Sleeping on Garda / 4
We have already talked about Bedizzole as one of the “poles” where farm hospitality (or Agriturismo, as they say in Italy) has proliferated in recent years, although with different forms and modalities, to exploit the potential of an area that in addition to a great tranquility off the beaten tracks also offers the advantages of a strategic base for visiting Garda, its “capitals” and the nearby art cities.
The structure perhaps more authentically “rural” among those active in this part of the Garda country is probably the farm Sangallo, in the Cogozzo hamlet, in the heart of a country that’s stille ruled by ancent rhythms. It is a traditional Lombard farmhouse of the late 1700s, bought for a thousand liras by the great-grandfather of the current owner Simone Bottarelli, now in command with his brother of a farm at full capacity that, in addition to a herd of Guinea fowls, cultivates 12 hectares of maize (awarded to the local cooperative Farine Tiipiche del Lago di Garda) and also produces olive oil, fruit and vegetables and jams.
In 2003 the decision to build a structure with eight rooms, three apartments and a restaurant with 50 seats open all summer evenings also to external clients and only on weekends in winter. The management is run by the family and everything, from the spartan and functional rooms to the kitchen, is the sign of a peasant simplicity that a large foreign clientele does not fail to appreciate during the summer months, booking online and using the farm as a starting point to explore the territory. The menu changes three times a year with the seasons (summer, spring and autumn-winter) and involves the use of farm products or coming from the surrounding area: you have to wait winter, however, to sample the most typical dish, stuffed Guinea fowl baked, the most requested by customers along with homemade pasta (ravioli with Bagoss, tagliatelle with vegetables agout), the crepes cheese and mushrooms and the grilled beef and horse. In combination, the often exquisite wines of Bedizzole wineries and even some noble Franciacorta labels.
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