Text and Photos Charis/Schönste Zeit Magazin*
Mist wraps the hills, vineyards, and hazelnut bushes softly in cotton as we visit the new Osteria Bërla by Jessica and Franco in the old town of Murazzano on a November evening. The lively bustle of the weekly market, where we had bought cheese and fruit that morning, has given way to quiet.
A neighbor has stepped outside for a brief chat with Jessica. Below the Torre di Murazzano, a kitten darts around the corner. As we enter, warming fires are already flickering in the small stoves of the dining room.
Right by the entrance, a cozy sofa and armchairs invite guests to settle in. On the windowsills and shelves, a wide variety of wine bottles await to be opened by Jessica and tasted by us. Many labels are creatively designed—including Yvonne’s wines from Serafina Quota—alongside bottles from winemakers whose names we have rarely, if ever, seen here in the Langhe. Jessica knows almost all of them personally. Among them are producers such as Cesca Daniele from Moncalvo or Cascina Gasparda from Monferrato—wineries that are also present at the natural wine fair La Terra Trema in Milan, yet are seldom offered here. But that is precisely the point.
The central part of “Bërla” is dedicated to service. Just behind the counter, a small kitchen opens up—Franco’s domain—while Jessica welcomes us and shows us to our table. Each table is slightly different, as if gathered from a flea market. The handwritten menu changes daily. Franco cooks Piedmontese cuisine, while allowing for urban influences: frisse, battuta al coltello, fried ravioli—and of course Murazzano DOP, the local sheep’s milk cheese, mild and creamy when young, becoming more intense and characterful with age. Dishes are meant for sharing, prices come without surprises. Soft music plays from the speakers, interrupted only by the gentle crackling of the fire.
“My mother is from Murazzano and knew the owner,” Jessica says about her osteria. She, who had worked for twenty years with great dedication in a hotel in Monforte d’Alba, and Franco, who comes from the Monferrato area near Asti, longed to return to the authenticity they associated with this region. Away from the tourist-crowded centers of Barolo, to a place where Murazzano DOP is still produced according to traditional recipes and sold at small market stalls. A place where people come together to eat, talk, and drink wine. “Very simple, like an old family house, where people can come and drink a glass of wine, discuss a little bit, eat a plate or not,” as Jessica describes it.
The building that now houses Osteria Bërla has been used as a tavern since the 1950s, serving at different times as a restaurant and pizzeria, before remaining closed for eight years. For Jessica and Franco, it was the perfect setting for a new beginning.
Bërla – piccola osteria, vineria non convenzionale
The name itself is original—a play on the Italian verb bere (to drink) and the Piedmontese word for the rear of sheep—and so is the logo of Bërla, which depicts a sheep walking upright with a glass of wine in its hand. It is both a tribute to the sheep herds that have characterized Murazzano for centuries and a link to natural wines, whose presence on the menu makes the bar something of a novelty in the region.
In summer, grapevines wind around the pergola in front of the entrance, and guests sit beneath ripening clusters on the cobblestones. In November, the fire crackles. The season changes, but the idea remains the same—at Bërla, you sip a glass of wine from the Langhe and find your own rhythm in the beauty of simplicity.
Osteria Bërla Murazzano
“Piccola Osteria”
Via della Torre 7
12060 Murazzano (CN), Italy
Tel. +39 334 200 6072
Journalist Charis Stank gained editorial experience at the publishing house Gruner & Jahr and works as a copywriter and author. In her travel magazine Schönste Zeit, she takes readers to some of the most beautiful places in the Alps—time and again also to Piedmont.
