Tortelli di patate goodness
The north Casentino valley tortelli di patate aren’t made with just any potato: the key ingredient is the Chetica potato, a red-skinned round tuber of rosy-toned white flesh, cultivated at 500 m. or higher.
I first tasted these large square-shaped tortelli at the home of friends Louise and Jim in Poppi, castle-topped village in the Casentino valley. A drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of parmigiano was all I wanted on the tortelli cooked on the cast-iron grill, called here “la piastra” or “la lastra” – and purchased that morning at Daniele and Marietta’s pizzicheria (a small, local grocery, specializing in area specialties). And lucky for me that I arrived in Poppi on Tuesday: “tortelli day” at the Poppi pizzicheria.
Poppi enchantment
None there though on the following Thursday when I went back for this area’s famed liver paté – which I knew about – and the Easter anise-spiked cookies, ciambelle di Pasqua – which were new to me. “Ciambella” means “lifesaver” and the ring-shaped cookies are thrown into boiling water and lifted out when they come floating to the surface, then baked.
For me, a nearly lifelong fascination with Italy is summed up in one word: “variety”. Variety in the foods, the flavors, the customs, the dialects, the landscapes, the architecture. Home is less than two hours away in Assisi but this feels like another world.
Not just the tortelli, the patés, and the ciambelle characterize Poppi and surroundings but the Conti Guidi castles, too.
Gherardo, proud young falconer
The presence of the Casentino counts and their descendants is felt all over the area in the fortification architecture: the 12th-century Castello di Porciano towering above Stia, the Castello di Romena – with three jagged towers – dominating the village of Pratovecchio and the il Castello dei Conti Guidi di Poppi where the exiled Dante took refuge in the early 14th c.
In front of the huge bronze Dante bust at the castle entrance, you might see young falconer, Gherardo, training his falcons and eagles, just as falconers must have done centuries ago in front of this castle. Legend says Dante referred to the Poppi falconieri in a canto of La Divina Commedia.
Tortelli, ciambelle, castles, falcons..and Dante. Don’t miss Poppi
Read more about Poppi and falconer Gherardo here
Read about the nearby Mugello valley
Read about another favorite Mugello spot
Read more about the Mugello Valley and the loving Passerini family
Read about Talla, another Casentino gem
Love this article. I can taste the food you describe! I want some!