The Motrice

We offer a cheerful, friendly atmosphere. Our restaurant, café and bar are the perfect place to meet and catch up with friends over a coffee or glass of wine or sample our numerous gastronomic specialities, prepared by cook Ornella with great passion and exquisite attention to detail.

Over the years, the Motrice Restaurant has been—and remains to this day—a favourite haunt of many artists among other habitués. Our guests have included famous names such as Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Sonja and Jan Wisse, Rudolf Blaser and Not Bott.

Our restaurant seats 28 persons and has a vaulted roof, evoking the form of an old-style Bernina Railway engine. Our “Rudolf Blaser” dining room seats 32 persons and features ceiling paintings by the artist himself. Born in Berne, Rudolf Blaser lived in Poschiavo for more than 30 years. Finally, our smaller Nostalgia dining room, featuring the wall and windows of the old Motrice Restaurant, seats 14 persons.

The walls at the Motrice are decorated with numerous historical photographs of Valposchiavo and paintings by well-known artists.

We are also available to host group events, banquets, group lunches and all types of meetings. In the summer, for those who enjoy spending time outdoors, the Motrice Restaurant also serves guests outside, at the tables overlooking the square, next door to the Poschiavo Museum, with a gorgeous view of the old town of Poschiavo and the Sassalbo mountain.

Owner and cook Ornella Isepponi carefully selects only the finest ingredients for the specialities that she prepares. Produce is bought fresh each day from trusted suppliers in Valposchiavo. Ornella’s great passion is her kitchen garden, where she grows and harvests fresh vegetables and salad to serve to her guests and flowers to decorate the tables.

All the produce used by our restaurant is sourced from Valposchiavo from trusted suppliers.

We share the philosophy and participate with conviction in the project.
In 2016 the project won the Cipra and Milestone awards.
In 2017 it received the SVSM-Award in the category «Local projects».
Would you like to know more? Come visit us or visit the website.

The Motrice is located in the centre of Poschiavo, opposite Palazzo Mengotti, which houses the Poschiavo Museum. The restaurant’s history goes back more than one hundred years. Built by our great-grandfather, Bernardino Isepponi, it opened to the public in early 1912. In 1982, the old building was replaced by a new building designed by architect Prospero Gianoli. The modern, spacious new building houses a small shopping centre including the new Motrice Restaurant, the Isepponi printing house and the Bordoni bakery/confectioner's.

Award: In 1987, the Motrice building complex was presented with a Grisons architectural award in recognition of its uniqueness and versatility.

Warmth, friendliness and hospitality are the hallmarks of the Motrice Restaurant, a fourth-generation family-run business. Ornella and Fausto Isepponi-Gugiatti and their family and staff offer a warm welcome to their charming restaurant steeped in history.

Location

Poschiavo is situated in the Italian-speaking part of the Canton of Grisons. It can be reached via the UNESCO world heritage Bernina Express as well as by car. If you are travelling down from the north (via the Engadine), you will pass through St. Moritz and Pontresina and over the spectacular Bernina Pass, which offers breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers all the way down to Valposchiavo; If you are travelling up from the south along Lake Como, you will pass through the Valtellina region, famed for its vineyards—where the people of Poschiavo produce fine Valtellina wine—and Tirano, crossing the Swiss-Italian border.