This is PGI Mantuan melon country: the Po floodplains around Viadana yield perfumed fruit that fills lowland market stalls from June to August. Prosciutto and melon here is no cliché: it is literal zero-kilometre eating.
The Viadanese table completes the picture with Po valley flavours: cured meats, tortelli pasta and the light wines of the sandy banks. And in summer, a cold slice of melon on the riverbank is worth any restaurant dessert.
The specialities to try here, and their stories.
Rice, saffron, beef marrow and butter: Milan's golden dish, tied by legend to a glassmaker of the Duomo in 1574.
Read more →White and yellow flour, almonds, butter and sugar, broken by hand: sbrisolona is Mantova's cake, already served at the Gonzaga court.
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The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
