The territory traversed by the Don Bosco Trail boasts numerous typical and artisanal products. Some of them are recognized by the Piedmont Region as Traditional Agri-Food Products (PAT), as they are characterized by processing, preservation, and aging methods that have been established over time. Many of these PAT products are part of the Typical Products Basket of the Province of Turin. The production of wines is also particularly noteworthy, with Controlled Designations of Origin including Freisa di Chieri, Freisa d’Asti, and Collina Torinese. In this context, which obviously does not allow for an exhaustive discussion of such an extensive production base in the region, we have limited ourselves to a brief description of the productions and a list of producers.
Horticultural Products
The Ivory White Thistle of Andezeno
The Ivory White Thistle of Andezeno A typical autumn vegetable and an essential ingredient to accompany “bagna caoda“, the Andezeno Thistle has narrow, jagged leaves that are particularly tender. Harvested from mid-August until the first frosts, it is tied in bundles and stored upright in holes dug in the ground, thus extending its commercial availability from late August to March. The cultivation technique involves the practice of blanching, which is done by either hilling the soil up to two-thirds of the plant or wrapping it in straw or paper after tying it, preventing the formation of chlorophyll – due to the lack of light – resulting in white, tender, crispy, and sweet edible parts.
The Blond Flat Onion of Andezeno
The loose and light soils of Andezeno provide an ideal habitat for onion cultivation. Centuries of cultivation and careful company selection have given rise to four local ecotypes (flat onion or Piatlina onion, white onion, auburn onion, and purple onion). The Piatlina onion has a golden skin, a sweet taste, and tender flesh, making it quick to cook – the best way to enjoy it is baked, especially when stuffed. It is also appreciated for its long shelf life, lasting until late spring of the following year. Hand-harvested in July and August when the mature plants bend the above-ground part to the ground. The growers have established the Association of Producers of the Blond Flat Onion of Andezeno, and on the second Sunday of October, the Thistle and Blond Flat Onion Festival is held in Andezeno.
Faranda Luca – strada della Rezza, 64 (Cardo bianco avorio, Cipolla Piatlina)
F.lli Gunetti – Via Regina Elena 1 – Tel 338 3998287 (Cardo bianco avorio, Cipolla Piatlina)
Gaschino Alberto – via San Rocco 19 (Cardo bianco avorio)
Listello Luigino – via Chieri 47 – Tel 338 8395265 (Cardo bianco avorio)
The Black Wild Strawberry of Rivodora and the Vineyard Peaches of Baldissero
The wild strawberry of Rivodora, characterized by two ecotypes (elongated red wild strawberry and round black wild strawberry when ripe), is now only grown for family consumption and is no longer available to consumers.
Similarly, the Vineyard Peaches (Limunin, Wine Peach, and Persi limun servai), once typical of the hilly areas of Baldissero where peach trees were grown alongside vineyards, are practically unavailable to consumers due to the limited production.
The Cherries of Pecetto
Cherries of Pecetto is a registered trademark that includes both ancient and recently introduced cherry varieties cultivated – using generally eco-friendly or organic farming techniques – in a production area ranging from Pecetto Torinese to Sciolze. The brand includes cherries with tender flesh, excellent for consumption and also used to make jams, preserves, syrups, and the famous local liqueur “Ratafià,” as well as hard-fleshed cherries (including the famous white “graffione” preserved in spirits), and Trofarello Sour Cherries. All information about ancient cultivars and producers is available on the website of the Fruit Growers Association of the Turin Hills (FACOLT) (www.ciliegiedipecetto.it).
Cherries are celebrated during the Cherry Blossom Walk (April) and with the Cherry Festival (first Sunday in June), now in its 107th edition.
To learn about the producing companies, please consult the website www.ciliegiedipecetto.it.
The Purin-a Plum of Pavarolo
Cultivated in Pavarolo, particularly in the San Defendente hamlet, it is also called the “San Giovanni Plum“, the name by which it was included in the list of Traditional Agri-Food Products of the Piedmont Region among the Plums of the Turin Hills. The name “Purin-a” is a reference to the word “pure” and indicates both the plant’s strong rusticity, requiring very few treatments, and the fact that it does not require grafting because, being very sucker-producing, it is very easy to propagate it by stooling. With a more or less clear wine color, early ripening, small in size, sweet, and tasty, it is highly appreciated by consumers.
The Pumpkins of Andezeno and Sciolze
The area of Andezeno has proven to be ideal for pumpkin cultivation, as demonstrated by the company of Alessandro Menzio (Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 69 – Tel 011 9434458), which has made pumpkin a specialized crop with about 800 varieties. The territory of Sciolze is also particularly suited for this vegetable, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of October during the Pumpkin Festival of Sciolze.
