“Dell’Acqua” Onion of Santarcangelo

The Santarcangelo onion, also known as the water onion, or zvòla da aqua in dialect, is an early yellow onion. Very sweet and very large, it can reach as much as a kilo in weight. Its name comes from the fact that its cultivation requires much water, which used to be taken from mill ditches.
Until the 1940s, in fact, numerous ditches branched off from the Marecchia River, used seasonally and alternately by farmers and millers. Some farmers used the water to irrigate plots where they grew onions, garlic, turnips and beans. The onion plants were irrigated by digging small ditches between the rows. The traditional cultivation area was the lower part of the Marecchia, especially along the Corpolò bank. Essentially, onions were grown wherever there were ditches with Marecchia water, particularly around the town of Santarcangelo. Its inhabitants were even nicknamed "cipolloni" (big onions), zvùléun, by their neighbors in Rimini.
Sowing takes place in January, and in March the seedlings are transplanted. Harvesting begins in July and ends between August and September. The onions are left in the sun for at least a month, then moved somewhere cool and dark, tied in braids known as reste and stored until November 11, Saint Martin’s Day, when Santarcangelo holds a much-loved fair.
The water onion is eaten both raw and cooked in many different ways, both in simple piadina flatbreads and more elaborate sweet and savory recipes.

Season

Onions are harvested from mid-July until the end of August.