Farinam et ova ad faciendum rafiolos.
In Bergamo, firsts are never enough! The Venetian city wall UNESCO World Heritage Site, the recognition as UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy from 2019, thanks to its extraordinary dairy heritage and the production of no less than 9 Protected Designation of Origin cheeses, making it the European Cheese Capital.
There is also no shortage of World Guinness Records legends tied to the longest relay and pair hugs.
And speaking of pasta-an essential ingredient ofLombardy’s food and wine-Bergamo can boast a unique record: the oldest ravioli in Europe has been documented here, the rafiolo di Sant’Alessandro, dating back to a parchment of 1187, years before the first canonical records of stuffed pasta
Not only casoncelli and scarpinocc, then. The new entry on our menu is a mouth-watering raviolo that used to be prepared in the parish of Sant’Alessandro, once located in Città Alta near the gate dedicated to the saint and commemorated, today, by a column.
What can I say – between rafiolo and stracciatella, this area has all the makings of a new foodie reference.
But when exactly does the rafiolo of Sant’Alessandro?
While the first record of casoncelli dates back to May 13, 1386, the document found a few months ago by food and wine journalist Silvia Tropea Montagnosi at the Diocesan Historical Archives of Bergamo places rafiolo at least 200 years earlier, in 1187. The parchment passes down the record of a trial held in Bergamo at the behest of Pope Urban III: a “volunteer” from the Parish of Sant’Alessandro, a certain Avostano, tells us that it was customary to make rafioli with ingredients donated by the bishop.
Custom, then tradition. The rafiolo is even older than the document would suggest and rewrites the history of filled pasta, first led by the chronicle of Friar Salimbene de Adam da Parma with his “ravioli sine crusta di pasta” (1284).
“[…] multones et vinum et panem et farinam et ova ad faciendum rafiolos et piper et salem et ligna.
”
That is, “rams and wine and bread and flour and eggs to make ravioli and pepper and salt and wood.” Despite the damage of time, the parchment leaves us with the precise list of ingredients for the dish, which was offered in the days after Easter. “Mutton” means sheep meat, perhaps braised with spices or roasted, while the pasta was clearly egg-based.
The ingredients mentioned by the medieval chronicler were immediately taken up by some Bergamo restaurateurs, who wanted to revive rafiolo during the “De Casoncello” event.
Theevent celebrates Bergamo’s stuffed pastas each year, from casoncelli to capel de monega, via scarpinocc, creste scalvine, ravioli with braised Covo beef, and bertù.
What are you waiting for to join the feast? The culinary festival usually takes place in mid-May, at the height of Bergamo spring. Check our website for dates, we are waiting for you.
