The quality of chestnut of Rivalto is "the brown", bigger and darker compared to the common chestnut and with a typical form of heart, a high-quality one used also for the marron glace.
The brown of Rivalto grows in many chestnut trees area that surround the village and boasts of organoleptic properties absolutely genuine.
The chestnut harvest occurs, still manually by using gloves and rakes, in an area often steep and inaccessible, at the time of the fall of the curly chestnuts on the ground that ensures the achievement of the right degree of maturation. This phase is followed by a thorough cleaning and selection to separate the brown of first choice from the smallest ones to be allocated to different uses.
The chestnut has always been, especially in the past when there were no major economic opportunities, a very present ingredient in the meals of the farmers as an alternative to more expensive cereals that required more costly processing, such as wheat or spelled. The use in the kitchen is quite diverse and it can be used in soups, porridges (the italian "farinate"), cakes, pasta, boiled chestnuts (the tuscan "ballotte") or roasted (roasted chestnuts), sweet, castagnacci, jams and honey.
The fruit of the chestnut is rich in starch, fiber, minerals, proteins and vitamins, it has the property of being able to be stored for long periods, even frozen and, in the past, was subjected to various techniques of rural traditional conservation to be available throughout the year.
Moreover, the chestnut is frequently cited in the Italian literature as a recurring element in the countryside. The Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912), in the "Trees and flowers" section of the collection "Myricae", describes the constant presence of the plant in the rural culture of the past, especially in autumn and winter when its bark supplies the domestic hearth to warm the chestnuts in pot.
"Per te i tuguri sentono il tumulto
or del paiolo che inquïeto oscilla;
per te la fiamma sotto quel singulto
crepita e brilla:
tu, pio castagno, solo tu, l'assai
doni al villano che non ha che il sole;
tu solo il chicco, il buon di più, tu dai
alla sua prole;"
or del paiolo che inquïeto oscilla;
per te la fiamma sotto quel singulto
crepita e brilla:
tu, pio castagno, solo tu, l'assai
doni al villano che non ha che il sole;
tu solo il chicco, il buon di più, tu dai
alla sua prole;"
According to the overbearing presence of chestnut trees in the surrounding woods, the brown has won a rightful place in the foreground during the events of the hamlet.
The first edition of the Chestnut Festival of Rivalto dates back to October 1974 on the initiative of the Associazione Amici di Rivalto (Association Friends of Rivalto).
The first year the event was limited to the sale of chestnuts and local traditional products while, during the next one, it was set up a restaurant in the forecourt of the schools and the party was animated by musical band and majorettes.
The first year the event was limited to the sale of chestnuts and local traditional products while, during the next one, it was set up a restaurant in the forecourt of the schools and the party was animated by musical band and majorettes.
Over the years, the tradition has been enriched of participants, initiatives and new spaces.
Today the Feast is still one of the most important events in Rivalto, usually celebrated on the second weekend of October and animates the village with stands for sale and tasting of browns and local products, musical bands, dancing and singing, entertainment for children and a resting spot for lunches and dinners hosted at the structure of the Friends of Rivalto, behind the Campino football field, where the skilled local cooks prepare dishes of the country tradition.
Today the Feast is still one of the most important events in Rivalto, usually celebrated on the second weekend of October and animates the village with stands for sale and tasting of browns and local products, musical bands, dancing and singing, entertainment for children and a resting spot for lunches and dinners hosted at the structure of the Friends of Rivalto, behind the Campino football field, where the skilled local cooks prepare dishes of the country tradition.
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Some posters of the Chestnut Festival editions |
- on Friday with a "theme dinner" for a limited number of persons based on chestnuts-menu
- on Saturday with the "autumn dinner" based on local products and nightly musical entertainment in the Piazza della Compagnia
- on Sunday, all day long, for all the streets of the village, with tasting stands and sale of zero-mile local products, including meats, cheeses and sweets made with chestnuts, music, music bands, entertainment and animation with street performers for all ages and the photographic exhibition of the UIF (Unione Italiana Fotoamatori - Italian Union Photo-amateurs) hosted at La Canonica in Piazza della Compagnia
The great protagonists of
Saturday and Sunday are the roasted, the ballotte, the pancakes of sweet chestnut flour and the lunches and dinners, always
very appreciated by the public.
The restaurant menu of the festival provides the
typical dishes of the rivaltina culinary tradition focused on browns: noodles
chestnuts with sausages and mushrooms, polenta with sausages and mushrooms,
rivaltina cabbage soup, penne pasta in rivaltina style, grilled mixed meat,
wild boar stew with local olives, beans redone with sausages, liver, potatoes
and polenta fried, local wines. Desserts includes tart brown, “castagnaccio”,
trunk brown with cream, “nozze”
(chestnut flour waffles) with cream and drops
of brown with cream (truffled
praline of chestnuts with cocoa).
Here some collected pictures of the latest editions of the
festival: