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Food Festivals

sagra

food festival, Italian style

Calendar of food festivals

A few of the good ones

aceto/aceto balsamico

vinegar, and a very special vinegar

acquacotta

poor man's soup

aglio

garlic

agnolotti

pasta pillows filled with meat

agrumi

citrus

alla brace

cooked over charcoal or wood

andarinos

helix-shaped pasta

anguilla

eel

arancia

orange

arancini

extra-special rice croquettes—or a sweet

arrosticini

mutton kebabs

asado

barbecued meats

asparagi

asparagus

bagnun

anchovy stew

bardiccio fiorentino

Florentine sausage

bertolina

grape filled pie from Cremona

bistecca

steak

Bitto

beloved cheese from the Valtellina

bogamarì

sea urchins

Bra

Cow's milk cheese

brigoli

fat homemade spaghetti

broccolo

broccoli

brodetto

fish soup

burtleina

fried flatbread from Piacenza

calzone

'trouser legs'- a pizza folded over

canederli

bread dumplings

cappero

caper

cappon

a capon...or a fish

carciofo

artichoke

cascà

couscous

castagna

chestnut

cervellata

one name, many sausages

Cevrin di Coazze

cow's and goat's milk cheese

ciccioli

pork crackling or terrine, or lard bread

ciliegie

cherries

cinghiale

wild boar

cioccolata

chocolate

cipolla

onions

cisra

pork and chickpea soup

ciuìga

salame made of pork and turnips

culatello

choice 'little bum' ham

cuoppo

paper cone filled with fried delights

curnat

Valtellina flatbread

cuscus

couscous

fallone

savoury bun filled with greens, garlic and pepperoncino

fico

fig

filindeu

'God's threads'

fior di latte

cow’s milk mozzarella

focaccette

fried cheese-filled pastries or puffed flat breads

formaggio

cheese

Formaggio di Fossa

pit cheese

fragola

strawberry (and some other things)

fregnaccia

a tart or a pancake or pasta

Fungo di Borgotaro

Very special porcini

garagolo

'pelican foot'

gargati

fat little tubes

gelato

Italian ice cream

gnoccacci

ugly gnoccacci

gnocchi

dumplings

Gorgonzola

sweet or savoury blue-veined cheese

granita

Italian ices

grano

wheat or grain

Graukäse

'grey cheese' from Alto Adige

gubana

rich ring cake filled with walnuts and raisins

impanadas

little pies

jambon de Bosses

prosciutto from Aosta

lardo

fatback

lattarino

smelt

limone

lemon

lumache

snails

maccheroni

macaroni, and more

mandorle

almonds

marrone

chestnut

micooula

traditional Christmas bread

migliaccio

semolina or chestnut flour or pig's blood cake

mortadella

The Pink Queen of Bologna

mostardella

sausage from Genoa

mugnaia

meurnière sauce or rustic handmade pasta

nocciola

hazelnut

Nostralino

traditional wine of Liguria

oca

goose

ossi de Mas-cio

boiled pig bones

Panarda

an enormous communal feast

pane casareccio di Genzano

traditional home-style bread

panicelli

hand-shaped bread rolls

panissa

chickpea polenta, or bean stew

pansarole

sweet fritters

pansotti

Ligurian 'little belly' pasta

panzanella

Tuscan bread salad or flat bread

pastin

sausage from the Dolomite valleys

patata

potato

pattona

traditional chestnut cake

peperoncino

chili peppers

peposo

peppery beef stew invented in the Renaissance

pera

pear

pesce

fish

pesce spada

swordfish

pescegatto

catfish

pesto

more than one kind of sauce

pezzata

stewed lamb, or a breed of cattle

pezzente

fatty pork sausage

pistacchio

pistachio

pizza Rossini

pizza with eggs and mayonnaise

pizzoccheri

buckwheat noodles

Plaisentif

mountain violet cheese

polta

Pacentro’s favourite stew

porchetta

herby slow roast pork

porcini

boletus mushrooms

radicchio

red chicory

ramiccia

thin handmade tagliatelle from Lazio

rana

frog

riso

rice

s'a ciappa

meat cooked on slate

salam d'la duja

salame aged in lard

salame

salami

salsiccia

sausage

scattone

pasta water, wine and pepper soup

Sciacchetrà

wine made from raisins on the Cinque Terre

scottona

meat from a young cow

sedano

celery

sfincia

pastries for St Joe

sfogliata

millefeuille pie or tart

salsiccia di Ceriana

fine Ligurian sausage

sportella

very feminine sweet cake

spuntature

pork spare ribs

stoccafisso

stockfish, or wind-dried cod

stracci

very thin omelettes

Strachitunt

Bergamo's layered blue cheese

struzzo

ostrich

succu

Sardinian cheese and pasta pie

tallarinus

thin pasta, cheese, and saffron cooked in broth

testaroli

fried and then boiled pasta

tinca

tench

tiramisu

everyone's favourite 'pick me up'

Tombea

Alpine cow's milk cheese

torrone

nougat

Tortel Dols di Colorno

sweet sour pasta pillows

tortelli

filled pasta

tortellini

pasta with a twist

umido

stewed

uva

grape

ventricina del vastese

spicy Abruzzo salame

vincisgrassi

indecently luxurious lasagna

vino

wine

visciole

sour cherries/cherry wine

zampina

pork sausage

zucca

pumpkin, squash or gourd

zucchini

courgettes, zucchini