FOOD, WINE AND TRADITIONS

Local dishes have the scent of berries, mushrooms, truffles, chestnuts and walnuts, and the aroma of wild herbs, thyme, oregano, mint. Pasta is mostly home-made using locally-produced flours and is best enjoyed with legumes, vegetables, cheese and meat, which come from local sources too, as the well-being of animals is very important to local people. Sheep, goats, Podolica cattle and pigs find their ideal habitat in this area. That’s why here you will enjoy milk, meat, cheese and sausages of unparalleled quality, that are obtained with processing and preservation processes of ancient wisdom. The wide range of sweet, salty and sweet & sour dishes is the result of all the cultural contaminations and influences coming from the southern Mediterranean area (Greeks, Arabs, Albanians), as well as from Northern Italy and Europe (the Norman-Swabian era, the long Spanish domination and the Risorgimento, when people from France and Piedmont arrived). This stratification of tastes and traditions has generated exceptional results, such as the Calabrian desserts. They come in endless varieties, mostly made with honey together with dry nuts (almonds, pine nuts, chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts) and combined with dried figs and raisins. Excellent rosolio liqueur and white and red wines are often poured on the desserts. The parks offer endless quality products, many of which bear the IGP or DOP mark (which ensure that products are locally grown and packaged), and the Slow Food label.

Tastes and scents of the mountain

The Pollino Park offers a wide choice of culinary delights for you to taste: the delicious filled biscuits known as bocconotti and the famous lentils from Mormanno; the felciata, a traditional goat cheese that is produced only in summer in the village of Morano and is called "bread of the angels"; the paddaccio, a cheese made from the milk of wild sheep and goats; the pecorino and goat cheese made from raw milk; the fragrant bread from Cerchiara di Calabria; the soppressata from Pollino and the sweet Moscato di Saracena wine, which bears the slow food label.

FOOD, WINE AND TRADITIONS

Sila national park

The taste of tradition

The Sila is famous for its tasty potatoes, which are grown and produced locally, and for the caciocavallo Silano cheese. Together with the cured meats known as capocollo, salsiccia, pancetta and soppressata, they all bear the DOP quality mark. The Podolica, a breed of domestic cattle from Calabria that has been awarded the Slow Food label, is raised on the Sila plateau. The town of Rossano Calabro is renowned throughout the world for the production of liquorice and all the delicious products derived from it.

serre regional natural park

Authentic culinary delights from Serre

The area of Serre is famous for its delicacies: the DOC wines of Bivongi, the aubergines of Stilo, the soppressata of Simbario, the mushrooms and chilli of Serra San Bruno, the chestnuts of Fabrizia, Mongiana and Nardodipace, and the dried figs of Acquaro. Among the delicious bakery products that you should definitely taste there are the traditional cookies known as Nzudhi, the Pitta china, a traditional Calabrian stuffed pitta made in Serra San Bruno, the corn flour bread made in Fabrizia known as Pizzata, and the torrone, nougat from the Alto Mesima area.

FOOD, WINE AND TRADITIONS

Aspromonte national park

Rural cuisine

The Park of Aspromonte offers many typical products of the peasant tradition, such as cured meats (capocollo, soppressata and salumi with chilli pepper and fennel). The area is also famous for the large and white beans grown locally at medium-high altitudes and known as pappaluni. You should also taste the delicious potatoes from Aspromonte, which grow well in the local climate. Last but not least, the caciocavallo from Ciminà is a very well-known delicacy, just like the ricotta cheese and the stockfish, which has been defined as the "fish that arrives where there’s no sea” and has always been a staple in the inland areas of Calabria.

Mediterranean diet and longevity

Taste and well-being

The name “Mediterranean Diet” was coined by American scientists Ancel and Margaret Keys in the mid-1970s to define a traditional lifestyle that they had discovered in the 1950s and had been studying ever since. In 2010, the Mediterranean Diet was included in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, which defined it as "the traditional practices, knowledge and skills that have been passed on from generation to generation in many Mediterranean countries, providing communities a sense of belonging and continuity ". What just a few people know, however, is that studies carried out by the Keys found that a small town in Calabria, Nicotera, had the lowest rate of cardiovascular diseases, thanks to a correct balance between diet and lifestyle. A record that has been confirmed by scientist Walter Longo, who conducted a study on longevity among the centenarians of Molochio, his home-town in the Aspromonte area. When travelling to Calabria, you will definitely come into contact with this extraordinary heritage of food and traditions, which still fully express the profound meaning of a certain ‘Southern lifestyle’ and include "a series of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and customs concerning crops, harvests, fishing, animal farming, food preservation, cooking and, above all, eating together”. According to the UNESCO, eating together is the basis of the cultural identity and continuity of the communities within the Mediterranean basin, where the values of hospitality, neighbourhood life, intercultural dialogue and creativity are combined with respect for the environment and biodiversity ".

per saperne di più

FOOD, WINE AND TRADITIONS

Tastes and scents of the mountain

The taste of tradition

Authentic culinary delights from Serre

Rural cuisine

Taste and well-being

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