Restaurant in Montemagno, Italy
Traditional Piedmontese cooking, no shortcuts taken.
La Braja is a Michelin Plate-recognised Piedmontese restaurant in Montemagno, run by owner Giuseppe Palermino with a focus on regional classics including hand-made agnolotti and a serious cheese trolley. At the €€€ price point, it offers accessible fine dining without the booking difficulty of the region's bigger names. Time your visit for truffle season (October to December) to get the most from the menu.
At the €€€ price point, La Braja delivers something that's harder to find than it sounds: a properly traditional Piedmontese dining room that doesn't feel like a museum piece. Michelin has awarded it a Plate in both 2024 and 2025, recognising quality cooking without elevating it to star territory. That distinction matters when you're deciding whether to make the detour to Montemagno. This is regional cooking done with care and consistency, not a destination restaurant asking you to rearrange your itinerary around a tasting menu.
Owner Giuseppe Palermino runs an elegant dining room, and the physical space at La Braja carries the weight of that word: elegant rather than rustic. Monferrato hill-country restaurants often lean into exposed stone and rough-hewn wood to signal authenticity. La Braja takes a different approach, with a setting that feels composed and considered. For a returning visitor, that composure is part of the appeal. You come back because the room is genuinely pleasant to sit in for two or three hours, not because the décor is trying to impress you.
The seating arrangement rewards guests who want to settle in. Unlike a counter-focused restaurant, the emphasis here is on the full table experience: service that moves at its own deliberate pace, a cheese trolley that comes to you, and a menu structure that encourages you to stay through multiple courses. If you've been once and ordered a main and dessert, the return visit is the meal where you commit to the full arc: antipasti, agnolotti, a secondo, and then the cheese trolley in earnest. That trolley is one of the better arguments for returning.
The hand-made agnolotti pasta with three types of meat is the dish that anchors the menu. For a returning visitor, this is worth ordering again rather than skipping in favour of something new. Agnolotti dal plin is the Piedmontese standard against which all regional cooking is implicitly measured, and La Braja's version is one of the reasons Michelin keeps showing up. If you've had it once and thought it was good, it's worth a second assessment with more attention paid to the pasta thickness and the filling balance.
Menu also extends into fish and seafood, which is unusual for a landlocked Monferrato restaurant at this level. It broadens your options if you're dining with someone who doesn't want a meat-heavy Piedmontese progression. This isn't a seafood restaurant, but the presence of those dishes means a mixed table of preferences is manageable without compromise.
White truffles are the seasonal variable that can shift La Braja from a good regional dinner into something worth specifically timing your visit around. Truffle season in Monferrato runs from October into December, with the peak weeks in October and November. Book during that window if you want the full version of what this kitchen does at its leading. A return visit outside truffle season is still worthwhile, but the seasonal menu loses one of its clearest differentiators.
October and November are the optimal months, full stop. The white truffle season aligns with cooler weather that suits the richer pasta and meat dishes on the menu, and the Monferrato hills in autumn are at their most visually compelling. If you're planning a Piedmont wine-and-food itinerary around the Barolo or Barbaresco harvest, La Braja slots naturally into a two-or-three-day circuit. For a midweek lunch rather than a weekend dinner, booking is direct and the pace of service is more relaxed. Weekend evenings fill more predictably, particularly during truffle season, so book ahead rather than assuming availability.
La Braja is in Montemagno, a small hill town in the Asti province. Getting here requires a car; there is no practical public transport. If you're building a Piedmont itinerary, see our full Montemagno restaurants guide, our Montemagno hotels guide, and our Montemagno wineries guide to plan the full trip. The bars guide and experiences guide are useful if you're staying more than a day. Booking is rated easy, which reflects the restaurant's size and location: it's not fighting for covers against a queue of tourists the way Piedmontese restaurants in Alba or Barolo do. That said, truffle season changes the calculus, and a weekend in October without a reservation is a risk not worth taking. Address: Via S. Giovanni Bosco, N.11, 14030 Montemagno Monferrato AT, Italy. Price range: €€€. Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025. Google rating: 4.7 from 201 reviews.
For Piedmontese cooking elsewhere in the region, Antica Corona Reale in Cervere and Locanda Sant'Uffizio Enrico Bartolini in Cioccaro are the two strongest regional comparisons at a higher price tier. If you're extending your Italian itinerary, Piazza Duomo in Alba sits at the leading of the regional pyramid and is worth knowing about for contrast. Beyond Piedmont, Uliassi in Senigallia and Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence are natural reference points when comparing what €€€€ looks like at the Italian fine-dining ceiling. Le Calandre in Rubano, Enrico Bartolini in Milan, and Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli in Verona round out the national context.
Quick reference: €€€ price range | Michelin Plate 2024 & 2025 | 4.7/5 (201 reviews) | Booking: easy | Car required | Truffle season: Oct–Dec.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Braja | Piedmontese | €€€ | A traditional Piedmontese restaurant, where owner Giuseppe Palermino welcomes guests to his elegant dining room with consummate style. Although the specialities here have a regional focus (such as the hand-made agnolotti pasta with three types of meat), fish and seafood also make an appearance, broadening the appeal of the menu. The cheese trolley is superb, while white truffles always take centre stage in season.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Progressive Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Quattro Passi | Italian, Mediterranean Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Reale | Progressive Italian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Comparing your options in Montemagno for this tier.
Possible, but not the format where La Braja performs best. The elegant dining room and €€€ price point suit a slower, shared meal across multiple courses. A solo diner will be well looked after by owner Giuseppe Palermino, but the experience is structured around a table rather than a counter — factor that in before booking a table for one.
The dining room is described as elegant, not rustic, so dress accordingly — a step above casual is appropriate. Think neat trousers and a collared shirt for men; no need for black tie, but jeans and trainers would be out of place in a room that Giuseppe Palermino runs with what the Michelin guide calls 'consummate style'.
Order the hand-made agnolotti with three types of meat — it is the dish that defines the menu. If you visit in October or November, the white truffle season means truffles will take centre stage across several preparations. La Braja also runs a cheese trolley worth saving room for. Getting here requires a car; Montemagno has no practical public transport links.
At €€€, yes — provided you are after genuinely traditional Piedmontese cooking rather than a modernist tasting experience. La Braja holds a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, which signals cooking quality without the theatre or price floor of a starred room. For the format — regional Italian, elegant room, seasonal produce — the price is defensible.
The menu at La Braja has a regional Piedmontese focus built around hand-made pasta, seasonal truffle, meat dishes, and a cheese trolley — the structure already lends itself to a multi-course progression. The venue data does not confirm a formal tasting menu separate from à la carte, so verify the current format when booking. If a set menu is available during truffle season, that is when it would be worth taking.
There are no other restaurants of comparable standing documented in Montemagno itself — the town is small and La Braja is its anchor dining option. If you are building a broader Piedmont itinerary, Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio offers a different register entirely (three Michelin stars, Lombardy border), while the Asti and Langhe areas hold more options at similar and higher price points.
Yes, with the right group. The elegant dining room, attentive service from owner Giuseppe Palermino, and seasonal specialities like white truffle make it a strong choice for a celebratory dinner. Book during October or November to time the visit with truffle season — that is when the occasion and the menu align most naturally. A car is required to get there, so factor in logistics for larger groups.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
