Galletto alla Piastra

› PHNOM PENH, 2020.....................

The venerable old Ligurian restaurant Ostaia du Richettu is a magical place, more like an old-fashioned country tavern. You drive through a massive old archway to a parking area set in the verdant Peralto Park, due north of Genoa on the Righi hill. The setting is a vertiginous one on the eastern hillside of the Fosso del Lagaccio, where the manmade lake is ringed by ancient fortresses. You won’t find tourists there, but there are hordes of Genoese escaping the heat of summer. The last time I went, it could not have been busier, but there was a magnificent breeze, a hint of autumn in the air. Families were celebrating one last night out as the two weeks that culminate in the Ferragosto holiday (August 15) came to a close. There was as much dialect being spoken as Italian.