If you have spent time in Piedmont, especially in the countryside or in the homes of older relatives, there is a good chance you have seen one; it usually stood against a kitchen wall, solid, practical, a little imposing, sometimes in dark cast iron, more often in white enamel with black trim. Its uses were many: it would heat the room, while also cooking a meal and functioning as a form of gathering space for the entire family. As common as they once were, not many – I bet – know their name, the putagé.
Those who grew up in villages, farmhouses, or older homes often remember parents or grandparents using one as part of ordinary daily life, but even younger generations may know it from childhood visits to grandparents in Langhe, Monferrato, or the Asti countryside, where kitchens sometimes kept their old rhythm longer than cities did.
