The Simplon Tunnel Inauguration Gala
Academia Barilla - Historical Menus
In 1906, the new railway gallery was inaugurated between the Val d’Ossola in Piedmont and the Upper Rhone Valley in Switzerland, bringing with it many meanings of openness, exchange, and evolution.
Created for an elegant gala lunch in Sion, the capital of the Canton of Valais, this menu is part of a story that pays homage to the region and this technical feat.
These were years of innovation, technological ferment, and the euphoria that comes from progress. The project that led to the construction of the Simplon Tunnel was of immense cultural, social, and commercial significance. It was 1906 and the railway tunnel, almost twenty kilometers long between Val d’Ossola and the Upper Rhône Valley in Switzerland, brought with it multiple meanings of openness, exchange and evolution.
To celebrate this extraordinary opening, a lavish and rich Gala lunch took place in Sion, the capital of the Canton of Valais, where local products starred in a story honoring the region: Rhône trout with Valais asparagus; Consommé Royal, a clarified, concentrated broth enriched with pieces of a mixture based on eggs cooked in molds in a bain-marie; Sauce Remaulade, a sauce made from mayonnaise, mustard, chopped and crushed cucumbers and capers, parsley, chervil, tarragon, and anchovy reduction.
It was a time of hope, an enlightened vision in which progress triumphed over obscurantism, leading to the opening of the Simplon Tunnel being celebrated with the staging of the International Exhibition in Milan.