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MIPAAF

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali – MIPAAF) develops and coordinates the lines of agricultural, forestry, agri-food and fisheries at the national, European and international level. http://www.politicheagricole.it/

Tomatoes first arrived in the Po Valley in the 16th century, along with other tubers and spices, after a voyage in the holds of the galleons of Hernán Cortés, Conquistador of the Aztec empire. The tomato received a very cool reception from rulers, scientists and clerics, who labelled it as a harmful fruit. Its fortunes revived, however, in the 17th...

1197

Grana Padano first appeared around the year one thousand, in the countryside surrounding the Po. It was a time of hunger and famine, when nothing could be wasted. The monks therefore researched a method to transform milk into a non-perishable cheese. Their experiments in maturing created a hard cheese that could be stored for long periods and which...

938

The first evidence of olive growing in Abruzzo date from the period of Roman domination, when the protectionist measures adopted by Rome favoured an expansion of olive-growing and the olive oil industry.  Virgil speaks of olive trees in the Marsica, near Lake Fucino, while Ovid documents their production in the Peligna Valley. With the fall of the...

701

Various historical and bibliographic sources attribute the introduction of the onion in the Mediterranean basin, and especially Calabria, before the Phoenicians and after the Greeks. The plots of land adjacent to the coast of Calabria had the ideal soil and climate conditions for this unique ecotype, a lover of cool soil overlooking the sea. Citati...

752

Speck was created hundreds of years ago through the symbiosis of two methods for preserving meat: curing, which was widespread in the Mediterranean area, and smoking, typical of northern Europe. As such, Alto Adige, a land that merges the two cultures, gave rise to a speciality with an unmistakable production process and taste, made according to th...

850

Pecorino is an exquisite product with a long tradition. Ancient testimonies still exist that praise its qualities: in older times it was called “Marzolino” and in 1475 the humanist Bartolomeo Platina acclaimed it as the best cheese in Italy. In 1832, Ignazio Malenotti, a member of the Linnean Society of Paris, published the “Shepherd’s Handbook” in...

1135

Horace, the great Latin poet of the 1st century BC, while travelling to Brindisi, described the bread of Altamura as “the best by far” and so appetising that “wise travellers carry a load on their shoulders for later”: i.e. a bread for export. The discovery of Pane di Altamura by the Romans, accustomed to stodgy, indigestible barley bread, soon ele...

1685

The Riviera Ligure Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) Extra Virgin Olive Oil production area extends across the entire territory of Liguria. Olive cultivation rises from the coastal area up to accessible heights. After the fall of the Roman Empire, olive growing continued alongside the cultivation of other crops. Liguria provided an ideal climat...

1044

San Daniele is the name of a place that is home to a sensational product that shares all its features: it is Friuli’s crowning achievement. Connected to a very old production method that has remained unchanged over the centuries, Prosciutto from San Daniele is a highly prized product. San Daniele Prosciutto DOP is made by curing fresh legs of Itali...

1402

Quartirolo Lombardo has been part of the history of Lombardy since the 10th century. At that time, the Lombard herdsmen returning to the cattle sheds on the plain, after spending the summer in mountain pastures, used to graze their cows on the fresh grass that grew after the third cutting, known as “quartirola” grass. It is this last grass before w...

1411

The first tomato cultivated in the district of Pachino (50 km south of Syracuse, in the extreme southern tip of Sicily) date from about 1925 on farms with irrigation from groundwater wells. It was noted, even at that time, that tomatoes cultivated in this area had very different characteristics from other tomatoes. First of all, they went into prod...

2310

Citrus cultivation developed in the Ribera valleys at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but it was only in 1930 that it reached truly high standards of quality. This was when the cultivation of the Brasiliano and Washington navel varieties began, which gradually replaced the old acidic varieties with lots of seeds.  This specialization conti...

1434