Fruit, vegetables and pulses
Acerra dente di morto bean
Acerra dente di morto bean: a near-invisible skin and a quick cook
Acquaviva red onion
Acquaviva red onion: a flat, sweet disc from the 'onion town'
Airola onion
Airola onion, a Slow Food Presidium: copper-skinned sweetness from the Caudina valley
Aitana olive of the Tifatini hills
Aitana olive of the Tifatini hills: flesh soft enough to slip off by hand
Alife onion
Alife onion, a Slow Food Presidium: copper-red, sweet and braided into 'nserte
Altamura lentil
Altamura lentil PGI: a sweeter pulse from the Murgia plateau
Altino sweet pepper
Altino sweet pepper, a little red horn that grows pointing skywards
Atessa dried reale fig
Atessa dried reale fig, walnut-filled and laid down with bay leaves
Bagno onion
Bagno onion, a big sugary bulb kept alive in the gardens around L'Aquila
Bagnoli Irpino black truffle
Bagnoli Irpino black truffle, the bold-scented black of the Picentini Mountains
Baked olives of Ferrandina
Baked olives of Ferrandina: majatica olives, dried until savoury and sweet
Baresana grape
Baresana grape: glassy, thin-skinned table grapes from the Bari area
Basilicata strawberry
Basilicata strawberry PGI: a long Ionian season, from November to June
Belladonna orange of San Giuseppe
Belladonna orange of San Giuseppe: the late orange once sent to the tsars
Belmonte tomato
Belmonte tomato: a pink oxheart brought home from America in the early 1900s
Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria (bergamot essential oil)
Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria PDO: cold-extracted bergamot essential oil
Black chickpea of the karst Murgia
Black chickpea of the karst Murgia: small, wrinkled, faintly herbal
Brindisi artichoke
Brindisi artichoke PGI, tender enough to eat raw
Caiazzo table olive
Caiazzo table olive: dark to the stone and finished in the oven
Capitignano parsnip
Capitignano parsnip, the Christmas Eve root of the upper Aterno valley
Carciofo di Paestum (artichoke)
Carciofo di Paestum PGI: the round, spineless artichoke of the Sele plain
Carpino broad bean
Carpino broad bean: small, dried, and threshed by horses on the farmyard floor
Castagna di Montella (chestnut)
Castagna di Montella PGI: Irpinia's dove-shaped Palummina, sweet and crisp
Castagna di Roccamonfina (chestnut)
Castagna di Roccamonfina PGI: Italy's earliest chestnut, from an extinct volcano
Castellammare violet artichoke
Castellammare violet artichoke: an early Stabia crop, pale and tender under terracotta
Castrovillari white onion
Castrovillari white onion: sweet enough to eat raw
Cavolfiore della Piana del Sele (cauliflower)
Cavolfiore della Piana del Sele PGI: firm, sweet curds the whole year round
Cedro di Santa Maria del Cedro (citron)
Cedro di Santa Maria del Cedro PDO: the citron of Calabria's Riviera dei Cedri
Cicerale chickpea
Cicerale chickpea, a Slow Food Presidium: small, golden, on the village crest
Cilento crushed salella olives
Cilento crushed salella olives, split by hand with a stone from the sea
Ciliegia di Bracigliano (cherry)
Ciliegia di Bracigliano PGI: crisp, heart-shaped cherries from the 'cherry country'
Cipolla ramata di Montoro (copper onion)
Cipolla ramata di Montoro: a copper onion built for long, slow cooking
Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria (red onion)
Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria PGI: three ecotypes from Tyrrhenian sands
Cipollotto Nocerino (spring onion)
Cipollotto Nocerino PDO: a white, tender spring onion from the Sarno valley
Clementine di Calabria (clementines)
Clementine di Calabria PGI: easy to peel, all but seedless
Controne bean
Controne bean: a small Alburni white that cooks in no time
Cortale beans
Cortale beans: five heirloom varieties from the Catanzaro hills
Fara Filiorum Petri white onion
Fara Filiorum Petri white onion, the flat sweet piattona of the Foro valley
Fiaschetto tomato of Torre Guaceto
Fiaschetto tomato of Torre Guaceto: a sauce tomato from a nature reserve
Fichi di Cosenza (dried figs)
Fichi di Cosenza PDO: Dottato figs that start drying on the tree
Fico Bianco del Cilento (dried white fig)
Fico Bianco del Cilento PDO: pale-skinned dried figs with dense, sweet flesh
Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto (fennel)
Finocchio di Isola Capo Rizzuto PGI: sweet, crisp fennel from the Ionian shore
Fucino plateau carrot
Carota dell'Altopiano del Fucino PGI, sweet and crisp from an old lakebed
Fucino potato
Fucino potato PGI, grown on the bed of a drained lake in the Abruzzo uplands
Galatina new potato
Galatina new potato PDO: an early crop from Salento's red earth
Gargano Femminello lemon
Gargano Femminello lemon PGI: fragrant peel from Puglia's northern coast
Gargano orange
Gargano orange PGI, from terraced groves on the promontory's north coast
Geracese olive
Geracese olive: a late-ripening Locride variety with a herbal bite
Gesualdo celery
Gesualdo celery: Irpinia's accio, bright green and sweet to the heart
Giallorosso tomato of Crispiano
Giallorosso tomato of Crispiano: golden keeping tomatoes from the masserie
Gulf of Taranto clementines
Gulf of Taranto clementines PGI: seedless, fragrant, picked by hand
Intosso olive of Casoli
Intosso olive of Casoli, brine-cured on a gravel plateau below the Majella
La Bella della Daunia
La Bella della Daunia PDO: big, fleshy table olives from the Cerignola plain
Lampascioni (tassel hyacinth bulbs)
Lampascioni: wild tassel hyacinth bulbs dug by hand in Puglia
Lentiscosa maracuoccio
Lentiscosa maracuoccio: a bitter-edged legume from the hills of Camerota
Limone Costa d'Amalfi (Amalfi Coast lemon)
Limone Costa d'Amalfi PGI: the Sfusato lemon of the sea-facing terraces
Limone di Rocca Imperiale (lemon)
Limone di Rocca Imperiale PGI: Femminello lemons picked year-round
Limone di Sorrento (Sorrento lemon)
Limone di Sorrento PGI: the Ovale lemon ripened in the shade of straw mats
Liquirizia di Calabria (Calabrian liquorice)
Liquirizia di Calabria PDO: Cordara liquorice, from root to black extract
Longobardi violet aubergine
Longobardi violet aubergine: a club-shaped purple fruit from the Cosenza coast
Manduria cherry tomato
Manduria cherry tomato: a dry-farmed village tomato from Taranto
Marrone di Roccadaspide (chestnut)
Marrone di Roccadaspide PGI: a large chestnut that peels with ease
Marrone di Serino / Castagna di Serino (chestnut)
Marrone di Serino PGI: chestnuts from the volcanic Picentini hills
Marzellina wheat
Marzellina wheat: a spring-sown durum from the Sannio and Irpinia uplands
Melannurca Campana (Annurca apple)
Melannurca Campana PGI: the apple that blushes red on the ground
Mischiglio
Mischiglio: a flour of grain and pulses from the Serrapotamo valley
Molise white truffle
Molise white truffle: Tuber magnatum from the autumn woods
Montonico grape
Montonico grape, hung from the rafters to dry for the Christmas table
Navelli chickpea
Navelli chickpea, a small upland legume from the saffron plain
Neapolitan papaccella pepper
Neapolitan papaccella pepper: small, deeply ribbed and sweet
Nicastro pink garlic
Nicastro pink garlic: a bold scent with a gentle bite
Nocciola di Giffoni (hazelnut)
Nocciola di Giffoni PGI: the Picentini hazelnut that skins in a moment
Old Ufita garlic
Old Ufita garlic: a red-purple, fiery heirloom from Irpinia
Paganica beans
Paganica beans: climbing heirlooms from the Vera basin below the Gran Sasso
Pappaluni beans
Pappaluni beans: climbing Aspromonte runners with seeds no two alike
Patata della Sila (Sila potato)
Patata della Sila PGI: slow-grown on Calabria's cold, dry upland
Paternopoli April broccoli
Paternopoli April broccoli: spring shoots from Irpinian gardens
Peperoncino di Calabria (chilli pepper)
Peperoncino di Calabria PGI: Calabrian chilli, fresh, dried or strung
Pertosa white artichoke
Pertosa white artichoke: silvery, spineless and tender to the heart
Pietrelcina artichoke
Pietrelcina artichoke, a Slow Food Presidium: rain-fed, tender, bunched with river rushes
Polignano carrot
Polignano carrot, pale yellow to deep purple, sweet with a salty edge
Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio (Vesuvius cherry tomato)
Pomodorino del Piennolo del Vesuvio PDO, hand-braided and hung to last the winter
Pomodoro San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino (San Marzano tomato)
