Serra De’ Conti Cicerchia

The Serra de’ Conti cicerchia is a tiny, irregularly shaped legume, ranging in color from gray to speckled pale brown. It has a tender skin and a less bitter flavor than other varieties. Already by the second half of the 20th century, few growers were still cultivating this humble but tasty legume, which had spread from its zone of origin to the rest of the Marche region. Eventually it was completely abandoned, leaving the market free to be dominated for years by the large, insipid versions produced by multinationals.

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Season

Harvest is at the end of July, but dry peas are available year-round.

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Only a few Serra de’ Conti residents continue to grow the tiny, flavorful, native cicerchia in their home gardens, saving it from complete extinction. The Presidium producers are now carrying out important work to save the variety, select the germoplasm, relaunch it on the market and promote it. New machines have been acquired for sorting the seeds and a production protocol has been drawn up, which specifies that cultivation must have a low environmental impact and respect the territory.

Production area
Serra de’ Conti Municipality, Ancona Province

Presidium supported by
Marche Region Cultural, Tourism and Commercial Services

Cooperativa La Bona Usanza
Serra de’ Conti (An)
Via Saragat, 21
tel. 334 3229360
fax 0731 878568
info@labonausanza.it
www.labonausanza.it

Luigino Cenci
Serra de' Conti (An)
Via Caffarelli, 21
tel. +39 339 4551026
cenlui@libero.it

Alessandro Marzocchi
Serra de' Conti (An)
Via Fornace, 9
tel. +39 340 7096296
alex_marzocchi@tiscali.it

Liliana Simonetti
Serra de' Conti (An)
Via Bocconi, 30
tel. +39 0731 878375

Slow Food Presidium Producers’ Coordinator
Gianfranco Mancini
Tel. +39 338 8169718
mgianfranco@interfree.it

Slow Food Presidium Coordinator
Morena Montesi
tel. +39 349 8058969
morena.montesi@gmail.com