The rice triangle: water lands that give pearls

Amidst mirrored rice fields, farming villages and ancient rural wisdom, the rice triangle that joins Vercelli, Novara and Pavia preserves the most authentic soul of Italian rice-growing

In the living heart of the Po Valley lies, like a carpet of emerald and water reflections, the so-called rice triangle. It is here, between the provinces of Vercelli, Novara and Pavia, that Italy preserves one of its most deep-rooted and fascinating agricultural traditions: rice cultivation. An ancient rite that is renewed every year, amidst embankments, canals and centuries-old farmsteads, where land and water clasp each other in an embrace that smells of history, work and culture.

Places of the soul: the rice communes

This living plain is dotted with more than 60 municipalities where rice growing is much more than an economic activity: it is a vocation handed down over the centuries. Among them:

• In the Vercelli area: Vercelli, Trino, Santhià, Arborio, Crescentino, Lignana, Salasco, Bianzè, Desana, Livorno Ferraris, Olcenengo, Formigliana, Quinto and Borgo Vercelli, Motta de' Conti, Stroppiana and many other small villages where the miracle of flooded rice fields is lit every spring.
• In NovaraNovara, Trecate, Vespolate, Garbagna, Tornaco, Cerano, Sozzago, Vinzaglio, Galliate, Cameri, and villages that seem to have come straight out of a Morandi canvas, silent guardians of an industrious knowledge.
• In the Pavia LomellinaMortara, Vigevano, Garlasco, Parona, Cilavegna, Mede, Gravellona, Alagna, Ferrera Erbognone, Lomello and Gropello Cairoli: lands where every farmstead has a history, and every field a memory. Here the name Perla della Lomellina was coined to identify the area's rice.

The varieties that tell the story of Italy

The best rice in Europe is grown here, the result of agronomic wisdom honed over time. The Carnarolithe undisputed prince of risottos, was born here. With him, the Vialone Nanothe versatile Arboriothe fragrant Romethe robust Baldoand lesser-known but valuable varieties such as the Seleniumthe Saint Andrew and the Race 77.

The art of cultivation: between water and sky

Rice is grown where water flows. And here, the water dances between canals and irrigation ditches, cleverly conveyed by a hydraulic network that dates back to the Middle Ages. Even today, submerged sowing dominates, creating those unique landscapes where sky and earth merge and herons fly low over the surface of the water.

But it is not only tradition: the rice triangle is also a laboratory of the future. It experiments with the dry sowing, you use drones and precision technologiessustainable crop rotations are adopted. It is an agriculture that does not deny the past, but enhances it to face tomorrow.

From ear to plate: a journey through transformation

Once harvested, between September and October, the rice begins a silent and meticulous journey: rapid drying, husking to free the grain, whitening, selection. Processing is different for semi-integral and whole-grain rice.
In many family-run companies, often housed in old farmhouses, everything is done on site, with artisanal passion and modern rigour. The result? An authentic, traceable, identifiable product.

Visiting the rice triangle means crossing the agricultural soul of Italy. It is a lay pilgrimage amidst still landscapes and ancient gestures, amidst the beauty of water that designs geometries and the concreteness of hands that know how to wait. It is an invitation to rediscover the value of slow time, of the land that nourishes and of stories that deserve to be told.

Those looking for the essence of our country will find it here, between a grain and a reflection.