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Monday, November 14, 2022

A Sunday Walk to Trattoria del Moro

Chiesetta di San Marco alla Maresana, Bergamo Italy.Filone della Maresana, Trail 533 runs on crest of ridge.
Left: Chiesetta di San Marco alla Maresana, Bergamo Italy.
Right: Filone della Maresana, Trail 533 runs on crest of ridge.


Despite the beautiful sunny and warm Sunday, it’s the season for cassÅ“ula. CassÅ“ula is a winter dish typically found in Western Lombardy. We had this classic Lombardo dish today at Trattoria del Moro, one of our favorite Sunday lunch spots.

The dish includes mainly pork meat – typically least valuable parts, Verzino sausage, and sometimes other meats like chicken and goose. These are cooked in a casserole with onion, carrot, celery, and black pepper for several hours, after which the cabbage is added, and cooking continues. Cassoeula is served with polenta and a red wine. This dish is served after the first frost of the season, to let the cabbage be softer and tastier.

The dish traces its origin to the end of the pig-slaughtering season, when the least valuable parts of the pig used for cassoeula and the better cuts of meat would be hung to cure to improve the flavor.

To get to Trattoria del Moro from the center of Bergamo, you can drive or walk. If you walk there, you earned the meal! The walk will take you 1.5 to 2 hours and is relatively easy with good shoes and a little huffing and puffing up trail 533. From the Piazza Carrara in Bergamo, head to the Atalanta Stadium (officially called Gewiss Stadium) and continue on to Monterosso neighborhood. From the Monterosso neighborhood center, head to Via Quintino Alto a few steps away. On Quintino Alto you’ll find the start of Sentiero 533: Bergamo (Monterosso) – Selvino. The trail is marked with a street sign Via Filone della Maresana. It’s a trail and it climbs quickly. Filone means “line or branch” and refers to the ridge of the hill that leads from Quintino Alto to Maresana.

As the trail name implies, you could follow it all the way to Selvino - and we have, see this post – but for today, you’ll only follow it up the hill.

The Filone - Trail 533 - takes up to the popular spot called Maresana, where you can park, walk, and picnic. You can also eat at Trattoria La Maresana. Across the road from the trattoria, find a paved biking/walking trail. Follow that all the way to Trattoria del Moro.


Sign at Quintino Alto where Filone della Maresana starts.A persimmon tree.Fence shadows in Ponteranica, Bergamo, Italy.A trail leading up to Maresana from Quintino Alto.
Left: Sign at Quintino Alto where Filone della Maresana starts.
Center left: A persimmon tree.
Center right: Fence shadows in Ponteranica, Bergamo, Italy.
Right: A trail leading up to Maresana from Quintino Alto.


Trattoria del Moro - Affettati sott'olio e sott'aceto.Cassoeula - at typical winter dish in Lombardy.Tagliolini con funghi porcini at Trattoria del Moro.
Left: Trattoria del Moro - Affettati sott'olio e sott'aceto.
Center: Cassoeula - at typical winter dish in Lombardy. 
Right: Tagliolini con funghi porcini at Trattoria del Moro.


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