The White Truffle of the Turin Hills
Truffles, funghi that grow at varying depths and live symbiotically with oaks, poplars, willows, linden trees, elms, hornbeams, birches, alders, hazelnuts, and chestnuts, find a suitable habitat in the Turin Hills. They have a round globular shape with a color ranging from milky to deep pink, and are characterized by pronounced, pleasantly aromatic aroma. Particularly appreciated are the truffle productions of the hills of Rivalba, which celebrates truffles on the second Sunday of November with the Truffle Show and Market of the Turin Hills.
The Wines
D.O.C. Freisa di Chieri, Freisa d’Asti, and Collina Torinese
Wines Freisa, a typically Piedmontese grape variety, has a documented history of at least 500 years. Its presence in the territories of Monferrato and the Turin hills is certainly older, but it had different names to denote the local grape. The survival of viticulture and winemaking through the barbarian invasions that followed the fall of the Roman Empire can be attributed mainly to the monks who transmitted the cultivation of vines and wine production, needed for the celebration of the Eucharist. For Freisa and other grapes in this region between the Po and Monferrato, this role falls to the Augustinian monks of the Canonica di Vezzolano, who later spread its cultivation in the surrounding areas. Between the 1600s and 1700s, bourgeois and noble properties proliferated, with vineyards and wineries ensuring the family’s needs. These vineyards, most likely cultivated with Freisa, are mentioned in public records as “vinee ultra padum“, meaning vineyards beyond the Po River; “vinee” also became the name of the properties, which were later referred to as “villas“. The most famous is the Vigna della Regina of Madama Reale Cristina di Francia, whose historical production activity was reactivated in 2008.
In the past, it was known as a sweet or lively wine, but Freisa has now established itself as a dry wine. The Denomination of Origin Controlled (D.O.C.) Freisa di Chieri is reserved for the ruby-red wine, with a delicate aroma reminiscent of raspberries, obtained from the native Piedmontese Freisa grape, in two types: dry (minimum alcohol content of 11% vol., to be consumed with appetizers, lamb, kid, and white meats) and sweet (7% vol., suitable for desserts). In the case of Freisa Superiore, it is aged for one year. The denomination Freisa di Chieri can also be used for sparkling and fizzy types, obtained through the refermentation of the natural sugars remaining in the wine.
Since 1999, the DOC Collina Torinese has been enhancing other classic grape varieties of the hills: wines such as Collina Torinese Rosso (minimum alcohol content of 10.5%, table wine), Collina Torinese Barbera (10.5%, wine to accompany meats and cheeses), Collina Torinese Bonarda (10.5%, table wine), Collina Torinese Malvasia (10%, dessert wine), and Collina Torinese Cari or Pelaverga (10%, dessert wine).
For more information, please refer to the website of the Consortium for the Protection and Enhancement of D.O.C. Freisa di Chieri and Collina Torinese (www.freisadichieri.com).
D.O.C. Collina Torinese Cari or Pelaverga Wine
The Collina Torinese Cari or Pelaverga wines (minimum alcohol content 10% vol) – appreciated by aristocratic families since the 1600s for its attributed aphrodisiac properties – is produced in the territories of Baldissero T.se, Montaldo T.se, and Pavarolo. It has a cherry-red color and a sweet taste, with the fragrant aroma of the originating grape. It should be consumed as an accompaniment to desserts, at temperatures of 12-14°C. In Baldissero, Cari grapes are still available for direct sale at the G. Paletto agricultural company (Strada Valle Ceppi 3 – Tel 339 8437655).
D.O.C. Albugnano Wine
The Albugnano D.O.C. wine is produced from the Nebbiolo grape variety in the territories of Albugnano, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Passerano Marmorito, and Pino d’Asti, where the hills exceed 400 meters, higher than the northern Asti area.
The production soils are based on Miocene marls and are of a light color, of medium texture, although the surface soils sometimes have alternating tuffaceous outcrops with more evident sandy percentages. The mosaic of soils is one of the differentiating factors of the wines; another is the slopes, the most interesting being two: the first, bordering Castelnuovo Don Bosco, is wider and vineyard-covered, while the second, towards Berzano San Pietro, is more wooded, with often steep slopes where the vineyards occupy the better-exposed slopes.
Forests and altitude help cool the climate, making it favorable to the needs of the Nebbiolo grape, which ripens a few days earlier than in other areas.
The grape varieties that can enter Albugnano are Nebbiolo for a minimum of 85% and, up to 15%, Bonarda Piemontese, Barbera and Freisa, traditionally found in the area. Albugnano DOP presents itself as ruby-red or rosé. The first type can bear the mention “Superiore” if subjected to aging of at least one year, starting from the first of January following the grape harvest year, of which at least six months are spent in oak barrels. In 2018, the Albugnano 549 Association was established – named after Albugnano’s altitude – with the aim of promoting the enological, historical, cultural, and environmental identity of this wine (www.albugnano549.it).
