the figs
cheese and biscuits |
A local dish:
"Palombaccio alla leccarda"
The wood-pigeon is hunted in these places according to traditional methods, in a hide called "roculo" and with the aid of a bird-call called "volantino" or "zimmello".
In old days nets were used.
It is cooked "alla leccarda", that is roasted on the spit, on a slow fire, over a small earthenware pan containing a sauce made of wine, vinegar, olive oil, olive pulp, sage, garlic and other spices.
The fat and the blood fall from the meat on the spit, into the pan.
This mixture has to be smeared constantly on the wood-pigeon during all the cooking.
A tradition since 1830:
"The Girotti Figs"
The most known typical produce of the Amerino agribusiness is the "Fichi
Girotti". They are sweets particularly tasty and rich in sugar.
The figs are dried up, then cut and stuffed with a filling made of chocolate and candied fruit, chocolate and toasted almonds, or chocolate and walnuts. They undergo then an artisan press and are shaped in a sort of round tiles. All the working, at all stages, is handmade. Packing and graphic design unchanged for over a century.
Quality agriculture:
wine, olive oil, chestnuts and meat
Local agriculture is strongly rooted in the territory. Wine and olive oil are the top products, but chestnuts and meat are not to be forgotten.
The local wine has international repute. It counts two "DOC" wines: the "Orvieto" and the "Colli Amerini". To make the first one the grapes are provided by firms in the western part, for the second one the firms are those in the eastern part.
There is also a "Doc" for the olive oil and that concerns the Amerini hills. Good quality chestnut trees are those on the northern slope of the Amerini mountains, between Melezzole, Santa Restituta and Toscolano, where in October and November there's a blooming of festivals.
Finally, the "norcineria" the pork butchery, characterized by a working of meat derived from the old country tradition of a house-made product.
A world to be baked
Bread, pasta and sweets to bake. The transformation of wheat and farinaceous foods has a secular tradition. Bread and pasta today are both industrially and handicraft-ly produced. We mention the hand-made "manfricoli", the bread and the pizza cooked on log-fire. There are then the baked sweets, with seasonal delices as the "Panpepato" (at Christmas), the "Biscotto con il Mosto" (in autumn), the "Pizze di Pasqua" (there's also a cheese variation).
Handicraft
Amerino is a hard-working land, with products which have preserved the working and characteristics of many centuries ago. The pottery in Guardea is hand-painted, while at Avigliano Umbro the blacksmiths often still use the forge to make red hot the iron to be struck.
The marble working is an ancient tradition in Lugnano in Teverina and Guardea; Amelia has antique furniture restorers of high level.
At Toscolano, Melezzole and Santa Restituta they still weave the chestnut bark to make baskets; with the wood, instead, barrels and ladders are made.
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