The group led by Franco Rabezzana recently took over a wine bar in Via Monferrato, a stone’s throw from the Church of the Gran Madre, to complete its portfolio, which already includes an enoteca, osteria, pasta workshop, wine cellar and relais in the Monferrato hills. The bar is situated in a pedestrian precinct and has outside tables, making it an ideal place for an aperitif, choosing from a wide selection of wines, spumantes, and liqueurs, accompanied by tapas and cheese and charcuterie boards. The headquarters in Via San Francesco d’Assisi is worth a visit for at least two reasons: for the first floor with its impressive range of about 1,000 Italian and overseas labels – including 12 Rabezzana wines (remember that everything began with the family cellar, established at San Desiderio d’Asti in the Monferrato hills in 1876) – and for the ground floor where one is surprised to find a large space (which came into being in 1911 as a ballroom) given over to the osteria. The menu designed by chef Giuseppe Zizzo, a native of Bagheria in Sicily, combines fish and traditional Piedmontese dishes. The fresh pasta (potato gnocchi, tajarin, agnolotti) are supplied by the Pastificio Giustetto, another family inheritance, next door. The common denominator of Rabezzana’s wine bar and osteria is that they both organise evenings of live jazz and revival music.
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