Food and wine tour in Friuli Venezia Giulia18 February 2019

Food and wine tour in Friuli Venezia Giulia

What’s good to eat in Friuli? We could begin by saying that there is the San Daniele PDO ham in the shape of a violin, there are the “cianzons”, agnolotti with cheese and spinach, the Brovada PDO, dish made of turnips macerated in wine and used as an accompaniment to spicy meat dishes, and there is the “iota”, an exquisite bean soup, which was originally a dish of the poors, while today it is served in many restaurants of the region.

The region holds 28 Geographical Indication products, including 21 PDO, 5 PGI and 2 STG, a success made possible thanks to the heritage inherited from an ancient local tradition and the constant commitment of companies and institutions in pursuing policies related to quality.

Discovering the regional culinary excellence

The Friuli Venezia Giulia region boasts unique food and wine itineraries in which the different landscapes and environmental differences are also reflected in the culinary recipes. It is worth mentioning the mountain dishes of Carnia, the typical ones of Trieste and Gorizia that offer a mix of Balkan and Mediterranean specialties, up to the Friulian cuisine that is distinguished by the traditional delicatessen.

If you are in the cold area of ​​Carnia you may have the opportunity to warm up in front of the old “fogolar”, the traditional fireplace placed in the center of the kitchen, enjoying excellent soups such as “iota”, prepared with beans, pork, yellow flour and sauerkraut and served in the best restaurants in Friuli. Also worthy of mention are potatoes “gnocchi” and “frico”, a dish made with various seasoned cheese, potatoes and onions, considered the most typical culinary preparation of Friuli. Particularly characteristic then are the dishes offered on the occasion of Easter, all prepared with breadcrumbs, eggs, herbs and raisins.

Food and wine tour in Friuli Venezia Giulia

The area of ​​Udine presents as a main dish the famous ham of San Daniele PDO, whose sweet and characteristic aroma is originated from the favorable climatic conditions enjoyed by this ​​hilly area of seasoning, where cold breeze coming from the north meets the milder air of the Adriatic. Other specialties of the area are also the Prosciutto di Sauris PGI, the Pitina PGI (cured meat based on sheep and pork meat) and the Montasio PDO, a compact cheese that can be tasted sweeter or spicier depending on the aging time. The Pan di Gemona (or Pan de Sorc) is a sweet and spicy bread that the families of the Gemona area used to cook for the holidays and in particular on the occasion of Christmas. Made with corn flour (sorc in dialect), rye, wheat, figs buckets to which some used to add also raisins and fennel seeds. It was consumed both sweet and salty as an accompaniment to cured meats.

Proceeding towards the Karst landscape, Trieste proposes a cuisine capable of mixing in itself the most disparate culinary traditions: an example is the Gulasch of Hungarian origin, a dish made of very spicy beef. A Goriška specialty, however, is Gubana, a dessert of Central European origin composed of a sheet of pastry that wraps a delicious mixture of walnuts, chocolate, raisins, pine nuts and Zibibbo.

The Wine Roads in Friuli Venezia Giulia

With 19 wines with denomination (16 PDO and 3 PGI) and a production value of 507 million euro, Friuli Venezia Giulia is ranked 6th in 2017 due to the economic impact of Wine products after Veneto, Tuscany, Piedmont, Sicily and Trentino.

Friuli boasts a rich wine tradition both for the reds, typical of the Grave area (Udine and Pordenone), and for the white wines of Venezia-Giulia in the east. Among the wines of the central area we can remember the red Merlot, Pinot nero, Cabernet and Refosco. Gorizia is, however, more often associated with the Collio, a hilly area that gives origin to the homonymous PDO that excels for the great white wines, in addition to the precious Tocai (called Friulano since 2007), but to be mentioned are also Pinot, Malvasia and Picolit.

Over the last few years the so-called “Wine Roads” have been organized to promote the wine-growing area, enogastronomic itineraries that offer the tourist 7 official itineraries with different stages between cellars, dairies, farms, agrtourisms and craft shops.

  1. Wine Route PDO Collio Prosecco PDO, Friuli Colli Orientali PDO, Collio Goriziano PDO;
  2. Terrano Wine RouteCarso PDO;
  3. Wine Route of AquileiaFriuli Aquileia PDO;
  4. Wine Route Friuli GraveProsecco PDO, Rosazzo PDO, AOP Ramandolo, Lison Pramaggiore AOP, Lison AOP, Friuli Grave AOP, Alto Livenza PGI;
  5. Wine Route Friuli-Latisana-AnniaAOP Frioul Annia, AOP Frioul-Latisana;
  6. Merlot RouteFrioul Isonzo AOP;
  7. Wine Route of eastern hills of the Friuli regionColli Orientali del Friuli Picolit PDO.