Recipes & Tradition Archivi - VisitLunigiana

Casola’s Polenta Meschia or “Chained Polenta.”

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 08:37:34 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Lhe Meschia di Casola is a cornmeal polenta enriched with beans, black cabbage, potatoes and lard, seasoned to taste with oil and Parmesan cheese. The ‘origin of this dish is not well defined but it can be said that it carries on the so-called “cucina povera” tradition of preparing food by mixing (meschia), with ingredients available from the people.

It is also known in the rest of Lunigiana as “chained polenta” or frascadei or fr’gadèi, according to the dialectal inflection of the area.

It is a very tasty and hearty dish that is also good the next day, in fact once it is cooled and cut you can fry it and accompany it with slices of cheese. You can taste it at the “Meschia Festival” at the “Papastrel Fest“ in Casola in Lunigiana at the end of July!

Would you like to try making it? Here is a version of the recipe

Ingredients:

300 g of sifted corn flour
150 g dried borlotti beans
1 black cabbage
50 g of grated parmesan cheese
Half a ladleful of evo olive oil
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1.5 liters of water

Proceedings

Cook the beans in a saucepan with water and salt; when cooked, add the cleaned and cleaned cabbage. When the cabbage is also cooked, very carefully add the yellow flour without making lumps. The polenta should be left very soft and creamy, to get the right consistency add water and oil. After about 40 minutes of cooking it is ready to be served with oil and Parmesan cheese.

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La Carscenta

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 08:22:42 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Èa typical dessert from the area of Fivizzano and Comano, prepared on special occasions such as the feast of the patron saint, looking like a very tall focaccia and inside it contains raisins, pine nuts and anise seeds. We do not know its original recipe because, like many cakes and other typical dishes of Lunigiana, each village, each family had a variant , so it was difficult to find a written recipe with the right doses and the precise rising and baking times since everything was entrusted to the skill of the women of the house, who often handed down the secrets from generation to generation.

This cake in the Sassalbo (Fivizzano) area is linked to an ancient ritual, that of betrothal. The ancient ritual stipulated that after the feast on the day of St. Michael the Archangel, when the attraction between the two lovers was publicly manifested by dancing, the woman’s family sent the groom’s family the “carscenta”; if the boy’s family viewed the engagement favorably, they returned half of the carscenta to the girl’s family, otherwise they sent it back in full.

Want to make this dessert? Here are some tips:

Brewer’s yeast is processed with flour, a pinch of salt and water; the resulting “leoda” is left to rest, overnight, in a container. All the ingredients, at room temperature, are kneaded by hand (sugar, eggs, warmed milk, butter, cream, raisins, pine nuts, anise seeds) until a thick and consistent dough is obtained.

The medium- to large-sized pan is buttered, dusted with flour and filled a little more than half full; it is put to rise in a dry place away from light and drafts until it doubles in volume. The cake is baked in a 180°C oven on a layer of chestnut leaves, for about 60 to 80 minutes depending on size. In the Sassalbina version, walnuts were used instead of pine nuts, which are more readily available.

L'articolo La Carscenta proviene da VisitLunigiana.

Bastard Lasagne

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:55:49 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Type of pasta made of wheat flour (50%) mixed with chestnut flour (50%), that represents one of the many local dishes derived from chestnut. It is usually served with olive oil and parmesan cheese.

L'articolo Bastard Lasagne proviene da VisitLunigiana.

La Pattona

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:28:11 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Sort of pancake made of chestnut flour wrapped in chestnut leaves and cooked in a wood oven or in testi. It is usually served with ricotta cheese and honey.

L'articolo La Pattona proviene da VisitLunigiana.

The spongata

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:09:39 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Cake made of honey, bread, various spices and dried fruits. There are different recipes from Liguria to Parma to prepare it.In Lunigiana it is popular in Pontremoli where you can find it at the local bars and restaurants.

L'articolo The spongata proviene da VisitLunigiana.

The Cyans of Lunigiana

Studio ARX — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:05:31 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

She protagonists, along with the mondine or roasted chestnuts, of autumn events in Lunigiana, are the cian, also known as necci in the rest of Tuscany. They are small crepes made from a dough made from chestnut flour and water, prepared with the typical iron with two plates to be heated over the fire or on a stove. They can be enjoyed stuffed with ricotta cheese, creamy cheeses or, when hot, with very fatty cold cuts, but they are also good with sweet spreads…

We offer the recipe if you want to prepare them at home. The appropriate iron can be purchased in many Lunigiana hardware stores, but we’ll give you a tip: before pouring in the dough grease the inside of the two pans with a potato cut in half and lightly soaked in oil!

Would you like to try making it? Here is a version of the recipe

Ingredients for four people:

400 g of chestnut flour PDO
3/4 liter of lukewarm water
3 tablespoons of oil
200 g ricotta or stracchino cheese
salt

Proceedings

In a bowl, mix chestnut flour with water and salt; this will make a fairly liquid batter.

Take a cast-iron testo, the kind made with scissors, heat it, grease it with a little oil and place a spoonful of the batter in the center; close it, keep it on the heat for 2-3 minutes. This will result in crépes-like sheets.

