Impero

Verdict: A Michelin Bib Gourmand institution that earns its place on any Piedmont food itinerary

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.

The Experience

Impero has been in the Naggi family since 1934, 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, the vegetables of the season), fresh pasta made in-house, stuffed boiled chicken presented from a trolley with an array of sauces and chutneys.

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, you have a combination that makes the €€ spend feel considered rather than budget.

Lunch vs. Dinner: Where the Value Sits

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 and Timing

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.

Who Should Book Impero

Impero works well 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, 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.

Practical Details

For more on the area, see our full Sizzano hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide.