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FOLIGNO, Where First Courses Take First Prizes
"Tradizione
e Innovazione" ("Tradition and Innovation") was the
theme for the tenth anniversary celebration of one of Italy's
most renowned food festivals, the 4-day I Primi
d'Italia, which animates Foligno at the end of September. I Primi d'Italia
("First Courses of Italy") is Umbria's
celebration of the most-beloved Italian first courses: pasta
(and this year, gluten-free varieties, too!), risotto, gnocchi,
polenta and soups. Though the primi are the core
of the festivities - both the tastings of them and cooking
lessons with world-renowned chefs who transform the first
courses with innovative creative touches - wine-tastings, classical
and jazz music, theater, films, art exhibits, cooking competitions,
cookbook displays, and even fashion shows embellish
the festival and draw the crowds.
The piazzas, medieval cellars, church cloisters, and palace
courtyards of Foligno backdrop the many festival events.
The fifteenth-century cloister of San Giacomo is encircled with
stands showing and selling a vast array of herbs and spices, from
the most traditional ones used in Italian cooking to
rare ones which creative chefs marry to their first courses. The
cloister also hosts the exhibit Gusto in Libreria ("Flavor
in the Bookshop"), where the array of cookbooks astounds. In a marvelous juxtaposition of centuries, the Renaissance arches of the cloister backdrop the display of contemporary designer kitchen utensils and accessories.
From
here, the more esoteric can wander over to the magnificent cloister
of the 15th century Palazzo Trinci to see the astounding display
of ceramic creations on the "pasta theme" and
the sculptural pasta creations by contemporary artists
from all over the country. Lovely young ladies in gowns created
of countless pasta forms wander the exhibit, embodying a
most unique marriage of fashion and food (and where else but in
Italy!?)
Music, too, animates the festival: this year, Rossini and
Ennio Morricone, voices from the past and present, accompanied
the tastings of Umbria's top red wine, the prize-winning Sagrantino. The
Sagrantino is not only the perfect accompaniment to
many primi dishes but is often also the star ingredient.
On Saturday night, the jazz music of famed young Sicilian
sax player, Francesco Cafiso, accompanied the tastings of typical
foods of the nearby Marches Region, uniting palate and ear
in ecstasy!
This year, the children's section, Primi d'Italia Junior,
enthused over 1000 children with cooking classes, games and musical
entertainment on the primi theme.
While the children learned to cook nutritious primi dishes,
their parents could attend seminars on childhood eating disorders
and nutrition in cooking for children.
The final days of I Primi - always a Saturday and Sunday at the end of September - bring an explosion of people to Foligno so this year I headed there on Friday with other Americans living now in Umbria: Sam and his wife Michelle with daughter Maggie from Louisiana, taking a "year off " to live the Italian experience, and Laura who left Texas to open a ceramic shop in Assisi. We took the train, a short ride from Assisi and a handy solution to parking challenges.
My new americani friends enjoyed their
first walk through Foligno, window-shopping as we walked.
Allied bombings devastated Foligno in World War II, leaving
intact only vestiges of its medieval architecture. The
main piazza, graced with the 14th century cathedral, survived
the bombings and offers a lovely backdrop to the I Primi d'Italia festivities. We
stopped here at the I Primi "INFO Point" to
pick up programs and then mapped out our "culinary meanders",
deciding to head to 2 or 3 ambiences hosting different pasta dishes,
followed by risotto-tastings. Not easy to make choices:
polenta and gnocchi dishes enticed, too, as did the
soups and I was curious to visit the taverna offering
all gluten-free delicacies.
Before we headed out to taste the primi, we wandered
the huge food tent in Piazza Matteoti where regional specialties
from all over the peninsula entice visitors to tastings at 50 stands.
Greeting us as we entered the immense white tent was Michele
surrounded by huge loaves of the famous Altamura bread from Puglia,"heel" of
the boot, with a smile as wide as the loaves quite nearly.
The Altamura bread, baked in wood-fired stone ovens and remaining
fresh for days, is made of durham wheat which gives the dough a
light yellow color. The huge loaves were surrounded by packages
of the crispy Pugliese taralli, doughnut-shaped savory
crackers. Across the aisle, strings of hot red peppers and
garlic braids dangled over sundried tomatoes, jars of patés
and salami from Calabria, the "toe" of the boot. Packages
of the famed Calabrian ciasculo, a fresh spreadable salami,
took center stage at this booth.
Calabria is near Sicily so appropriately, the next stand was piled
high with Sicilian sheep's milk cheeses as well as the caiciocavallo. a
Sicilian cow's milk cheese. Cacio con pepe (Sicilian
cow's milk cheese studded with black peppercorns- and one of my
favorites) caught Laura's eye and she bought a chunk. Michelle
took home a jar of the fragrant oregano of the Sicilian mountains.
Across the aisle was another Sicilian vendor, stuffing his large
crispy cannoli ("little canes" ) with sheep's
milk ricotta (the only "true" cannoli!) mixed
with candied fruits. The five of us shared one of them.
Fourteen-year-old Maggie's favorite stand was the one next
to the Sicilian delicacies: here she bought a brown paper
cone filled with a Marches region specialty, hot olive
ascolane. The huge green olives are pitted, stuffed with
a mixture of ground veal, Parmesan and bread crumbs and then
rolled in bread crumbs before frying. Maggie wandered the
stands happily munching her hot stuffed olives. A
nearby stand festooned with strings of hot red peppers offered
huge vats of varieties of Puglia olives and the vendor proudly offered
us tastes. I tried ones I had never tried before but my favorite
remains a black schiaccata con peperoncino ("crushed
and with hot red pepper"). We passed Umbrian olive oil
producers, offering tastings of fresh bread dipped in olive oil. Salamis,
capocolla, prosciutto, and dried sausages hung in procession above
hot Umbrian cheese breads and crispy porchetta (roast-suckling
pig), star elements of Umbrian rural cuisine. Nearby,
a mounted wild boar head crowned with laurel leaves and draped
with strings of dried wild boar sausages received a tickle under
the chin from Sam.
And
then, from the savory to the sweet, as we came upon Eleonora's
little chocolate confections booth hidden away in a back corner
of the huge food tent. Young Eleonora is an artisan. She
opened her chocolate shop in Brescia in northern Italy (not far
from Milan) just the week before the opening of I
Primi Piatti in Foligno. Daughter of a gelataio
(ice-cream maker), Eleonora veered off from her father's ice
cream passione, developing a love for chocolate confections. Her
chocolates embody her creativity: chocolate with rosemary or sage
and slivers of edible gold on top (!), chocolate confections laced
with lavender and chocolates with raspberry and champagne, spiced
with nutmeg or with hot red pepper. A young Cuban
friend, Jo, helped her serve us and was as enthusiastic as Eleonora
in telling us about ther creations. No better topping on
our "tasting explorations": at Eleanor's
chocolate stand, we certainly did find THE treasure at the
end of our culinary hunts.
From the "tastings tent", we set out in search of our first primi piatti tastings, passing world-class chefs teaching cooking classes in the piazza. Future chefs, the young students of the nearby Spoleto scuola alberghiera (catering school) in bowties and sport coats, dished up steamy plates of two pasta tastes in a medieval cellar: our first pasta-tastings stop. Sam and Michelle tried the pasta with pistachio pesto and Laura tried an Abruzzo spaghetti, chitarrine, topped with meat sauce seasoned with a bitter chocolate. Maggie's olives had filled her up and the tastings had satiated me, so we simply enjoyed the scene and the enthusiasm of the Italians all around us.
Next pasta stop for our group was in yet another medieval cellar graced with beautifully-restored 14th-century vaults where Laura ordered the pasta with a sauce of tomatoes, tuna, capers and olives. Sam tried spaghetti aglio, oil, peperoncino, a classic of Italian poor man's cooking: spaghetti seasoned with only olive oil, garlic and hot red pepper. When cooked right and with the best ingredients, this simple dish is a winner. Sam hit a winner.
We wrapped up our culinary explorations in the risotto tent. The
risotto with cabbage and pancetta (Italian salt-cured
bacon), cooked perfectly al dente ("to the tooth"),
was delicious and the flavors were enhanced by the wines served
as an accompaniment (wines are selected carefully to accompany
each of the many primi piatti served during the 4-day
festival). The tables in the risotto tasting
area were full and some people also enjoyed the risotto flan
with crispy crust and desserts featuring risotto .
Tables on the sides of the risotto tent displayed different varieties
of rice and a rice-grower from Vercelli, Italy's rice-growing area,
was there to answer questions.
By the time we left the I Primi d'Italia festival,
lines were longer and the atmosphere more boisterous and jubilant. It
was only Friday night and the Saturday and Sunday events were still
to come, with tastings of the first courses also continuing, logicamente, on
both days.. As the founder of the festival, Roberto Prosperi
remarked with satisfaction at the closing of the festival this
year, "a small city in a small region....for four days, Foligno
has become the Italian capital of taste, flavors and gastronomical
culture, attracting an army of gourmets who have peacefully invaded
the city".
We were glad to be part of that invasion!
For other articles on Umbria, please see My Italy Travel Explorations.
Comments
"My favorite parts of the festival were the
gourmet chocolates, the fried stuffed olives and olive stand...and
the breads!"
Maggie Moss, Lafayette, LA
"The Primi festival
in September is a must if you are
in Italy. The chance to sample pasta, gnocchi, risottos and
much more from Italy's top kitchens is a true culinary treat."
Michelle Moss, LA
"Annie, I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed the Primi Piatti fest
in Foligno. It was just magical!! The food, the
stations (over 25 of them!!), the sampling and the entertainment...all
of it was just over the top. Thanks for inviting us to tag along. We
had an absolute ball!!"
Sam Moss, LA.
"I thoroughly enjoyed Primi Piatti. My favorite part was
the tent offering samples the delicacies from all regions of Italy. I
loved the savory peppercorn cheese from Sicily and the exquisite rosemary
chocolates from Brescia. The event was a sensory delight!"
Laura Balla, Austin, TX/Assisi, Italy