Taste the secret Risotto dea Badessa in Vicenza’s rice country

THE STORY ↓
WHERE TO EAT↓
WHERE TO BUY↓

→ Why is it called “of the Abbesses”?

The second half of the village name is literal. The abbesses were the Benedictine women of the monastery of San Pietro in Vicenza, which controlled a vast agricultural estate around Grumolo. They reclaimed wet ground, cleared woodland and built an irrigation network for rice and they helped engineer the landscape you see today.Archival documents describe water being brought to Grumolo “per risara”, specifically for rice cultivation. Several of those canals still serve the plain.  The history can still be read in the village. The monastery’s agricultural court included the Barchessa, used for storing rents paid in produce. In 1618 the navigable Meneghina canal was excavated and a small landing allowed boats to load rice for the abbesses’ granaries.

→ Vialone Nano is the rice to look for

Rice cultivation here reaches back to the sixteenth century. Vialone Nano itself is younger, created in 1937 from a cross between Vialone Nero and Nano. Slow Food protects the local Vialone Nano through the Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse Presidium. Its rounded, medium small grains swell considerably during cooking and absorb seasoning particularly well, qualities that explain its long association with risotto. Slow Food recommends it especially with vegetables and fish. Carnaroli is also grown and milled around Grumolo, and you will find both varieties in local shops and restaurants. The Slow Food Presidium, however, is centred on Vialone Nano.

→ The risotto whose recipe is still secret

September adds one very good piece of food lore.

Risotto dea Badessa is the signature dish of the Festa del Riso. In 2014 the festival committee publicly corrected a newspaper that had attributed liver, gizzards and other offal to the recipe. The cooks confirmed those ingredients were not in it, but refused to disclose what actually was. Their explanation was wonderfully unhelpful: simple everyday ingredients, with the secret in the preparation, proportions and cooking. The secrecy survived celebrity pressure too. When Alessandro Borghese tasted the risotto during a rice event in Vercelli in 2013, the festival records that he tried jokingly to extract the recipe from the cooks and failed. The 2026 Festa del Riso has now finished. The next edition is expected in September 2027, but dates have not yet been published, so leave the page evergreen until the official programme appears.

→ Cycle through the rice landscape

The rice is worth seeing before it reaches the plate.

Grumolo’s PIA R cycle route crosses the agricultural plain, and the municipal Sulla rotta di un chicco di riso programme has used it for cycling itineraries linking the old Barchessa, Villa Canal, a historic rice mill, Villa Rigo Chiericati and local farms. The 2024 and 2025 editions added theatre, dance and music along the route.

→ WHERE TO EAT RISO DI GRUMOLO

Menus change with the season, so where a restaurant does not currently publish a specific risotto, ask which preparation of Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse is being served.
 

VICENZA WEST · NEAR THE FAIR DISTRICT
Locanda Veneta
Via Battaglione Valtellina 138, Vicenza
+39 0444 962395
info@locandaveneta.it
This is the strongest current city address because the rice is actually named on the menu: Carnaroli delle Abbadesse with black truffle from the Berici Hills and thyme flowers, cooked to order for a minimum of two people. Other house menus use the same rice with asparagus, radicchio, pumpkin, porcini and even bacalà.

BERICI HILLS · SOUTH OF VICENZA
Trattoria Zamboni
Via Santa Croce 73, Lapio di Arcugnano
+39 0444 273079
+39 333 2268977
info@trattoriazamboni.it
One of the best places to see the rice paired with other Vicenza ingredients. Its 2026 menus include Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse with black truffle from the Colli Berici, as well as versions with asparagus and with pumpkin, Amarone and toasted walnuts.

Ristorante Laìno
Via Torri 46, Torri di Arcugnano
+39 348 7966363
francescolaino76@hotmail.it
A seafood focused restaurant in the Berici Hills. Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse is listed among the products used here throughout the year, a particularly natural match given Vialone Nano’s traditional affinity with fish and vegetable risotti.

VICENZA HISTORIC CENTRE
Il Ceppo Gastronomia e Bistrot
Corso Andrea Palladio 196, Vicenza
+39 0444 544414
contatti@ilceppovicenza.it
Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse is listed among the local ingredients used here throughout the year. Ask which rice preparation is currently on the menu.

Osteria Bertoliana 
Stradella San Giacomo 31, Vicenza
+39 348 5338173
tiagosrlvicenza@gmail.com
This small osteria in Vicenza’s historic centre lists Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse among its year round local ingredients. The preparation changes with the menu.

Oca Bianca Da Ugo
Contrà Porti 20/A, Vicenza
+39 0444 542193
+39 342 7415642
ocadiugo@gmail.com
Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse appears among the Vicenza products used throughout the year, in a kitchen that mixes local tradition with more contemporary influences. Ask for the current rice dish.

SOUTHERN VICENZA · NOVENTA VICENTINA
Hotel Ristorante da Romagnolo
Via Pietro Milani 62/C, Noventa Vicentina
+39 0444 887300
info@albergoromagnolo.it
Its current à la carte menu gives Grumolo rice a very Veneto pairing: risotto made with Riso di Grumolo delle Abbadesse and Amarone.

GRUMOLO DELLE ABBADESSE · FOR THE SECRET RECIPE
Festa del Riso Piazza Giovanni XXIII, Grumolo delle Abbadesse
info@festadelriso.it

 

→ Where to buy the rice

Riseria Delle Abbadesse

Via Roma 143, Grumolo delle Abbadesse
+39 0444 380618
+39 366 2477060

The mill works both Vialone Nano and Carnaroli from Grumolo and sells rice directly from its public shop, including its Puro Grumolo lines. Current opening is Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 12:30 and 14:30 to 18:30, Saturday 09:00 to 12:30.

Riso Natura - Azienda Agricola TREVISAN FEDERICA 
+39 338 7978599
info@risonatura.it
Federica Trevisan is listed by Slow Food among the current Presidium producers. The family’s Vialone Nano grows beside Villa Canal, and its own account of the paddy uses the return of dragonflies as an indicator of environmental health. Rice can be ordered directly from the producer.

Costantino Barban  
Via Piave 10, Grumolo delle Abbadesse
lidiabarban@virgilio.it
Also listed among the current Slow Food Presidium producers. This is a working agricultural address, so contact the farm before visiting or attempting a direct purchase.