La Vuelta and the spectacle of local food, including Vermouth on the tour route

Where to eat in Piedmont during La Vuelta

The famous cycling race starts in Italy for the first time today. Here's where to eat during the four stages

Tapas from Savoy and sangria with Brachetto, Vermouth and Ratafià. The traditional cuisine of Piedmont gets a Spanish touch to celebrate one of the most prestigious and challenging stage races in the world. For the first time, the Vuelta a España 2025 will start from Italy, from Piedmont. The route passes through 136 municipalities through the provinces of Turin, Biella, Vercelli, Novara and Cuneo with four stages all in Piedmont. The first stage, 189 km, starts on Saturday, August 23, from the official starting point Reggia di Venaria Reale, km 0, in Turin, at the Motovelodromo, in front of the monument named after Fausto Coppi, a tribute to the city's sporting and cycling tradition. From Turin, the route passes through the area of Ivrea, Biella, the area of Vercellese, the shores of Lake Maggiore to Novara. On Aug. 24, second stage, 160 km, from Alba to Cuneo, arrival in Limone Piemonte. Third stage, on Aug. 25, from San Maurizio Canavese to Ceres, 135 km. Fourth and final stage, 207 km, on Aug. 26 from Susa via Exilles, Cesana and Claviere, before entering France.

Where to eat during La Vuelta

It is also an opportunity to celebrate the meeting of Piedmontese and Spanish food and wine traditions. The Piedmont region has created an ideal menu with La Vuelta a España 2025 , a mix of flavors and stories, from aperitifs to tapas, from the famous paella to desserts. A menu created to inspire the different restaurants. The aperitif is Sangretto, a Piedmontese reinterpretation of sangria, with Brachetto wine from Alto Monferrato, Vermouth from Turin and Ratafià from Biella, plus peaches from Borgo d'Ale, orange juice, apples, lemons and fresh mint leaves.

Then the Tapas Sabaude with typical local products: tapas with Robiola di Cocconato and extra virgin olive oil from Almese, in Val di Susa, tapas with anchovies in bagnet vert in escabeche sauce, tapas with potato tortilla with truffle, tapas with cream cheese, honey and IGP Piemont hazelnut cilantro. Always present are the Turin breadsticks, flavored with special flour and in the colors of the two flags of Italy and Spain. The absolute star of the menu is the Padella Piemontese, a local version of paella that retains the spirit of the Spanish dish but speaks Piedmontese: Carnaroli rice and frog legs from Vercelli, gray rabbit and yellow and red peppers from Carmagnola with the traditional bagna cauda (hot olive oil), peas from Casalborgone, robiola cheese from Cocconato, oil from Almese and green beans from Piedmont. To finish, churros di meliga - cornmeal - served with Passito di Caluso zabaglione ice cream and gianduiotti.

Vuelta dishes ... but Piedmontese style

In Turin from Aug. 23 to 26, the two restaurants Ibéricos in Via Goito 9, a Spanish-inspired restaurant headed by Luigi Iula with chef Luca Briamonte, and the historic San Giors di Simona Vlaic, chef Giulio Carlo Ferrero, in the heart of Porta Palazzo, via Borgo Dora, offer a special revised paella: Carnaroli rice, gray rabbit from Carmagnola, sausage from Bra, red and yellow peppers from Carmagnola, green beans, crayfish, accompanied by an aioli sauce and a light bagna cauda and Piedmontese-style sangria with Brachetto.

Right next to the San Giors, at the historic Torrefazione Roma, the sanguis (Turin version of the sandwich) with anchovies in green bagnetto and escabeche sauce accompanied by Ruchè-based sangria. Also on the Piedmontese-Spanish menu are Cantine Risso, a classic piola on the Po (corso Casale 79), among the fresh topia di verde, which offers Savoy tapas with Sangretto and Italian-Spanish tapas that have also been revisited by Bacalhau at corso Regina Margherita 22 by chef Fabio Montagna, such as fried squid with Giaveno potatoes, Piedmontese potato tortillas and Turin bocadillos.

Anchovies and jam

The Guarini restaurant on the street of the same name, within walking distance of Porta Nuova station, offers a themed menu by chef Luca Varone: Sanfilippo Cantábrico anchovies with garlic butter and bagnetto verde, plin in broth of jamon iberico, risotto mantecato with robiola, lard of Patanegra and hibiscus, and Patanegra secreto served with smoked butter and peach jam, plus a plate of jamon and lomo accompanied by vermouth. Spanish tapas and typical recipes at restaurant Serranos in via San Massimo 11 and at pizzeria Flegrea in corso Massimo d'Azeglio 114, a classic Turin address, special "Italy-Spain" pizza with buffalo mozzarella from Campania PDO, Iberian ham, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.

Strictly themed appa at Velò, the bistro of the Motovelodromo in Corso Casale, broadcasting the August 23 stage live, followed by a dinner 'in red' on the historic circuit (Paella & Sangria €25). Grand finale with live concert with free admission by Cane Vecchio Sa-Und 'ciclo-musical' band conceived by Luca Gregorio and Riccardo Magrini, together with Moreno Moser, commentators for Eurosport Italia of the major cycling events.

Tapas menu

In Novara, arrival of the first stage on the 23rd, the new restaurant Bollicine in Corso Cavour 12 adheres to the menu proposed by Regione Piemonte, which includes paella and Sangretto. Limone Piemonte, second stage, arriving on the 24th, offers an overflowing calendar of events, including the photo exhibition Celestin Camilla known as "Lapin," the story of the redemption of a young man from Niella Tanaro in Cuneo who emigrated to France, a baker's boy who became a cycling champion and won two stages of the Vuelta, and tapas menus all day in the central Via Roma and at Chalet 1400 where the riders arrive.

The third stage begins in San Maurizio Canavese with a real treat: the starred restaurant La Credenza , in a large open-air table in the square, and with a few more Iberian touches, presents the dish with which chefs Giovanni Grasso and Igor Macchia won a star in 2006 (today in the kitchen are Ivan Onorato and Chiara Patracchini, an amazing pastry chef): Risotto Mantecato ai Peperoni, with chlorophyll from parsley and Cantabrian anchovies.

Last stop in Susa, in the valley of the same name towards France. At Osteria Ristorante La Marchesa in Via Montenero 4, which is also a pizzeria, the Pizza della Vuelta, played on the colors of the Spanish flag, red and yellow, with pumpkin flowers, red and yellow Pachino tomatoes and stracciatella. A Spanish-Piedmontese Vuelta also united at the table in the sign of taste.