20/10/2026
San Giacomo Vercellese the Rice VILLAGEI in THE LANDS OF RICE Piedmont Italy
The village disseminated in Vercelli’s rice lands present an ancient charm, places where our guests can relax, enjoy traditional dishes, and experience authentic trips in contact with nature. . The villages of the Lands of Rice are wrapped in an ancient atmosphere to be slowly discovered and calmly “savoured”.
Ancient farmsteads, ingenious hydraulic works, landscapes offering unique views in every season, locations charged with ancient charm that have a centuries-old link with rice and its traditions: visit Casa Designo to discover the Lands of Rice in the Vercelli area!
VERCELLI, A CITY OF ART
A city of discreet charm, also known as the “European rice capital”, Vercelli is one of Piedmont’s richest cities in terms of artistic treasures and masterpieces. From the Abbey of St. Andrew, a masterpiece of Gothic-Romanesque architecture, to the precious Gaudentian frescoes in the Church of St. Christopher, and the imposing Cathedralwith the adjacent Cathedral Treasure Museum. Vercelli’s invaluable museum heritage also includes the Francesco Borgogna House Museum, the historic Leone Museum and the small and unique Archaeological Museum. The historic centre with its warm and hospitable square Piazza Cavour, medieval towers and noble palaces is the ideal backdrop to savour the most typical products of the Vercelli area: a traditional panissa (risotto) or a bicciolano biscuit. Visiting Vercelli will be a wonderful surprise!
LUCEDIO, THE GRANGE AND THE PARTECIPANZA WOODLE
In the Vercelli area, in the 14th century, the Cistercian monks introduced rice cultivation in the area between Trino, Crescentino and Larizzate. Hence the creation of the Grange, ancient residential units and agricultural centres where the ‘conversi’ (lay brothers) reclaimed the Po Valley and turned flatland forest into farmland.
OLD FARMSTEADS, IRRIGATION CANALS AND THE CHECKERED SEA
The history of rice cultivation is necessarily linked with water, which is plentiful in these lands featuring great rivers and rushing torrents, besides ingenious hydraulic works built to convey water directly to the cultivated fields. This complex system of irrigation canals in which the Cavour Canalstands out creates a landscape of rice-growing lands that is especially charming in spring, when the flooded rice fields offer an idyllic view known as the “checkered sea”. The rice fields turn into a chess board of mirrors reflecting the sky and clouds.
Vercelli Region
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