It's officially autunno (Fall)!
Every season is a good time to visit the Italy, but Fall may be the best. Il Bel Paese has a romantic atmosphere as the leaves change color and main squares are less crowded than in spring or summer.
Then there is the food! Italy is delicious 365 days a year, but in Fall, the olives are being pressed into the green gold that is new season olive oil, the grapes are brimming wine country and the forests are littered with porcini mushrooms and maybe a truffle or two!
For the Fall food traveler, Italy is the ultimate escape. Enjoy our round-up of the best Fall foods in Italy with tips on how to buy and use them, as well as great sagras (food festivals) to check out if you’re in or around Bologna and Florence in the coming months!
A note about sagras. Italians like to leave everything to the last minute, so if you’re keen to attend any of these food festivals or to find out what’s happening near you, head to your local ufficio turistico (tourist office) for up-to-date information about events in the area.
If you know where the event is being held, you can also check out the event’s/town’s Facebook page for information and flyers. They will usually post something a week or two before the event begins. It’ll be in Italian, but you can get the gist. If all else fails, ask at your agriturismo or hotel. They will know what’s happening locally and if not, will happily Google it for you!
Olive Oil
In late September, early October, the olive groves of Tuscany are packed with olives just waiting to be picked and pressed. In the smallest towns, these olive oil presses or frantoi are little family-run operations that were once powered by nothing more than a gigantic stone wheel and a cow. These days, it’s a modern computerized process, but the annual harvest is still an excuse for the family to get together to pick the olives, take them to the press and enjoy one of the best products known to man, new season olive oil!
How to buy: Extra-virgin is the highest designation of quality given to olive oil, meaning it’s unrefined, free of chemicals and other defects, and never treated with heat. Within the extra-virgin category, there are still plenty of differentiating factors, but our number one tip is to always read the fine print. Even if a bottle of olive oil states “Made in Italy” or “Product of Italy”, it can still be produced with olives from elsewhere. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But if you’re paying for Italian olive oil, you want it to be made with Italian olives, naturally. So always look at the label very carefully to make sure your olive oil is really, truly made in Italy from Italian olives. The best olive oil usually comes from one source, ideally one farm or region.
If you’re keen to learn more about Italian olive oil and taste some of the country’s best made locally by small family-owned producers, join us on our Florence Food Lover’s tour.
How to serve and store new olive oil: Extra-virgin olive oil has a very short shelf life. The new oil will be a bright green color with an intense peppery punch for no longer than 2 months after bottling.
With an extra virgin olive oil this young, it’s best to serve it raw. Drizzle over salads with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Serve it with freshly sliced tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella for the ultimate Caprese salad. Try it on grilled steaks with freshly cracked black pepper.
One of our favorite ways to enjoy new oil is to drizzle over toasted bread and season with freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt. If you love garlic, rub the slices with a little before drizzling!
As the olive oil ages, it’s reserved for salads and cooking, roast veg and dishes where you’re not looking for a strong and spicy olive flavor. Your olive oil is going to continue to lose flavor over time, so you should try to use it all up within 6 months.
Store your olive oil in an opaque bottle away from sources of heat and light.
Best Fall olive oil festivals:
In Bologna: Olive oil festival, Brisighella, 24 November
In Florence: Festa dell'olio novo di podere, Trequanda, 21 October
Chestnuts
We usually associate chestnuts with Christmas, but chestnut season in Italy starts in mid-September and runs until November. If you visit Florence or Bologna during this time, you’ll see the traditional street vendors roasting these delicious nuts over an open fire in a special pot called an arrosticastagne. These street food delicacies are often called caldarroste, which literally means ‘hot roasts’. A favorite local tradition, the black and blistered chestnuts are eaten straight from the paper cones while you stroll the streets of the city.
How to buy: When shopping for chestnuts, look for firm nuts with smooth, glossy brown shells, free from blemishes and holes.
