Pila Vecia - ISOLA DELLA SCALA

We visited here as part of an excursion from our Travelsphere holiday. This was one of our favourite visits. The road to the rice mill is lined with blueberry bushes, strawberry and kiwi fruit plants. We saw a hoopoe in the fields. The mill itself is very interesting and the smell of the barn is lovely. Fresh and reminiscent of a cereal mill from my home town in Scotland. We had a stroll round the farm, I was expecting to see rice growing, but it is all brought in from surrounding areas. But we saw the almond trees, peaches, pigs, donkeys and goats. For us it was a great place to see interesting nature. We saw a beautiful moth and several dragonflies by the pond. After the tour we had a cookery lesson from chef Gabriele Ferron. Although he did not speak much English our guide translated for us and we learned a really easy way to cook risotto. I have tried it myself at home and it works! Chuck all the stock in at once, stir, simmer for 15 mins and eat. The tasting afterwards was great. We tried 2 sorts. A basil and Parmesan recipe and a traditional recipe with veal and pork. After our meal we were able to visit the small shop and buy some of the rice and also pick up a free recipe leaflet. This is a great place to visit and chef Ferron is a star, he should be on tv!

Assolutamente da provare! Il luogo è un'oasi tranquilla nelle campagne veronesi, con un laghetto popolato da pesci e ombreggiato da salici e alberi secolari. Il personale è gentilissimo e molto attento alla cura dell'ospite. Abbiamo optato per il menu degustazione che comprendeva: tagliere di salumi, giardiniera, riso Venere con verdure e pane e focacce fatte in casa, tutto delizioso. Abbiamo assaggiato 3 tipi di risotto: all'isolana, agli asparagi e al salmone, al caprino e alle erbette. Il dolce è un tiramisù preparato con farina di riso. C'è anche una fattoria all'esterno. Da questo ristorante si esce sazi, felici e coccolati.

Came upon this by happenstance. Wow what a find The family grow rice and sell their produce and on this Sunday all the locals were there for Sunday lunch we got the last table Having come from a v. disappointing Venice culinary experience this place served the most to die for risottos, great wine and desserts. The personnel were stupendous, so friendly and I was introduced to the chef , theson of the owner. The family do every guest proud and are exemplars of the very best that is Italian cuisine and hospitality. I shall note this on my rolodex and suggest every traveller make this a must do stop. We were over the moon and never wanted to leave.

Locale fantastico, pranzo a 360 gradi di riso. Esperienza indimenticabile, lo consiglio vivamente.

Ho avuto un'esperienza divertente con un menu basato sul riso dall'antipasto al dessert. I piatti erano molto abbondanti e il personale era estremamente gentile. C'era anche la possibilità di acquistare riso direttamente presso lo spaccio aziendale.