Restaurant in Sizzano, Italy
Traditional Piedmontese cooking, honest price, easy booking.

Impero is a Michelin Bib Gourmand trattoria in Sizzano that has been run by the Naggi family since 1934. At €€ pricing, it delivers traditional Piedmontese cooking — paniscia, fresh pasta, boiled meats from the trolley — alongside a serious local wine list. Two consecutive Bib Gourmand awards (2024–2025) and a 4.7 Google rating across 544 reviews confirm this is the most reliable lunch stop in the Novara province.
At the €€ price point, Impero in Sizzano delivers something increasingly rare in northern Italy: deeply traditional Piedmontese cooking, prepared by a family that has held this address since 1934, at a price that leaves room in the budget for a serious bottle from the wine list. If you are travelling through the Novara province and want to eat the region's food at its most grounded — paniscia, stuffed boiled chicken, fresh homemade pasta — this is the most practical case for a booking you will find. The Michelin Bib Gourmand in both 2024 and 2025 confirms the kitchen is consistent, not merely sentimental.
Impero has been in the Naggi family since 1934, and it is now run by the Naggi sisters. That continuity shapes everything on the plate. The menu reads like a working archive of Novara-province cooking: paniscia (the local risotto made with borlotti beans, salami d'la duja, and the vegetables of the season), fresh pasta made in-house, and stuffed boiled chicken presented from a trolley with an array of sauces and chutneys. These are dishes that require institutional knowledge to execute well, and a 4.7 rating across 544 Google reviews suggests that knowledge is being applied consistently.
The wine list is one of the practical arguments for booking here over a similar trattoria in the area. It carries a strong selection of local labels , Sizzano DOC, Ghemme, Boca , the kind of Nebbiolo-based wines from the Novara hills that are underrepresented on most Italian restaurant lists. For a wine-focused traveller, that list alone justifies the detour. Pair it with the paniscia, which carries the deep, savory weight that calls for a wine with tannin and age, and you have a combination that makes the €€ spend feel considered rather than budget.
This is a venue where lunch is likely the stronger format. Traditional Piedmontese trattorie of this profile , family-run, focused on long-cooked dishes and seasonal ingredients , tend to operate at their fullest during the midday meal, when the kitchen is running dishes designed for the rhythms of Italian lunch service. Boiled meats from the trolley, risotto, fresh pasta: these are dishes that take hours of preparation and are leading experienced when the room is built around them. A weekday lunch at Impero, if the schedule allows, is probably the most direct way to experience what the Naggi sisters have spent decades building. Dinner service exists and draws local regulars, but the daytime meal has the weight of tradition behind it in this format of restaurant. If you are planning a regional food itinerary, anchoring a day around lunch here is a more purposeful use of the stop than slotting it in as an evening option.
Booking difficulty at Impero is rated Easy. Given the Bib Gourmand recognition and the venue's local reputation, advance booking is still sensible , particularly for weekend lunch, when the dining room will attract both locals and visitors passing through the Novara wine country. For weekday lunch, you may have more flexibility, but calling ahead is the reliable approach when hours and booking method are not confirmed online. There is no website or phone number in the current public record, so the most dependable route is to contact the restaurant directly via the address at Via Roma, 13, Sizzano, or through a hotel concierge if you are staying locally.
Impero works leading for the food and wine traveller who is already moving through Piedmont or the Novara wine zone and wants a meal that is rooted in the specific cooking of this part of northern Italy rather than a generically polished Italian dining experience. It is not a destination in the way that Piazza Duomo in Alba or Antica Corona Reale in Cervere are destinations , you are not building a trip solely around this table. But if you are already in the region for the wines of Ghemme or Boca, or passing through on a broader Piedmont itinerary that includes Locanda Sant'Uffizio Enrico Bartolini in Cioccaro, Impero earns its stop. The combination of consistent Michelin recognition, a serious local wine list, and a price point that does not require justification makes it one of the more direct decisions in the province. See our full Sizzano restaurants guide for broader context on what the area offers.
| Detail | Impero | Typical Piedmont Bib Gourmand Trattoria |
|---|---|---|
| Price range | €€ | €€–€€€ |
| Michelin recognition | Bib Gourmand 2024 & 2025 | Varies |
| Google rating | 4.7 (544 reviews) | Typically 4.2–4.6 |
| Booking difficulty | Easy | Easy–Moderate |
| Leading format | Lunch | Lunch or dinner |
| Wine focus | Strong local Novara labels | Regional to mixed |
| Cuisine style | Traditional Piedmontese | Regional Italian |
For more on the area, see our full Sizzano hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Impero | Piedmontese | A culinary landmark in the Novara province, this restaurant has been run for decades by the enthusiastic Naggi sisters, whose family have owned the premises since 1934. The secret to their success lies in the warm welcome and the delicious traditional cuisine, which includes fresh homemade pasta, an extraordinary paniscia (a type of risotto), and stuffed boiled chicken served with various sauces and chutneys displayed on a trolley. All the dishes are full of flavour and made from seasonal ingredients. You’ll have no problem finding a good wine to accompany your meal from the impressive wine list that includes plenty of local labels.; Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (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 | — |
| Enoteca Pinchiorri | Italian - French, Italian Contemporary | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Enrico Bartolini | Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Le Calandre | Progressive Italian, Creative | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Impero measures up.
This is a family-run trattoria in Sizzano, Novara province, that has been in the Naggi family since 1934 and now holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024 and 2025). Come expecting traditional Piedmontese cooking at €€ prices: homemade fresh pasta, paniscia, and stuffed boiled chicken served from a trolley. It is not a destination tasting-menu restaurant — it is a neighbourhood institution that happens to be very good at what it does.
A Bib Gourmand trattoria at the €€ price point in a small Novara province town signals relaxed, tidy dress rather than formal attire. Clean casual is appropriate; there is no indication of a formal dress code. Leave the jacket at the hotel.
No specific dietary restriction policy is documented for Impero. The menu is rooted in traditional Piedmontese cooking — pasta, risotto, and boiled meats — so options for vegetarians or those avoiding gluten may be limited. check the venue's official channels before visiting if this is a concern; the Naggi sisters are noted for their warm hospitality and are likely willing to discuss options.
Impero is not documented as offering a formal tasting menu. The value here is the à la carte Piedmontese format at €€, anchored by dishes like paniscia and stuffed boiled chicken presented tableside. For set tasting menus in the region, Le Calandre or Dal Pescatore operate at much higher price points and a different format entirely.
Sizzano is a small town, so direct local alternatives are limited. Within the Novara wine zone and broader Piedmont, the Bib Gourmand category is your best frame for comparison: look for other Michelin-recognised trattorias in the Novara and Vercelli provinces for a similar value-to-quality ratio. For a step up in formality and price, Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio (Lombardy) or Le Calandre near Padua operate in an entirely different register.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.