Since you don’t have a text, you can achieve the same result with an iron skillet: heat it well, grease it with a little oil and pour in a spoonful of batter, making it spread all over the bottom. Keep it on the flame for 2-3 minutes.

Stuff immediately with ricotta or stracchino cheese and serve very hot.

L'articolo The Cyans of Lunigiana proviene da VisitLunigiana.

La Barbotta e l’Arbadela

Studio ARX — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:52:32 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Sort of very thin pie prepared with sweet onions from Treschietto, corn flour and cheese and cooked into cast-iron moulds.

L'articolo La Barbotta e l’Arbadela proviene da VisitLunigiana.

Herb Cake

Studio ARX — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 13:42:21 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Herbs pie is a real specialty of our area. It is stuffed with wild herbs such as borage, spinach, etc. though each village has its own different recipe. The most popular is the one made in Pontremoli, which is prepared with almost a hundred herbs and cooked in cast iron moulds.

L'articolo Herb Cake proviene da VisitLunigiana.

From Engadine to Fivizzano, Swiss pastry chefs in Lunigiana.

Andrea Pellini — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 19:19:06 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Qhis is a story of immigration, but in this case it is in reverse, we are not talking about Lunigianians going in search of fortune in northern Italy, America or Australia, the protagonists of our story are Swiss who arrived in Lunigiana. As in Pontremoli, as in Aulla, even in Fivizzano there is a Swiss café, an establishment dating as far back as the mid-19th century opened by emigrants from Engandina.

In 1850 the presence in Fivizzano of a certain Gaspare Perl (1807-1872) and later a Tommaso Bonorand both from Lavin in the Lower Engadine is documented. It was probably Gaspare himself who was the founder of the Perl confectionery and Caffè Elvetico in the central Piazza Maggiore, later named after Victor Emmanuel II, but still known to all as Piazza Medicea. It seems that Fivizzano spongata had many influences from local Swiss pastries, in fact it has many ingredients and preparations in common with Bündner Nusstorte, a typical Engadine dessert , with the addition of more Lunigiana ingredients such as honey, pine nuts and figs. Much of this information was collected in “Die Zuckerbäcker, “ a book that described the lives of the many pastry chefs who had expatriated to Tuscany to work, again from the book we learn that Swiss pastry chefs left Fivizzano in 1907 for the United States where they opened a grocery café.

In Fivizzano, in addition to the name of the place still standing today in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, we find another clear evidence that has come down to us. The Perls’ elderly grandmother died in Lunigiana itself, and since the family was of the Protestant denomination, she could not be buried in the local cemetery. So the family bought a small plot of land not far from the Fivizzano cemetery in order to have a place where they could bury their loved ones. Even today, just outside the town of Fivizzano, there remains a small plot of land surrounded by a wall with a small chapel, known to all as the “Cemetery of the Swiss”; here during World War II some Germans were buried and later it was recognized as a historical site.

L'articolo From Engadine to Fivizzano, Swiss pastry chefs in Lunigiana. proviene da VisitLunigiana.

The decalogue of the herbi pie in Lunigiana

Studio ARX — Fri, 23 May 2025 20:10:34 +0000

Recipes & Tradition

Se siete amanti della tradizione e volete gustare i piatti tipici del territorio senza contaminazione “moderne” o “commerciali”, questo è l’articolo che fa per voi! Grazie all’Associazione Antiche Tradizioni “Amighi d’Sghigia” di Aulla, ecco il decalogo proposto dallo chef Rolando Paganini, vero e proprio custode del patrimonio culinario della Lunigiana. Le regole valgono per la torta d’erbi, ma possono essere benissimo applicate a tutta la ricca varietà di torte salate locali…

È fatta sempre con la sfoglia sotto e sopra, con pochissime eccezioni. La pasta è sempre fatta di farina olio e sale, la farcia non deve essere mai altissima.
Due sfoglie sottili si chiudono fra loro con una “pizzettatura” al bordo, oppure, ancor meglio, si chiude la farcia con la pasta che fuoriesce dalla teglia buttata sopra alla farcitura. Meno bella ma più croccante e buona al gusto.
La pasta superiore si fora qua e là con una forchetta, o foro al centro chiamato ombelico e si unge con olio e acqua.
Si taglia rigorosamente a pezzi quadrati su un tagliere di legno, si mangia tiepida, buona anche fredda, mai riscaldata.
È un piatto unico della nostra tradizione e pertanto, dà miglior soddisfazione mangiarla in tal maniera.
Nella torta deve abbondare buon olio d’oliva, tanto da ungere mani, mento e barba, quindi diventa una pietanza da accompagnare con il pane.
Si mangia portandola alla bocca con le mani, senza le posate.
Quella autentica è cotta nel testo o nel forno a legna.
Per ognuno di noi, la più buona è quella tramandata dalla propria zona e dalla propria famiglia.
Comunque è sempre speciale quella fatta come ci pare e piace.

Tratto dal libro “C’era…la madia” di Rolando Paganini, GD Edizioni, 2022

Lo chef Rolando Paganini durante la sagra della Focaccetta di Quercia

L'articolo The decalogue of the herbi pie in Lunigiana proviene da VisitLunigiana.