How to cook: The most common ways of cooking chestnuts is either boiling or baking. Regardless of which one you prefer, you must score your chestnuts before cooking or they will explode. A quick cross scored into the shell at the base of each chestnut is enough. To bake, preheat the oven to 400°F and bake for 20 minutes. In Tuscany, it’s more common to boil your chestnuts for 15-20 minutes. Southern Tuscan chefs love adding a few fennel seeds and a cup of two of red wine for flavor.
Once your chestnuts are cooked, wrap in a clean tea towel for 5 to 10 minutes and always peel your chestnuts when warm (it’s impossible to peel a cold chestnut). Try to get all the furry skin, called the tan, off as it can be bitter.
Best Fall chestnut festivals:
In Emilia Romagna: 36° Sagra della castagna, Zocca, 27 October
In Tuscany: Festa della castagna, tartufo bianco e vino novo, Palaia, 26-27 October
Porcini mushrooms
Porcini mushrooms are found under conifer trees and their name means “little pig” in Italian. The ancient Romans called them hog mushrooms because the pigs loved to eat them – nothing has changed on that front! Porcini mushrooms do not come cheap. They have a short growing season – from September until the first frost – and require the right amount of rainfall to grow at all.
How to buy: Fresh porcini mushrooms are extremely difficult to find. Their season is very short (September to November) and dependent on weather conditions. No rains means no mushrooms. You can pick them at markets if you’re lucky or from roadside vendors. Beware, often the latter does not source their mushrooms from Italy, but other European countries like Romania where the mushrooms are more plentiful. When buying fresh porcini mushrooms, look for firm ones with unblemished white stalks and brown caps, not nicked or broken.
Dried porcini mushrooms are available all year round and can easily be picked up in most Italian supermarkets.
How to cook:
A porcini is a rich, heady, meaty mushroom that is amazingly versatile, delicate enough to give grace to an elegant stew or sauce, and yet vigorous enough to stand up to something as flavorful as a thick grilled steak.
In Tuscany, cooks season porcini mushrooms with nepitella, a sort of small-leaved mint with hints of oregano. If you can’t find it, try thyme instead. Since they are such a prized ingredient, fresh porcini are usually very simply sliced and pan-roasted with olive oil and a little garlic. Never wash your fresh mushrooms. Always wipe off any dirt with a damp cloth.
Dried porcini mushrooms have the rich, heady aroma of fresh truffles, but their flavor is more concentrated, more intense and saltier. To prepare them, steep in just enough warm water to cover for 20 minutes or until they've softened and expanded. Drain, reserve the liquid, and mince them. The liquid or stock can be strained and used in the recipe for an even more mushroomy aroma.
Porcini mushrooms are traditionally used in risotto, but sauté the mushrooms in butter and add atop thick grilled steak or chicken.
If you’re keen to learn more about porcini mushrooms and taste some locally sourced dried funghi without having to make the trip to Italy, check out our Fall Food Club, where we send a selection of artisan Italian seasonal ingredients straight to your door.
Best Fall mushroom festivals:
In Emilia Romagna: Italian Porcini Mushroom Fair, Albareto, 4-6 October
In Tuscany: Sagra Del Fungo E Della Castagna, Castiglione D'orcia, 14-21 October
truffle festival in San Miniato- Tuscany’s truffle town
Truffles
Unlike porcini, you won’t stumble across truffles on a stroll through the forest. They are not visible to the naked eye and only grow in very specific microclimates in a symbiotic, mycorrhizal relationships with primarily beech, poplar, oak birch, hornbeam, hazel and pine.
There are many different species, but in Fall, a lesser sung prized truffle is the Tartufo Nero Pregiato from Umbria (November to March). They are round, dark brown funghi with a white flesh that turns gray-brown or reddish black with age. They exude a scent of strawberries and cocoa, and their delicate peppery taste fully develops after cooking.
The other (less common, more expensive) Fall truffle is the Tartufo Bianco (white truffle) found September-November. They are almost always irregular in shape with a milky white to deep pink flesh and a musky and earthy taste with notes of garlic, honey, butter and forest floor.
