Restaurant in Rome, Italy
A serious detour. Plan accordingly.
La Palta is a Michelin-starred country house restaurant in Piacenza's Borgonovo Val Tidone, about two and a half hours from Rome, run by chef Isa Mazzocchi. The kitchen serves creative Piacentine cooking — think house-baked focaccia, ciccioli, and roast donkey meat with herring — in a relaxed but elegant setting. Book weeks ahead: this is a destination meal, not a drop-in.
Yes — but go in knowing what this is. La Palta is not a Rome restaurant. It sits in Borgonovo Val Tidone, in the Piacenza countryside of Emilia-Romagna, roughly two and a half hours north of Rome. If you are building a dedicated food itinerary around northern Italy's countryside cooking tradition, or combining it with a stop at Osteria Francescana in Modena or Dal Pescatore in Runate, La Palta belongs on your list. As a day-trip from Rome alone, the distance is hard to justify unless this is the specific kind of regional cooking you have come to Italy to find.
Chef Isa Mazzocchi holds a Michelin star (2024) and has earned consecutive rankings on Opinionated About Dining's Casual list: #781 in 2024 and #814 in 2025. That OAD presence is the meaningful signal here. It tells you this is a kitchen respected by serious eaters, not just a scenic country house that converted a wine cellar into a dining room. For Italian countryside cooking at this credential level, the nearest peers you might compare are Reale in Castel di Sangro or Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico — both destinations requiring deliberate planning, and both rewarding that effort.
The setting is a converted country house on the Bassa Piacentina plain, with an elegant dining room that extends into a covered veranda. Windows open onto the garden. The atmosphere runs elegant but relaxed , formal enough for a celebration dinner, loose enough that you will not feel constrained. For a special occasion meal outside Rome's restaurant circuit, this registers as a strong choice: the environment supports the occasion without imposing on it.
The cooking is rooted in local Piacentine ingredients and recipes, but Mazzocchi applies creative thinking without veering into technique-for-its-own-sake territory. Michelin's inspector flagged the house focaccia and ciccioli (pork scratchings) as a strong opening, and singled out the roast donkey meat with saracca (herring) and gorgnalini (wild chicory) as a dish worth ordering. That combination , cured, bitter, and roasted , is exactly the kind of thing the regional kitchen does well and that you will not find replicated in Rome. Bread is listed as a house speciality, which at this level means it is a genuine differentiator, not a placeholder.
On the wine program: La Palta sits in Piacenza's DOC territory, where Gutturnio, Bonarda, and Ortrugo are the indigenous references. A kitchen rooted this deeply in local Emilia-Romagna ingredients almost always pairs with a wine list anchored in the same geography. That regional coherence , local grape varieties alongside hyper-local cooking , is one of the strongest arguments for making the trip. If wine-and-food alignment is central to your decision, this is likely a better fit than a Rome fine-dining address where the wine list is broad but the regional story is thinner. For serious wine-driven itineraries in northern Italy, also consider Uliassi in Senigallia or 21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba as comparable destinations where the cellar is as considered as the kitchen.
Book hard and book early. A Michelin-starred country restaurant with a small dining room and limited service days fills weeks out. La Palta is closed Mondays, open Tuesday through Saturday for both lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch only. There is no Sunday dinner service. If you are travelling specifically for this meal, plan around a Tuesday-to-Saturday window and treat booking as the first step, not the last. Weekend dinner slots in particular will go fast. Given the absence of a listed booking method or phone number in public data, confirm reservations directly via the restaurant's own channels before finalising any travel plans.
For Italian countryside cooking at the €€€ price point with a Michelin star, La Palta competes with venues like Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta in Orta San Giulio and Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone. All three require destination intent. La Palta's OAD ranking is the strongest independent signal that the cooking holds up at that level.
Google reviews sit at 4.7 across 618 ratings , a high floor for a restaurant this far from a major city. That volume matters: it reflects genuine regular traffic, not just critics.
If you are building a wider Italy itinerary, Pearl's guides to Rome restaurants, Rome hotels, Rome bars, Rome wineries, and Rome experiences are a practical starting point. For Rome fine dining specifically, La Pergola, Il Pagliaccio, and Acquolina are the addresses worth comparing at a similar or higher spend. For creative cooking in Rome at €€€€, Enoteca La Torre is the most direct alternative. And if northern Italian countryside cooking is the goal, Due Colombe and Andrea Monesi - Locanda di Orta are both worth a look before finalising the itinerary.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| La Palta | €€€ | — |
| Il Pagliaccio | €€€€ | — |
| Enoteca La Torre | €€€€ | — |
| Idylio by Apreda | €€€€ | — |
| Zia | €€€ | — |
| Orma Roma | €€€€ | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
At €€€ pricing with a Michelin star and a 2024 OAD Casual ranking of #781, the tasting menu earns its price for guests who appreciate creative regional cooking rooted in Piacentina ingredients. Chef Isa Mazzocchi's approach is precise but not theatrical — she aims to satisfy rather than perform. If you prefer a la carte flexibility or are not committed to a longer lunch or dinner, the format may feel mismatched. The journey here is significant, so arrive ready to commit.
The focaccia and ciccioli (pork scratchings) are a house speciality and the right place to start. The Michelin inspector specifically recommends the roast donkey meat with saracca (herring) and gorgnalini (wild chicory) — a dish that balances bitter, briny, and rich in a way that reflects the kitchen's creative-but-grounded approach. Bread is taken seriously here, so do not skip it.
Book at least three to four weeks out, ideally more for weekend dinners. La Palta is closed Mondays, serves Sunday lunch only (no Sunday dinner), and runs a small dining room in a rural location with no walk-in culture at this level. A Michelin-starred destination with limited covers fills quickly. Contact early if you are building travel around a specific date.
The setting is a converted country house with an elegant dining room and covered veranda — relaxed in atmosphere but not casual in spirit. The Michelin guide describes it as 'elegant yet not too formal,' which points to neat, presentable clothing rather than a jacket requirement. Avoid resort wear; treat it as you would a serious dinner rather than a countryside lunch stop.
La Palta is not in Rome — it is roughly three hours north in the Piacenza countryside, so direct substitution within Rome is a different proposition. For Michelin-level cooking in Rome, Il Pagliaccio and Idylio by Apreda both operate at comparable ambition. Zia and Orma Roma offer strong modern Italian cooking at slightly less formal settings. None of them replicate the regional Piacentina focus that makes La Palta worth the detour.
Lunch has a practical edge: the veranda windows open onto the garden, and daylight makes the countryside setting work in your favour. Sunday is lunch-only, making it the one session where the full week's demand concentrates. Dinner runs Tuesday through Saturday and is likely easier to book on weeknights. If you are driving from Milan or Parma, a weekday lunch avoids traffic and gives you the full daylight experience.
The database does not include specific dietary policy details. Given the kitchen's focus on local Piacentina ingredients — including pork preparations and meat-forward dishes — guests with strict dietary requirements should check the venue's official channels before booking. The creative-but-traditional format may offer limited substitution range compared to more metropolitan fine dining rooms.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
