Restaurant in Polesine Parmense, Italy
Serious regional cooking, honest price point.
A century-old family-run restaurant in the heart of culatello country, Al Cavallino Bianco holds two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024–2025) and prices at the €€ tier — making it one of the most accessible Michelin-recognised tables in Emilia-Romagna. Weekday lunches offer the best value; weekends run themed menus. Book ahead and drive out.
If you are making the deliberate detour to Polesine Parmense — a small town on the southern bank of the River Po in the Parma province — Al Cavallino Bianco is the reason most people come. This century-old family-run restaurant holds two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025), carries a 4.5 Google rating across more than 1,170 reviews, and prices itself at the €€ tier, making it one of the most accessible Michelin-recognised tables in the Emilia-Romagna region. Book it. The combination of price point, recognition, and regional specificity is hard to match at this level.
The scarcity worth knowing about: Al Cavallino Bianco runs different formats depending on the day. Weekday lunchtimes offer the 'Tipico di Casa Spigaroli' menu , a more accessible, priced-down entry point into the kitchen's regional repertoire. Weekends shift to themed menus. If you have flexibility, the weekday lunch gives you the leading value-to-quality ratio in this price tier. Weekend visits are worth planning ahead if the themed menu format aligns with what you want from the evening.
This is Emilian cooking taken seriously in its home territory. The restaurant sits close to the banks of the River Po, in the heart of the culatello di Zibello production zone , the stretch of lowland between Parma and the Po where the prized cured ham is aged in the river fog. Culatello is the defining product of this micro-region, and Al Cavallino Bianco serves it as a regional speciality, not as a tourist attraction. If you are travelling to Emilia-Romagna specifically to eat the food where it is actually made , rather than in a Bologna trattoria or a Modena fine-dining room , this is one of the most direct expressions of that available at an approachable price.
For a special occasion, the framing works well provided your expectations are calibrated correctly. This is not a contemporary tasting-menu restaurant with tableside theatre. It is a family-run room with deep roots in its location, serving regional dishes that earn their place on the table through provenance rather than presentation. A milestone birthday or anniversary where the guest of honour values authenticity and a strong sense of place over modernist technique will land well here. For a business meal where the room's visual formality matters more than the food's origins, you may want to look elsewhere.
The address , Via Sbrisi, 3, Polesine Zibello PR , puts you in genuinely rural Padana lowland. Getting here requires a car; public transport options in this part of the Po Valley are limited. Build the visit into a broader itinerary: see our full Polesine Parmense restaurants guide for what else is worth combining with the trip, and check our Polesine Parmense hotels guide if you are staying overnight. The area rewards a slow visit , the experiences guide, bars guide, and wineries guide fill in the rest of the day.
The closest peer in Polesine Parmense is Antica Corte Pallavicina, which sits in the same culatello country and shares a similar commitment to regional cooking and local provenance. Antica Corte Pallavicina operates at a higher price point and with greater formal ambition, making it the better call for an occasion where the dining room's prestige needs to carry the room. Al Cavallino Bianco is the choice when you want the food to do the work at a price that does not require a justification conversation. Both are legitimate , the decision comes down to budget and occasion register.
For Emilian cooking in the broader region, Arnaldo , Clinica Gastronomica in Rubiera and Osteria del Viandante in Rubiera offer strong alternatives if you are working a route along the Via Emilia rather than making a dedicated Po Valley detour.
Booking difficulty at Al Cavallino Bianco is rated Easy. Given the rural location and the weekday-versus-weekend menu split, calling ahead is advisable , both to confirm the format on the day you plan to visit and to secure your table, particularly for weekend themed menus which are more likely to fill. No booking method is listed in the current record; arriving without a reservation on a weekday lunch is plausible given the Easy booking rating, but it is not a risk worth taking on a special occasion or after a long drive. Reach out directly to confirm availability.
Dress code is not formally stated. At a €€-tier family restaurant in rural Emilia-Romagna, smart-casual is the appropriate register , you will not be underdressed in neat trousers and a collared shirt, and you will not be overdressed either. Leave the formal suit for Osteria Francescana.
Al Cavallino Bianco does not have a listed website in our current record. For the most current hours and reservation contacts, searching directly by name and address (Via Sbrisi, 3, Polesine Zibello PR) will return up-to-date contact information from the restaurant's own channels or current listing platforms.
At the €€ price tier with two consecutive Michelin Plates and a 4.5 rating from over a thousand reviewers, Al Cavallino Bianco represents one of the better value propositions for serious regional Italian cooking in the whole of Emilia-Romagna. The culatello alone justifies the detour if you care about eating the product in the place where it is made. Come for weekday lunch if the budget is the priority; come at the weekend if you want the themed menu format and are happy to plan ahead. Either way, book before you drive out.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al Cavallino Bianco | Situated near the banks of the River Po, this century - old, family - run restaurant serves regional specialities, such as the famous culatello ham. You will find reasonably priced local dishes at the ‘Tipico di Casa Spigaroli’ at lunchtime during the week, and themed menus at the weekend.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | €€ | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Quattro Passi | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Reale | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
A quick look at how Al Cavallino Bianco measures up.
Yes, clearly. At the €€ price tier, two consecutive Michelin Plates (2024 and 2025), and a 4.5-star rating from over a thousand reviewers, the value case here is straightforward. This is Emilian cooking — including the culatello ham the region is known for — at prices that don't require a special-occasion budget. If you're in the Parma province and want to eat the real thing without paying fine-dining rates, this is the right call.
Weekend themed menus are the format to book here if you want a structured experience. Weekday lunches at the 'Tipico di Casa Spigaroli' are more casual and priced accordingly, which suits a lighter stop. If you're making a deliberate trip rather than passing through, aim for a weekend visit when the kitchen is in full themed-menu mode rather than settling for the weekday lunch offer.
The venue data doesn't specify a dress code, and a century-old family-run trattoria in a small River Po town isn't the kind of place that enforces one. Neat, comfortable clothes are appropriate — this is regional Emilian hospitality, not a metropolitan tasting-menu experience. Overdressing would be conspicuous.
Bar seating is not documented in the available venue data for Al Cavallino Bianco. Given its format as a family-run regional restaurant rather than a wine bar or urban bistro, counter or bar dining is unlikely to be a standard option. Booking a table in advance is the practical approach, particularly for weekend visits when themed menus are served.
Yes, with the right expectations. This is a century-old family-run restaurant in a rural Po Valley town, not a formal celebration venue — but that's the point. If the occasion calls for genuinely regional Emilian cooking, culatello sourced from its home territory, and a setting with real provenance, it works well. For a milestone dinner where theatre and formality matter more than culinary authenticity, Antica Corte Pallavicina nearby offers a more overtly special-occasion atmosphere.
Antica Corte Pallavicina is the closest peer — same culatello country, similar regional focus, but a higher price tier and a more formal setting. For a step up in ambition within Emilia-Romagna, Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio and Osteria Francescana in Modena are both operating at a different level entirely, with price and booking difficulty to match. Al Cavallino Bianco sits in a category of its own for honest, affordable, Michelin-recognised regional cooking in the Parma province.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
