MEAT, MUSHROOMS AND TRUFFLES

	WINES
	FRESH AND MATURE CHEESES
	EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
	TRADITIONAL DESSERTS
	FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
	PIADINA

The delicious, celebrated meat found in Romagna comes from the Razza Bovina Romagnola (Romagnol Cattle Breed) for beef; and from the Mora Romagnola (Dark Romagnol) for pork, named after the pigs’ characteristic dark skin. Sheep (who give us the legendary mutton) graze in flocks on the hills of the upper Rubicon in particular. All these meats are extraordinary, perfect for creating tasty sauces and dishes served in the restaurants, trattorias and ‘osterie’ in the area. What’s more, the meat is well-known for the varieties of other packed products we can get (celebrated at the festival of Mercato Saraceno at the beginning of May): so the legacy of the pig, that extraordinary animal (pòrc, baghen, baghin, depending on where you live), is still very much alive in the countryside of Romagna.

In fact, between December and January, the pig “epic” is relived: its killing in countryfolk’s lives has always represented “the breaking of the piggy bank”: you don’t throw anything away from this animal, and this is how we get sausages, cured meat, ham, coppa (cured neck), livers, bacon, pork scratchings (Grasul: festival at Taibò di Mercato S.) as well as lard, from the expertly butchered meat. All these products are made and sold directly by the farms and converted farmhouses.
Mushrooms and truffles are amongst some of the produce found in the woodland areas, even in the lower Apennines. In the Forlì and Cesena territory, one kind of truffle is particularly famous: the valuable White Truffle (Tuber magnatum pico). Two areas which are particularly renowned for truffles are the Montone Valley and the Bidente Valley. At Dovadola the historical White Truffle Festival is held at the end of October; at Cusercoli the Bidente Truffle Festival is at the end of November.

The most sought after mushrooms in Romagna are porcini, but the prugnolo (whose festival takes places at Cusercoli) and galletti, prataioli, chiodini, finferli and mazze da tamburi are also popular.
Nowadays, the most prolific and well-organised production of honey can be found in the upper Apennines. But you can still find traces of the tradition which, at one time, was wipespread throughout the whole countryside: farms and converted farmhouses, even in the hills, produce and sell their own honey products.