chef Orli dishes up an order of pizzoccheri. No one is quite sure where the name comes from: some say it is from piz, meaning a ‘little bit’ in the local dialect. Others think it comes from the Italian pinzare, ‘to pinch’; others  claim it’s from the dialect word bizzo, meaning ‘a mouthful’.

Cheesing the Noodles
The dish is rich enough for cold winter weather: full of sage-and-garlic infused butter, bitto (a semi-soft Alpine cheese), and freshly grated Parmesan.

Pizzoccheri Noodles
Of course, the main ingredient is a love of food and cooking; we enjoyed every mouthful.

The West Portal
Once we could move again after our hearty meal, we set off to explore the small town. Our first stop was at the medieval collegiate church of San Vittore il Moro, with its west door carved in Baroque style. The building is listed as a Swiss Heritage site of national significance. 

Inside the Collegiate Church of San Vittore il Moro
It is an elaborate church for a small town – and it isn’t the only one! The populace of Switzerland is predominantly Christian, dating back to the Roman era. According to the 2014-2016 census, members of the Catholic Church (37.2%) outnumber those in the Swiss Reformed Church (25.0%), with other Protestants adding only a small percentage (2.9%). That is especially true in this area, in the mountainous canton of Grisons or Graubünden, where the practice of Protestantism was forbidden for a time by a treaty in 1622, following battles between competing factions wanting control over the alpine passes. Here in Poschiavo, 86% of residents are Roman Catholic.

Piazza Comunale
The late-summer weather is beautiful, and the restaurants spill outside into the piazza.

Sausages in the Square
It is market day – or maybe every day is market day?

Bone Edelweiss
The outdoor market includes tourist trinkets and carved handicrafts. Naturally, renderings of the country’s national symbol are on offer.

Budding Photographer
A young visitor to the market …

“Smile!”
… and I take pictures of each other.

Mountains Overhead
Our sunny afternoon is framed by glorious mountains…

Another Plaza
… and elegant 19th century Renaissance architecture. The market stalls line several streets in the borgo (village).

Reformed Church Interior
… is much simpler inside than its Roman Catholic counterpart.

Geraniums
Every where is tidy – and embellished with flowers.

Skulls in the Chapel
The tiny Oratorio Sant’Anna has/is an ossuary, and has countless skulls arranged on shelves: the oratory operates as a mortuary chapel.

Between the Skulls
A porthole in the ossuary looks out over a garden full of new life.

Skull
Although the Oratorio Sant’Anna dates back to 1439, and the railings on the portico leading into it date to 1732, it has only been used as an ossuary since 1902-1903.

Crossing into Italy
Later that evening, our hosts drove us across the border and into the Italian hills, where we ate at a wonderful little family restaurant in what used-to-be a mountain-raider’s hide out. (iPhone6)