Parco del Mincio

Busolan or Bussolano is a soft pie (but it can also be S-shaped) made with wheat flour, yeast, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, and other aromas: it weighs from 6 to 8 hectograms, has a crumbly golden crust and a buttery taste and fragrance.

Made with wheat and corn flour, eggs, almonds, sugar, lard or butter, Sbrisolona is a dry cake with a lumpy dough, which must not be cut, but broken with the hands. It is similar to the other rustic cakes made in Veneto and Trentino and is a well-known...

The curious Tagliatelle cake or turta tajadlina looks at the Emilia lower plain: among its ingredients, white flour, eggs, almonds, sugar, anisette. It consists of a soft sheet of pasta dough from which thin noodles are obtained.

Rich in waters, and therefore in fodder, feeding a flourishing zootechnical activity, Mincio valley gives a relevant contribution to the production of this famous cow's milk cheese whose designation of origin covers the whole Po basin, from the springs...

The area of Mantua, in particular Oltrepò area, boasts one of the most interesting and ancient traditions of quality pear cultivation. According to the regulations acknowledging its Protected Geographical Indication, Pera Mantovana is produced...

The olive tree grows on the slopes of the morainic hills with a favorable exposure since, from a climatic point of view, they are favorably influenced by Garda Lake. In this particular natural habitat, the plants do not suffer from extreme summer heat...

As far as it is possible to know, the territory of the Province of Mantua, and in particular the area of Viadana, began to be interested by the cultivation of the melon towards the late 15th century. In this area, the greatest part of the melon production...

One of the most ancient traditional kinds of bread from Mantua is baule mantovano, prepared by kneading common wheat, water, leaven, and salt. After leavening, bread rolls of about 2 hectograms are shaped: they are round, with central cuts forming a crest....

Ricciolina is similar to baule: dry, crunchy, flavored with oil and lard, it is a handmade product. Two small loafs of dough are rolled until they form a ribbon (similar to the shape of coppietta ferrarese).

Schiacciatina was the ancient bread of the farmers, who used to eat it when they were out working in the countryside. It is a square focaccia obtained from common wheat, water, salt, and lard. The mixture is left standing, and then it is cut in many quadrangular...

In the lands of Gonzaga, rice has been cultivated since the 16th century. However, only in the late 19th century the first varieties were codified: they are called Nostrale, Ostiglia, Novarese, Leoncino. In 1901, De Vecchi brothers from Vialone (Pavia)...

A third of muscle from the fore quarters, a third of throat, a third of pork rind: this is the ancient recipe of cotechino prepared in the Province of Mantua. Pork meat and rind of medium grain get salted and packed into natural bowels; cotechini are...

It is a fresh bacon fat hit with the knife, seasoned with parsley and garlic: the farmers from Mantua used to spread it on roasted slices of polenta or add it to soups.

Greppole are seasoned scraps of pork fat: the scraps (meat scraps, cartilaginous scraps, and subcutaneous fat) deriving from the pig - but also from goose - processing. They are steam-heated in copper basins with melted lard and they are pressed, seasoned...

In the Province of Mantua, the cold cuts tradition is very ancient: every family of farmers breeds its own pigs and prepares cold cuts. The best salami from Mantua has an intense strawberry red color, a compact and soft texture, a coarse grain with white...

It is a pork sausage (shoulder lean, soft fat from bacon, and ham trimming) which gets minced, salted, and seasoned with garlic and pepper, and packed into bowels prepared in strings.

According to a very ancient tradition, the salami with tongue is usually eaten on the forth Sunday of May, for the Ascension Day. It is made with the pig's tongue, which is longitudinally cut and inserted with a special tool into the already packed...

With a limited and recent production (1997), Colli Mantovani DOC - including the Municipalities of Castiglione delle Stiviere, Cavriana, Monzambano, Ponti sul Mincio, Solferino, and Volta Mantovana - is produced with the same vines allowed for the production...

It is a DOC wine produced with many, too many vines and, for this reason, it finds it hard to acquire a well-defined character. It is enough to say that white wines are made with Garganega, White Pinot, Gray Pinot, Chardonnay, Italic Tocai Riesling, Riesling,...