Pontremoli (literally ‘Trembing Bridge’) is a small town in the Massa-Carrara province of Tuscany, close to the Ligurian city of La Spezia. Carrara, of course, is the place where the great artist, Michelangelo came to select the marble he used for his sculptures.
Like most places in Italy it has its own particular dishes, such as torta d’erbe which is a pie made with filo-type pastry and filled with chard, ricotta, eggs and parmesan cheese. Also famous in this area is testaroli which is the oldest form of pasta known. It’s a flat, baked pasta cut into small rectangles and commonly served with pesto.
The afore mentioned chard is called bietola in Italian and tucked away in one of the tiny alleys of Pontremoli, is a lovely place to eat, Osteria della Bietola. It’s a small family run establishment and I had Sunday lunch there recently. The entrance to the kitchen is right by the front door and on arriving it was heartwarming to see the cook bending down and tending to something in the oven with steam and the smell of meat tumbling out of the open oven door before her. She raised her head to shout a cheery ‘buongiorno’ then returned to her cooking.
The menu consists of a few antipasti, pasta dishes then meat (lamb, beef and rabbit as I recall) cooked in different ways, such as grilled, fried or ‘alla cacciatore’ (a gutsy stew).
For the pasta course I choose homemade ravioli stuffed with bietola and ricotta in a gorgeous meaty ragu. I followed it with grilled lamb chops accompanied by a plate of soft white beans. Extremely simple and perfectly tasty!
The highlight though was what came before (the antipasti). There was some of the torta d’erbe mentioned above, various local cured meats and that most sublime of Italian foods, lardo.
Quite simply, lardo is pig fat that has been cured with salt, herbs and spices. The best of it comes from Colonnata, which is a district of the city of Carrara. The fat is traditionally cured in basins made from the famous Carrara marble and it has a long history going back to the days of the Romans.
The lardo is sliced very thinly and eaten with bread and can be delicious, as it was on this occasion. If the bread is warm then the experience is taken to new heights as the fat slowly melts. It has other uses too, which might be the subject of future posts. At home I serve it on warm gnocchi fritto, which are puffed up, deep-fried pastry ‘pillows’. It’s a perfect combination which reminds me of Sunday night suppers as a child, eating pork fat spread on bread, or standing by the oven dipping bread into hot beef-dripping as the Sunday roast rested.
If you’re in Pontremoli, give this place a try – its cheap, cheerful and serves perfect home-cooked food.
Address: Via Bietola, 4, 54027 Pontremoli MS, Italy
Phone: +39 0187 831949
My Kind of Food 