Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia is Italy's north-eastern corner, bordering Austria and Slovenia. It holds three kitchens at once: Alpine Carnia in the mountains, the Friulian plain of San Daniele ham and Montasio cheese, and Trieste, a former Habsburg port that eats goulash and sauerkraut soup.
No Italian region has more borders. The Carnic and Julian Alps close the north, the land steps down through the moraine hills of the Tagliamento to the Friulian plain, and ends on the Carso, a limestone plateau full of sinkholes, scoured by the bora wind, dropping straight into the Gulf of Trieste. Four languages are spoken here: Italian, Friulian, Slovene and, in two mountain villages, an archaic German. The cooking follows the languages more closely than it follows the provinces.
The best-known product sits in the middle of the plain. Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP can be made only inside one small town, on a moraine hill where cold air off the Tagliamento river meets salt air from the Adriatic. Around thirty producers, the trotter left attached to the leg, a minimum of thirteen months' curing. Just north is Montasio DOP, the cheese that makes frico; west, in the Tramontina valley, the smoked mutton patties called pitina; and at Sauris, 1,200 metres up, ham smoked over beech.
Carnia cooks mountain food. Frico is grated Montasio melted in a pan with potato and onion until it forms a crisp golden cake. Cjarsons are half-moon dumplings filled with smoked ricotta, raisins, wild herbs, cinnamon and sometimes cocoa, a sweet-savoury combination that exists nowhere else in Italy. Down on the plain the winter staple is brovada: white turnips fermented for at least a month in pressed grape marc, served with muset, the local cotechino sausage.
Trieste is not Friulian at all. It was the Habsburg empire's only major port, and it eats accordingly: goulash, jota (a bean, pork and sauerkraut soup), Barcola anchovies, and hot boiled pork at a buffet, a local institution somewhere between a tavern and a deli counter. The pastries (presnitz, putizza, strucolo) are Central European rolls of walnut and raisin. The wine belt closes the picture: Collio and Colli Orientali produce some of Italy's finest whites from Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia, while on the Carso the growers make Terrano and Vitovska and sell it in osmize, farm cellars licensed to open a few weeks a year and signposted by a leafy branch hung at a crossroads.
Signature dishes
- Frico (crisp fried Montasio cheese and potato cake)
- Cjarsons (sweet-savoury filled pasta of Carnia)
- Jota (bean, pork and sauerkraut soup)
- Gulasch triestino (Trieste-style goulash)
- Brovada e muset (fermented turnip with pork sausage)
- Prosciutto di San Daniele (sweet air-cured ham)
- Boreto alla graisana (Grado fish stew with vinegar and pepper)
- Presnitz (rolled walnut and raisin pastry)
Foods from here
When to go
In late June, San Daniele opens its curing houses to the public for Aria di Festa. Summer is anchovy season at Barcola and boreto season at Grado, on the lagoon. September fills Udine for Friuli Doc, the region's food and wine showcase. Autumn is the best time for the Carso: the osmize open, the new wine is poured, Ramandolo and Picolit are picked late, and the first turnips go into the marc for brovada. October brings the Barcolana regatta and a very crowded Trieste. Winter means jota, goulash and Central European pastry; mountain cheese in Carnia, by contrast, is made only between June and September, when the herds are on the high pastures.
Frequently asked
What is Friuli-Venezia Giulia known for?
It is Italy's north-eastern corner, bordering Austria and Slovenia, and it is known for Prosciutto di San Daniele, Montasio cheese and some of the country's finest white wines, from Collio and Colli Orientali. Trieste, the region's port city, eats Central European: goulash, sauerkraut soup and walnut pastries.
How is San Daniele ham different from Parma ham?
San Daniele can be made only within one small town in the Friulian hills, where cold air off the Tagliamento river meets salt air from the Adriatic. The trotter is left on, the leg is pressed into a guitar shape, and it cures at least thirteen months. Parma ham keeps a rounder shape and no trotter.
What is frico?
Frico is the dish of Carnia, the Alpine north of the region: grated Montasio cheese melted in a pan with potato and onion until it sets into a crisp golden cake, cut in wedges and eaten with polenta. A thinner version without potato fries into a lacy crisp used as a garnish.
What is an osmiza?
An osmiza is a farm cellar on the Carso plateau licensed to open a few weeks a year and sell its own wine and cured meats. Look for a leafy branch hung at a crossroads: that is the sign. The name comes from the Slovene osem, eight, the number of days originally allowed.
When should I visit Friuli-Venezia Giulia for food?
Autumn. The osmize on the Carso open, the new wine is poured, the late-picked Picolit and Ramandolo grapes come in, and Trieste fills up for the Barcolana regatta in October. Late June brings Aria di Festa, when San Daniele opens its curing houses. Mountain cheese is made only from June to September.