Home › Eat › Food stories › Monticello Conte Otto · Vicenza
RARE ITALIAN VEGETABLES · VICENZA
The white Renaissance root of Vicenza
An ancient parsnip rediscovered after a year long hunt for seeds, now grown again in the spring fed countryside north of Vicenza
Just north of Vicenza, a modern chef’s research into Renaissance menus allows us to taste a Renaissance root that might otherwise have fallen out of cultivation. Forget the classic orange carrot. Long before it took over our grocery aisles, the Veneto countryside ran on an entirely different color palette: the Carota Bianca di Monticello Conte Otto is, beneath the local moniker, a heirloom parsnip (Pastinaca sativa). For centuries, this ivory root was the unsung hero of northern Italian comfort food, grounding everyday broths and farmhouse stews. In the kitchen, you can treat it like a potato or a classic carrot, roast it until caramelized, boil it, or give it a quick sauté. But the real magic happens during the local village festival. That’s when home cooks pack the sweet, earthy root into plump tortelli, serving them swimming in hazelnut-brown butter and fresh sage, or frying them up into crispy, addictive bites.
Hans A. Rosbach · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Know before you go
This is a seasonal local product, and not guaranteed on menus every day. For the best chance of finding the root itself, contact Vigardoletto. For prepared dishes, check restaurant availability or the current programme of the local summer festival.
About
THE ROOT & HOW IT IS EATEN
THE REVIVAL
WHERE TO BUY IT, WHERE TO EAT IT ↓
The Carota Bianca di Monticello Conte Otto is essentially Pastinaca sativa, a parsnip whose cultivation predates the dominance of the modern orange carrot. Local De.Co. archives document it as a historic staple of the Vicenza countryside, traditionally used to ground everyday soups and broths.
While the root adapts easily to roasting, boiling, or a quick sauté, its culinary value peaks during the local autumn festival. Here, cooks use the sweetened root as a filling for handmade tortelli, dressed simply with sage and browned butter, or served fried as a crisp antipasto.
The Revival
The modern comeback story reads like a food-nerd detective novel. It started in 2003 with Giancarlo Rizzi, a local restaurateur who spends his free time decoding Renaissance menus. While researching Renaissance-era documents and banquet menus, Rizzi noticed recurring references to the forgotten white root and decided to reintroduce it to the region's tables.
His search for viable seed lasted a full year, tracing remnants of the crop through local growers. Cultivation was eventually re-established in the area, with the historic farm Vigardoletto becoming one of the primary custodians of the revived crop.
Hidden Waters, Incredible Soil
Why does it taste so good right here? It all comes down to a geological stroke of luck.
The success of the root in Monticello Conte Otto relies on a specific hydrological feature of the Vicenza plain: the fascia delle risorgive. In this belt, alpine water traveling through underground gravel beds naturally resurfaces, creating a self-irrigating, highly fertile agricultural environment.
This water-rich landscape once attracted Venetian aristocrats, who selected the area for their country villa estates. Today, that very same water-rich terroir is doing something far more delicious: fueling the revival of one of Italy’s coolest forgotten ingredients.
WHERE TO BUY IT, WHERE TO EAT IT ↓
VIGARDOLETTO SOCIETÀ AGRICOLA
Via Vigardoletto 1, Monticello Conte Otto, Vicenza
Phone +39 0444 595856
Phone +39 373 8069813
One of the farms most closely linked to the reintroduction of the Carota Bianca delle Risorgive.
BOTEGA E CUSINA DA CESCO E LORIS
Via Giuseppe Roi 39, 36010 Monticello Conte Otto, Vicenza
Phone +39 0444 945494
A local ristorantino, butcher and gastronomia in one address, with house made pasta, Veneto dishes, selected meats and local products, a good place to look for seasonal interpretations of the white carrot.
HOTEL RIZZI
Via Revoloni 2, Cavazzale, 36010 Monticello Conte Otto, Vicenza
Phone +39 0444 946099
Listed by I Ristoratori di Vicenza as a restaurant associated with the Carota Bianca di Monticello Conte Otto.
GRANDE SAGRA DEI SANTI PIETRO E GAETANO
Sede ProMonticello, Via Roma 63, Monticello Conte Otto, Vicenza
The local Pro Loco tradition includes tortelli filled with Carota Bianca De.Co., served boiled with butter and sage or fried as an aperitivo. The 2026 festival ran from 26 to 30 June.