Ca’ Bianca, a story of sisterhood and passion

Twenty-five years ago, Emanuela opened the Locanda Ca’ Bianca with her father, and here their passion for cooking became their job.

Today she runs it with her sister Chiara, courageously finding a perfect balance between work and family.

Renato loved to cook and saw the same passion in his daughter Emanuela, who from an early age took refuge in the kitchen to try to create something special.

He had not been able to study to be a cook, but he saw a chance and, 25 years ago, he proposed to Emanuela to try: to open their own business where they could cook traditional Occitan recipes and maybe experiment with something new. Emanuela immediately accepted and together they opened the Locanda Ca’ Bianca in Roccabruna.

Right from the start, the grandmother made herself available to lend a hand with the more time-consuming preparations, such as peeling potatoes or preparing stuffed onions, but above all she taught them the family recipe for ravioles, still the restaurant’s specialty today.

She always took care of Chiara in the evenings, who was in primary school at the time, and stayed with her, right above the restaurant. The child was allowed to come down at the end of the evening, when her father prepared the zabaione, leaving, as in a ritual, always a taste. A sweet memory, from which her passion for pastry-making would germinate years later.

The restaurant was a success. Emanuela worked in the restaurant, becoming more and more passionate about cooking. In the meantime, Chiara embarked on an artistic path, a degree in engineering, although she continued to help out at the Locanda when she could. Season after season, however, the idea of being able to work in her valley, close to her family, attracted her more and more. She made up her mind and, combining the flair of her art studies with the precision of engineering, she began studying pastry making and worked full time at the Ca’ Bianca.

A valuable asset to the restaurant and to the delight of those staying in the rooms, who breakfast on her freshly baked pastries every day.

Preparing lunches, dinners and breakfasts as well as looking after the rooms requires a lot of commitment, and with the birth of their children, the two sisters wondered how they could reconcile everything while maintaining the quality that has always distinguished their offerings. After pondering and weighing up all the possibilities, they take a counter decision: the closing day will be Sunday and the restaurant will only offer its dishes at lunchtime.

Only at lunchtime? And not even on Sundays? Customers are incredulous at first. They do not want to lose this landmark for their dinners! Gradually, however, they understand the motivations of the two sisters and reward the quality of a cuisine where still every preparation is home-made, something that requires time and dedication.

Dad Renato, the soul of the inn, is always present. Even if he sometimes disagrees with his daughters’ decisions, he always respects and supports them. Even the grandmother, who lived to be a hundred years old, continued until the very end to want to be of help to her grandchildren, perhaps peeling potatoes, and was happy to see her granddaughters happy.

And perhaps this is precisely the secret of the Locanda Ca’ Bianca: here, in addition to finding good traditional food, you can breathe an air of serenity that comes from the perfect balance between doing a job you love and the needs of the family.

Watch the video story dedicated to the Locanda Ca’ Bianca at this link.

This story is part of the project ‘Stories of life in the Maira Valley’, conceived by the Maira Valley Tourist Consortium and realised by photographer Eunice Brovida, videomaker Fabjo Hazizaj and copywriter Milena Rivolta.

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