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The aim the local Council wants to reach is to increase the value of the ancient traditions of Garfagnana; the local products in particular, which are a distinctive mark and a local goods of our origins.
For this reason, the local council recommends you to visit Piazza al Serchio, its small towns and to taste the local food and all our products.
The District of Piazza al Serchio can offer you a lot of typical products of the valley. Among them let’s quote our farro, the ancient grain that has always characterized our food. That’s why our grain gained the I.G.P. of “ Farro della Garfagnana” in 1996 according to the European Union (Reg. CE n° 1263/96). In our District the respect for the ancient traditions is very important, therefore the production of farro is based on a totally genuine process, avoiding the usage of chemicals.
The delicious recipes farro-based are the soup, farro and beans and the salad cakes.
Every summer a festival dedicated to the farro called “ Le Contee del Farro” is organized. It takes place in the principal town, or in a small one, and it is included in the project “Ponti del Tempo”..
In Piazza al Serchio, and in all its small towns, there are a lot of woods where people go to pick up some chestnuts in Autumn. The chestnut is undoubtedly one of the most important products of the entire valley, and this is clearly proved by the enormous usage of it. As a matter of fact, besides the famous “ballucci” (boiled chestnuts) and “mondine” (roast chestnuts), chestnuts are dried in old huts called “metati” in order to produce a delicious sweet flour.
Thanks to this fruit, it is possible to eat a lot of exquisite recipes here in Garfagnana. Polenta with pig bones, the castagnaccio cake (with pine nuts or nuts and orange peel), fritters, necci (larger fritters filled with ricotta, a soft cheese made from ewe’s milk) and even a kind of bread with an unique taste are only some of the recipes you will have the pleasure to eat. Furthermore, a tasty honey too derives from chestnuts. The wood also offers another wonderful product: the mushroom. There are many species of it such as the
exquisite porcino, the grifone, our prataioli or pinaroli. The porcino is undoubtedly the most aimed among them. It can be fried, stewed, or used as the essential ingredient to cook many sauces.
Potatoes are the most cultivated vegetables and they are used in a great deal of recipes (from bread to cakes).
That’s why it is one of the most important elements of the District, of Garfagnana in particular. Every August a festival dedicated to this vegetable is organized. Here people can taste every kind of potato-based food.
Norcineria is still largely widespread in the District. It is a food shop where people can find sausages, salami, mortadella, mondiole, biroldo, ham, lard. All these products derive from the work of those families where the tradition of pig breeding is still alive. As you can see, the typical dishes of Piazza al Serchio derive from the past. They represent a fusion between the simplicity of their ingredients and the taste of their genuine nature. |
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