Pomodoro San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino PDO, a peeled tomato made for sauce
Poverello white bean
Poverello white bean: big, glossy seeds from the Pollino's watered plots
Prickly pear
Prickly pear: fragrant late-summer flesh inside a coat of spines
Puglia table grapes
Puglia table grapes PGI: five varieties, July to December
Pulsano beans
Pulsano beans: carmine red, and the white 'lady's bean' with a lipstick mark
Red onion of the Margherita di Savoia salt pans
Red onion of the Margherita di Savoia salt pans, grown between salt and sea
Regina tomato of Torre Canne
Regina tomato of Torre Canne: hung on the string, kept until April
Rosso scritto bean of the Pantano di Pignola
Rosso scritto bean of the Pantano di Pignola: dark red script on a beige seed
Rotonda red aubergine
Rotonda red aubergine PDO: tomato-shaped, with a spicy, bitter-edged bite
Rotonda white beans
Rotonda white beans PDO: thin-skinned, quick-cooking beans from the Pollino
Rucola della Piana del Sele (wild rocket)
Rucola della Piana del Sele PGI: narrow, crisp leaves with a peppery bite
Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil
Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil, a tiny dark seed from high on the Gran Sasso
Sarconi bean
Sarconi bean PGI: a whole family of landraces from the upper Agri valley
Senise peppers
Senise peppers PGI: sweet, thin-fleshed and made for drying on a string
Signora pear of the Sinni valley
Signora pear of the Sinni valley: a small, fragrant fruit of shepherds' grafts
Smooth chickpeas of Cassano delle Murge
Smooth chickpeas of Cassano delle Murge, brick red to almost black
Solina wheat of the Abruzzo Apennines
Solina wheat, the old Abruzzo grain that winters under Gran Sasso snow
Somma cherry of the Lattari mountains
Somma cherry of the Lattari mountains: red with a white tip, a Slow Food Presidium
Sorrento peninsula walnut
Sorrento peninsula walnut: a pale kernel that comes out whole
Sulmona red garlic
Sulmona red garlic, wine-coloured cloves from the Peligna valley
Sècena rye of the Matese
Sècena rye of the Matese, a mountain grain for dark, long-keeping bread
Tavo round bean
Tavo round bean, a pearl-white, pea-sized heirloom from the Pescara hills
Teano chickpea
Teano chickpea: the wrinkled 'piccolo riccio' of northern Caserta, a Slow Food Presidium
Terra dei Messapi artichoke
Terra dei Messapi artichoke: the spineless 'ugly' one, made for stuffing
Terranova friars' plum
Terranova friars' plum: a monastic heirloom from the Gioia Tauro plain
Tondina almond of Alto Salento
Tondina almond of Alto Salento: a small, round nut with a sweet kernel
Toritto almond
Toritto almond: buttery native cultivars from the edge of the Murgia
Torzella riccia (curly Greek cabbage)
Torzella riccia, the ancient curly Greek cabbage of the Acerra-Nola plain
Traditional citrus of Palagiano
Traditional citrus of Palagiano: mandarins, clementines and old varieties
Traditional Salento peas
Traditional Salento peas: three village varieties under one Presidium
Trebisacce late blond orange
Trebisacce late blond orange: ripened on the tree into early summer
Turchesa potato
Turchesa potato: purple skin, snow-white flesh, grown high in the Gran Sasso
Turnip tops (cima di rapa)
Turnip tops (cima di rapa): tight green buds for Puglia's orecchiette
Vairano giant lupin
Vairano giant lupin: big seeds from the volcanic soils near Caserta
Vatolla onion
Vatolla onion: a sweet, spinning-top bulb from the slopes of Monte Stella
Verneteca Sannio cherry tomato
Verneteca Sannio cherry tomato: golden skin, pink flesh, eaten raw in midwinter
Vesuvius apricots (crisommole)
Vesuvius apricots (crisommole): twenty-three varieties born on the volcano
Vesuvius centogiorni pea
Vesuvius centogiorni pea, sweet and tender-skinned, grown by hand on volcanic soil
Violetta di Ostuni aubergine
Violetta di Ostuni aubergine: pale violet, sweet and never bitter
Volturara Irpina quarantino bean
Volturara Irpina quarantino bean, hand-grown on the Terminio plateau
Zafferano dell'Aquila saffron
Zafferano dell'Aquila PDO, scarlet threads from the Navelli plateau
Zagarise siccagno cherry tomato
Zagarise siccagno cherry tomato: dry-farmed in the hills of the Presila