Grotto Flora B&B

The history of Grotto Flora began a long time ago... in 1920, when in September Mrs. Flora (née Wolf), originally from Val Calanca, opened a small grotto with her husband Alberto Bettosini (born in Agra) in the beautiful village of Agra, at the top of the sunny Collina d'Oro, in the center of Bigogno to be precise.

Local wine and soda water sipped in the shade of the trees, accompanied by local cold cuts and cheeses, gave customers great pleasure and refreshment.

Over the years, the number of customers increased, so they moved their business inside the house where Grotto Flora is still located today.

Homemade cold cuts (made right where they started their business) and large oven-baked stews with polenta cooked in the fireplace were the specialties they offered their customers.

Flora and Alberto had five children: Armida, Silvio, Lucia, Olga, and Alberto. They grew up and left home in search of wives or husbands, except for one: Silvio.

Silvio Bettosini, born in the summer of 1922, bought the grotto from his parents and made it his mission from 1942 onwards.

This became even more exciting and challenging with the conquest of his beloved Käthe, the German girl who had fled the war in West Germany and found herself working as a housekeeper for a wealthy lady, Mrs. Valz, who lived right next to the grotto.

From 1950 to 1985, Silvio and Käthe worked hard to win over local and transalpine customers.

The traditional menu included an appetizer of cold cuts with pickles, risotto with porcini mushrooms and saffron, and grilled meats. For the holidays, Käthe would spend hours cooking roast suckling pig with roasted potatoes. Everything was strictly homemade!

One of the first grilled chickens in the hills was made by Silvio himself, and everyone loved it!

Käthe and Silvio had five children: Silvia, Carlo, Flora, Claudio, and Aldo.

This generation helped Silvio a lot with the farm work, and the daughters assisted Käthe with the housework. Little by little, the children left home and, as in the best fairy tales, all except one: Flora.

Flora kept her parents' inspiration alive and, in 1985, together with her husband Nene (Enzo), she started the third generation of Grotto Flora.

The menu remained the same, as it was a winning formula and popular with customers, who also spanned three generations (grandparents came with their grandchildren!).

Mixed cold cuts, mushroom and saffron risotto, grilled meats, and zabaglione!

And like any good story, Flora and Enzo also had four children: Fiorenzo, Tiziana, Graziella, and Maurizio.

In 2004, after their children had left home and following extensive renovations, they purchased the patrician house "Casa Adamini."

Flora and Enzo worked hard to transform a huge, disused house into a large bed and breakfast.

It consists of nine rooms, all different and carefully decorated by Flora.

In 2011, their eldest son, Fiorenzo, joined the Grotto Flora team, bringing with him a wealth of experience gained in the kitchens of large 5-star hotels such as the Villa Principe Leopoldo in Gentilino.

Fiorenzo brought a breath of fresh air to Grotto Flora.

A new kitchen and a modern workshop gave Grotto Flora the space it needed to produce the essentials for its increasingly busy and demanding clientele.

In 2016, Fiorenzo left Grotto Flora to embark on a new professional adventure: his own grotto, Grotto Zotta in Bioggio.

To help with the high demand via the internet, his third daughter, Graziella, who graduated from the hotel school in Bellinzona in 2009, joined the team as a receptionist at Grotto Flora.