The Vermouth
A typical Turin product with an alcohol content not exceeding 18%, it consists of a wine flavored with wormwood, giving it its characteristic bitter taste. It is prepared in Pessione (Chieri) from white Muscat wines, alcohol, cane sugar, and an added aromatic alcohol.
Bakery, Biscuit, Pastry, and Confectionery Products
Gianduiotti from Turin
Typical chocolates from Turin, with their characteristic inverted boat-shaped form, made from a mixture of cocoa, sugar, and gentle round Piedmont hazelnuts, toasted and ground.
Grissini Rubatà from Chieri area
Rubatà, the authentic grissino from Chierese, was born in the 17th century from an idea of Don Baldo Pecchio, a doctor at the court of the Savoys, appointed by Madama Reale to treat her ailing son, Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy, who had health issues. The doctor believed that the bread consumed was undercooked, so he devised a crispy, digestible, and assimilable breadstick. The Duke’s recovery marked the success and fortune of this product – light and crisp – which became an excellence of the Chierese territory. Light and crisp grissini – whose name comes from the dialect and means “fallen”– are made with a special technique, involving the baker’s gesture of taking them off the tips as soon as they are hand-stretched and turning them, allowing them to make a full turn with the thumbs united palms and letting them fall on the table to compact the dough. Prepared with type 00 wheat flour, water, yeast, salt, and optionally fats (oil, lard), they result in irregular grissini, 40-50 cm long, bearing finger imprints on the surface. Baked in a wood-fired oven, they require 7-8 minutes of cooking. They can be found in almost all bakeries in Chierese and its surroundings, alongside the grissini stirati (stretched) torinesi, made with type 00 soft wheat flour, water, yeast, malt, salt, and optionally fats. The dough strips are manually stretched, yielding grissini up to 100 cm long, which take on a beautiful golden color during baking.
Focaccia from Chieri
A confectionery product made from type 0 wheat flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, salt, and brewer’s yeast. Naturally leavened and covered with a sugar glaze, it is prepared year-round. You can taste it in almost all pastry shops in Chieri. These pastry shops also offer various confectionery products such as Baci di Chieri and Genzianelle (delicious chocolate bites filled with creams), Umbertini scented with orange blossom – with chocolate as a filling for two delicate cheeks – with a history dating back to Prince Umberto, and Don Bosco Chocolate with absinthe, created on the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of Saint Giovanni Bosco. .
Among the pastry products, it is worth mentioning the Torta Tast-mi produced by the Antico forno a legna in Marentino (Via Parrocchiale 8 – Tel 011 9435060) and the Hazelnut Cake, very fragrant, produced in Villanova d’Asti, with hazelnuts, eggs, and sugar, without the use of flour.
Panetteria (bakery) L’antico forno a legna – via Parrocchiale 8 – Tel 011.943.5060 – lanticoforno1898@yahoo.it
A renowned artisanal producer of grissini Rubatà and the Tast-mi Cake, made from local hazelnuts and honey.
Animal-Origin Products
Piedmontese Bovine Breed Meat
Particularly appreciated by consumers is the quality of meat from veal shanks and oxen of the Piedmontese bovine breed, thanks to tenderness, flavor, and the low fat content that allows for excellent culinary preparations from all cuts. In particular, the territory of Riva near Chieri is characterized by a flourishing livestock activity, with cattle and pig farms, celebrated on the first Sunday of September during the Livestock Fair, which showcases the best of the Riva farms.
Piedmontese Blonde Chicken
An extensive breeding breed, the Piedmontese blonde chicken (also known as Bionda di Villanova or delle Crivelle) roams in the meadows and is fed with grains. The meats are excellent, with better consistency, lower cholesterol content, and a more pronounced color compared to intensively raised animals.
Honey from Marentino
Honey – the most common sweetener until the threshold of the modern age – takes on different colors, scents, and organoleptic qualities depending on the types of flowers visited by the bees. Particularly prized is the honey from the hills. Marentino, named the city of honey in 2007, organizes the Regional Honey Fair (www.fieramielemarentino.com/Apicoltori.html) every year, an event entirely dedicated to honey and the work of beekeepers, welcoming visitors from all over Piedmont. Also famous for its rebuses, Marentino has set up an experimental apiary for educational activities, open to those who want to learn about the world of honey and the fascinating society of bees.
Apicoltura Azienda agricola La Contea (mieli biologici -castagno, millefiori, melata di bosco- e altri prodotti dell’alveare come la cera per mobili) – via Regione Aprà, 3/2 – Marentino – Tel 348 1735797 www.lacontea-bio.it
Apicoltura Enzo Vettorato – strada Rocche 5 – Marentino – Tel 349 5854096 – api.vettorato@libero.it
Apicoltura Luca Torre – strada di Serra 5 – Marentino – Tel 328 6183758 – messermiele@libero.it
