Impero

Where Novara Province Keeps Its Table Manners

Via Roma in Sizzano is a quiet agricultural street, the kind where the sound of cutlery through an open window carries further than any signage. Impero sits at number 13, its facade understated to the point of anonymity for anyone passing through without prior knowledge. Inside, the room has the settled quality of a place that has not needed to reinvent itself: long-standing family ownership, direct table layouts, and a service register that leans warm rather than formal. The Naggi sisters, who have run the premises across decades, have kept the atmosphere close to what it was when their family first took over the building in 1934. That continuity is not nostalgia for its own sake; it reflects a specific conviction about what a village restaurant in this part of Piedmont should be doing.

The Seasonal Logic Behind the Menu

Northern Piedmont's cooking has always been tied to what the land and the agricultural calendar produce, and Impero's kitchen operates on that same logic. The menu draws on seasonal ingredients rather than fixed repertoire, which means the dishes shift as the growing year moves through it. What stays constant is the method: homemade pasta made to traditional specifications, stocks and braises built from local produce, and preparations that prioritise ingredient integrity over technique-led transformation.

This is a region where sourcing is less a marketing stance and more a structural fact. The Novara lowlands produce their own rice varieties, local farms supply meat and vegetables on cycles that predate supply-chain optimisation, and the kitchen's role is largely to follow those rhythms rather than impose on them. The result is food that tastes specifically of this place at this time of year, which is a harder thing to achieve consistently than menus with imported prestige ingredients suggest.

For a wider map of Piedmontese cooking at higher price tiers, Piazza Duomo in Alba and Antica Corona Reale in Cervere represent the region's formal end of the spectrum. Locanda Sant'Uffizio Enrico Bartolini in Cioccaro occupies a mid-tier between those reference points. Impero operates at the €€ level, where the argument is not about refinement but about fidelity to the ingredient and the recipe.

What to Order

Three preparations anchor the menu at any serious point in the year. Fresh homemade pasta is the kitchen's baseline demonstration: the pasta itself is made on site, rolled to textures that dried or industrial product cannot replicate, and paired according to season. The paniscia deserves particular attention. This is Novara's distinctive contribution to Italian rice cookery: a dense, dark risotto built with Borlotti beans, salami d'la duja (a local cured pork product preserved in lard), vegetables, and red wine. It is a slow preparation, not a dish that transfers easily outside the province, and Impero's version is cited consistently in Michelin's documentation of the restaurant as a reason for the address. The Bib Gourmand designation, held across both 2024 and 2025, makes specific reference to the quality of the traditional cuisine at this price point.

The stuffed boiled chicken served from a trolley is the third anchor. The trolley format is a classic northern Italian service tradition, presenting boiled or braised meats alongside an array of sauces and chutneys selected at the table. It requires a kitchen confident enough in its primary product to let condiment choice be a guest decision rather than a plated prescription. The preparation is labour-intensive and increasingly rare in everyday restaurant cooking across Italy. At Impero it remains part of the regular offering.

For reference on how Italian kitchens at other price tiers are approaching the relationship between tradition and reinvention, Dal Pescatore in Runate and Osteria Francescana in Modena sit at the far end of that spectrum. Uliassi in Senigallia, Reale in Castel di Sangro, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Enrico Bartolini in Milan, Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico, Le Calandre in Rubano, and Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli in Verona each illustrate how Italian fine dining has evolved far beyond traditional frameworks. Impero's proposition runs in a different direction entirely: no tasting menus, no modernist plating, just regional cooking executed with the confidence that comes from decades of repetition.

The Wine List

The wine list at Impero runs deep on local labels, which in this part of Piedmont means a strong showing from DOC Sizzano itself alongside Ghemme, Boca, and other northern Piedmontese appellations that remain significantly less traded internationally than Barolo or Barbaresco. Sizzano DOC is built on Nebbiolo with permitted additions of Vespolina and Uva Rara, producing wines of notable structure and aging potential that are systematically undervalued relative to their southern Piedmontese counterparts. A wine list anchored in these appellations is both a regional statement and a practical advantage for the guest: serious bottles at prices that reflect local rather than global demand. For a broader view of what the region's wineries are producing, our full Sizzano wineries guide covers the appellation in detail.

Planning a Visit

Sizzano sits in the Novara province of Piedmont, roughly between Novara city and the Lago d'Orta foothills. The village is accessible by car from the A26 motorway. The €€ pricing means a full meal with wine sits well within reach for most itineraries.

For anyone building a wider visit around this corner of Piedmont, our full Sizzano restaurants guide maps the local dining options, while our Sizzano hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide cover the supporting infrastructure for an extended stay.