The cuisine of Viterbo

The cuisine of the Tuscia region, because of its geographical position, may be considered a successful mixture of the flavours of the Roman, the smells of the Tuscan and the simplicity of the Umbrian cuisine.

The most traditional dish is certainly the Acquacotta. It is prepared with four main ingredients: stale country-bread; wild vegetables such as wild chicory (together with potatoes, tomatoes and onion); catmint with the characteristic fragrance of our region and finally extra-virgin raw olive oil poured before serving. If added some stockfish, the Acquacotta becomes the ideal single-dish, maybe even the masterpiece of the praised Mediterranean Cuisine. Another tasty and original single-dish is "Giubba e Calzoni", a lamb soup with artichokes, potatoes and other vegetables; while the lake fish soup called "Sbroscia", typical of the Lake Bolsena, is certainly not second to the better known sea fish soup prepared on the Tyrrhenian coast.

The first dishes are represented by home made pasta, prepared with water and wheat meal ("Lombrichelli", "Pasta straccia", "Gnocchi col ferro", "Gnocchi ‘ncotti or Strozzapreti") and pasta with eggs, such as the classic "Fettuccine" served with different sauces and "Pappardelle" with hare, wild boar or mushroom sauce and the "Fieno di Canepina": the "hay" of Canepina is renowned for its lightness, of which only the housewives of Canepina for unknown reasons are capable. The legume soups are as well very diffused: pasta and beans, pasta and chickpeas, rice and lentils, the classic "Minestrone Viterbese" and all the other soups like the "Scafata" with fresh broad beans, the chickpeas and chestnut soup served at Christmas Eve, the "Fagioli con le fette" (beans and fresh wild fennel).

Amidst the main dishes based on meat prevail rabbit or chicken, pan-fried ("alla cacciatora") or oven-roasted ("arrosto morto"). Very popular are also lamb, roasted or charcoal-grilled; pork , see the famous and tasty "Porchetta", and beef entrails (tail, pluck, tripe). But the most typical dish is undoubtedly the "Pignattaccia", stewed beef and pork meat and entrails with vegetables (potatoes, celery, onions, etc.) oven-cooked in a crock. Game has become a rarity by now, except for wild boar, which can easily be found in the restaurants of the Maremma.

For the main dishes based on fish, the most used fishes are those fished in the Lake of Vico and the Lake Bolsena, such as the tiny "lattarini", delicate perch filets, "coregone", pikes and the famous eels of Lake Bolsena, which caused the death of Pope Martin IV, who - in Dante’s "Purgatorio" - had been therefore condemned to fasting. All along the Tyrrhenian coast you may taste fine sea-fish in fish-soups, mixed fry or charcoal-grilled dishes.

Among the vegetables (Contorni), we remind those of Lake Bolsena, the artichokes of the coast region, broccolis and plenty of wild salads and greens, known in Viterbo as "erbarelle", which compose the tasty "Misticanza" salad; the wild chicory, pan-fried, called "Strascinata"; the "Strigoli" for fine omelettes; the borage to prepare croquettes; the boletus mushrooms ("Porcini") of the Cimini Hills and the pleurotus mushrooms ("Ferlenghi") of Monteromano and Tarquinia. The legumes, when used as vegetables in a main dish, are normalIy seasonned with extra-virgin olive oil or adding onion, celery or rosemary; when, instead, prepared in a frying pan, specially if together with pig-skin, sausages or other kind of meat, they represent a classic main dish used mainly at dinner time. The "Carrots of Viterbo" have today become a rarity: a particular violet carrot breed in bittersweet seasoning, sold in typical pottery and served with boiled meat.

Among the cheese varieties, the sheep’s cheese "Pecorino" is the most requested by the connoisseurs to be eaten with raw broad beans or with pears because of its strong and typical taste. When seasoned, it is used grated over spaghetti "cacio e pepe" or "Carbonara", potato "gnocchi" , "lombrichelli", "polenta" with pork chops, vegetable soups, tripe with tomato sauce and plenty of other local dishes.

The most typical sweets are those related to the various feasts: at Christmas, besides the "Pangiallo" and the "Pane del Vescovo"(Bishop’s bread), the "Maccheroni con le noci" (with walnuts) are still being prepared; at Easter the flavoury "Pizza di Pasqua"; at St. Joseph’s rice croquettes ("Frittelle di riso"); at Carnival "Ravioli con ricotta" (with sheep buttermilk curd), "Fregnacce" or "Frittelloni" , "Castagnole" with Sambuca-liquor and finally, in occasion of the local Saints’ feasts, the typical biscuits with anise, the "Ciambelle". At the end of a meal, often are served wine-biscuits, tart with buttermilk curd or with wild cherries and finally all the biscuits prepared with the Cimini hills’ hazelnuts, first of all the "Tozzetti", which are soaked in the D.O.C. dessert wine "Aleatico di Gradoli" and thus bring us to the end of this review of the Tuscia Cuisine.

In the end we want to recall our D.O.C. wines. The most renowned is undoubtedly the Est! Est!! Est!!! of Montefiascone, to be served with hors d’oeuvres or fish dishes; then there is the Orvieto Classico, partly produced in the province of Viterbo: a versatile table wine, the semi-dry variety is slightly lighter and delicately sweet, while the dry variety has a soft taste, but a light hint of bitter. The Aleatico of Gradoli, with its precious bouquet of musk-rose, in its liquorous variety of soft sweet taste is perfect to go along with dry desserts; the last in the list is the Vignanello table wine, which only recently has been accepted as a D.O.C. wine.