Granai della Memoria

Vittorina Maratelli, born in Vercelli in 1962 and living in Asigliano Vercellese, is a woman linked to the centenary history of her family and the rice they discovered: Maratelli rice. The discoverer of Maratelli rice was her grandfather Mario, a rice farmer who by chance, way back in 1914 discovered this hybrid with great potential. Grandfather Mario was a foundling who, however, was able to face life with determination. When he discovered rice and its potential, he didn't patent it, making it available to everyone.

This rice is a particular natural hybrid, selected by the original Chinese, above all for its long ear and for the little need to be fertilized. Unfortunately, in the post-war years, new techniques, new hybrids with higher yields, monocultures and even food fraud (rices were variously labeled and sold as Maratelli varieties), meant that around 1980 this rice, which was cultivated for about 13,000 hectares agriculture , disappeared from Italian tables.

Thanks to the will of several people including Eusebio Francese, a farmer linked to the Vercelli area, this rice began to be sown again, albeit not as it was in the early days. In 2013, Vittorina had Maratelli rice included among the varieties present in the national register and on the occasion of the centenary of the discovery, she brought it to the Terra Madre ark of taste.

The organoleptic properties that have made this rice famous are the high starch content, it is suitable for children, ideal for tasty risottos and soups, also proposed for arancini and rice dumplings, it is medium in size and has a rounded grain, all qualities which make Maratelli rice one of the finest in the world.