It’s called slow food and yet the food at Villa Arnica is served very quickly. If you want, you can even choose your own ingredients in the natural garden. A glance over the garden fence is all it takes. Or you can take a few more steps into the 3,000 square metre Arnica field. The sun is shining. The first lettuces are poking their heads out of the soil. There is a delicate scent. The gardening season begins.
Harvested, cooked, enjoyed.
The farm-to-table philosophy has always been practised at Villa Arnica and the other Alto houses and is seen as a natural part of food and enjoyment. The food suppliers are mainly regional businesses. And one of them is the Alto Group itself. What began with the garden around the dreamy villa has been expanded to include a large field right next door. Celery and onions, tomatoes and peppers, rosemary and sunflowers, kale and basil, pomegranates and maybe also arnica grow on 3,000 square metres.
Heavenly
There it is again, that uplifting feeling when winter is over and nature awakens. The sun is getting warmer. Some things are ready to harvest, others are still waiting. Spring is a gentle reminder of how beautiful change can be. We feel strength and new courage. And we look forward to what comes out of the earth into our pots and onto our plates. Instead of lorries, trains or even ships, vegetables, fruit and herbs are transported by people and wooden crates. And then it is cooked, roasted or baked into healthy dishes in the kitchen. It couldn’t be more direct. Is this paradise?
The seat is free
The table is already set. In the glass house of Villa Arnica for dinner. In the neighbouring Hotel Schwarzschmied Slow Food Restaurant La Fucina or in the Bistro Luce. At the Gasthaus 1477 Reichhalter. Or in the newly opened Luna Restaurant in the Parkhotel Mondschein in Bolzano. Incidentally, you can have Jean Paul show you around the field on his weekly garden tours. And if you ask nicely, you might even be allowed to pick up a shovel yourself and certainly also have a nibble here and there.
photos: Alto Hotel Group