Delicious homely cooking at the Taverna del Borgo in Cittadella

Last Updated on September 10, 2017 by Laura Teso

After visiting the town of Cittadella, we stopped to eat at the Taverna del Borgo (Tavern of the Hamlet). It was lunchtime and we were starving. We knew that close to the Bassano Door (300 metres or so) there was this tavern, whose speciality are the bigoli, a regional type of pasta, of which we are very fond. So we dashed there without hesitation. If you want to learn more about this delicious pasta, here is my post regarding bigoli.

My experience at Taverna del Borgo

The place is very plain, a little old-fashioned. At the entrance there’s a huge counter, a couple of tables and a kitchen buffet. On the back there is another little room with only six tables. The atmosphere is friendly, quite and genuine.

The menu is short. It offers only gnocchi (tomato sauce, pesto sauce or ragù, that is meat sauce) and, above all, bigoli. You can chose from 16 different kinds of sauce: duck sauce (the most traditional), meat sauce, white meat, tomato sauce, arrabbiata (peeled tomatoes, garlic and chilli pepper), amatriciana (peeled tomatoes, cheek lard and pecorino cheese), tuna and cherry tomatoes, sausage and peppers, sausage and radicchio, four cheeses, Tyrolean (speck and mushrooms), pesto sauce, cream tomato and bacon, vegetables, gorgonzola leek and speck, lobster.

Main courses and side dishes are not listed and honestly we have not even asked what was available that day because we had come with a single purpose: the bigoli.

Our choice

We ordered the duck sauce bigoli (for me) and the radicchio and sausage ones (for my husband) and a bottle of water. After ordering, the owner brought us complimentary some mini bruschetta (tomato, olives and peppers). Quite tasty, although cold.

We waited a reasonable amount of time. They say in fact that in this Tavern the cook prepares the bigoli when you order them. And so it seemed. They were perfect: abundant, tasty, with the right consistency and not too greasy. We devoured them at once! I think I’ll come back sooner or later to try different sauces.

At the end we drank two good caffé. When you order “un caffè” [oohn kahf-FEH], a coffee, in Italy it is implied that it is an espresso.

Are you curious to know how much did we pay? 18€. Yes, 18. Wonderful. It was a really good deal. The bigoli are charged 6€ each. The coperto (cover charge) 1€ each. Prices that you won’t easily find in Italy nowadays. What is a coperto? If you want to know, here is my post about the Italian coperto.

Info and tips

PLUS

• Delicious bigoli
• Simple, friendly atmosphere
• Quite inexpensive

MINUS

• That day was quite cold and heating seemed off. I must say I’m very sensitive to the cold and I had to keep my jacket on
• Limited choices in the menu if you don’t like bigoli