How to buy: Fresh truffles can sometimes be bought from speciality shops or markets. When shopping, use your nose. You’ll smell their trademark aroma before you taste them—it’s pungent and earthy, funky and musky.
Truffles are a natural glutamate, meaning they’re packed with umami goodness. To say they taste “mushroomy” is an understatement. It’s like a complex uber-mushroom layered with blue cheese, garlic and an addictive “savouriness”.
It’s much easier to buy preserved truffles in brine, which are available all year round in most supermarkets.
How to cook: Fresh truffles are delicious shaved over homemade pasta with a simple butter sauce or a parmesan and leek risotto. It’s also traditional to serve truffles shaved over fried eggs or omelettes.
Preserved truffles can be stored at room temperature, and have a shelf life between one to two years. After opening, return any unused truffles to the jar and store tightly sealed in the refrigerator and use within one to two weeks.
Gently pat dry any brine still on the truffle then thinly slice with a truffle slicer. Add to a dish just before serving. To accentuate the flavor, season with truffle oil. Don’t throw the brine away! It’s seeped with the scent of truffles and can be used to flavor risottos or soups.
Best Fall truffle festivals:
In Emilia Romagna: Truffle festival, Brisighella, 17 November
In Tuscany: International Market and Fair of the White Truffle, Corazzano, 5-6 October
San Miniato Truffle festival: Various dates/locations: https://www.san-miniato.com/
New wine
New wine or vino novello is a collective name for the autumn wines available in Italy from mid-November. In fact, it’s tradition to open a bottle of vino novello to celebrate San Martino on the 11 November, the day when the farmers typically close their work cycle for the year.
Vino novello isn’t made like your average bottle of wine, but has a special method whereby uncrushed grapes are placed in sealed vats, which are subsequently filled with carbon dioxide. This forces the fermentation process and makes the grapes gassy and fizzy. The finished wine is rich in color and with a fresh flavor and intense fruity perfume. It was invented by the French in the 1930s and the method is now also known as carbonic maceration.
How to buy: The price of a bottle of novello typically ranges from 3 to 8 euros. Vino novello is actually very difficult to find even in the best stocked wine shop (enoteca). They almost never leave the area of production and most have been drunk before the vendemmia (wine harvest) is finished.
If you’re really keen to try vino novello, you should visit a winery or keep your eyes peeled for Fall wine festivals, when small producers will have a batch of the latest harvest available for curious onlookers.
How to pair: At most, only eight weeks will have passed between vine and bottle – sometimes a lot less – so don’t go looking for great depth and long finishes when drinking a vino novello.
Every region of Italy has it’s own version, so it’s difficult to provide pairing notes. Upon opening the bottle, you want an aroma of clean, juicy, fresh fruit. A little refreshing acidity is good. Any traces of bitterness or tannins isn’t. Watch out for any off-smells, which indicate the fermenting process didn’t go to plan.
Most vini novelli are drunk with light first courses, white meats or fresh cheeses, but also pizza, salumi and, above all, roasted chestnuts.
If you’re keen to taste some of this very hard to find new wine from some of the best local winemakers, join us on our Chianti Classico Wine Tour.
Best Fall wine festivals:
In Emilia Romagna: Festa del Brazadel e del Vino Novello, Castel Bolognese, 12 November
In Tuscany: Festa dell’Uva, Scansano 28-29 September
While we’re on the topic of wine and harvest foods, if you’re in Florence in the Fall keep your eyes peeled for the schiacciata all'uva at pretty much every bakery in town. This is a very traditional flatbread is common during the grape harvest. If you’ve signed up for one of our food tours in Florence this Fall, chances are you’ll be munching on it from our preferred bakeries.
Sweet, ripe grapes are used to fill and top a type of Tuscan flatbread focaccia called “schiacciata” The addition of sugar allows the grapes to soften and sweeten creating almost a jam-like effect that is truly addictive. This bread can be enjoyed at breakfast, dessert, or as any anytime snack.
