When I told some of my Italian friends that I’d been invited to Piacenza for an event, I was a bit unsure of what to expect. I wasn’t exactly met with a lot of excitement about the town or even pride from those who had actually grown up there. So, I was happy to find out that this was just typical hometown disillusionment rather than anything about the area itself. In fact, I can’t wait to go back and explore even more.
Molino Dallagiovanna, one of Italy’s finest flour companies, had kindly extended an invitation to attend its Festa dei Granai, an annual celebration of all things wheat, baking and agriculture. The party is held 40 days, more or less, after the wheat has been harvested, as that marks the length of time after which it’s ready to be milled. This weeks-long, post-harvest maturation, or “sweating” period, allows for the wheat enzymes to stabilize, the internal moisture to redistribute itself across all of the wheat kernels and for it to naturally oxidize. All in all, it creates a flour with higher elasticity and higher water absorption.
A taste of Piacenza
The weekend started with a beautiful lunch at Locanda del Falco, which sits within the medieval village surrounding Rivalta Castle. The restaurant was the favorite of none other than Italian fashion royalty and Piacenza native Giorgio Armani. I was won over by the atmosphere of the restaurant before we even began eating. Our table was situated in the back, in a romantic courtyard draped with with centuries-old wisteria. The food, of course, sealed my stamp of approval (and not just because they used Molino Dallagiovanna flour in their pasta and baked goods). For our antipasto, we tasted some of Piacenza’s traditional cured meats: coppa, salame and pancetta (all of which hold DOP status), alongside a crisp bowl of giardiniera, or pickled vegetables.
Explore Appetito recipes for homemade bread, pasta and other Italian favorites.
We then sampled not one but two types of pasta. The first was tortelli piacentini, a typical stuffed pasta from the area, the shape of which is reminiscent of an ear of wheat. This one was filled with ricotta and greens and served with a sage and butter sauce. This flavor combination can be found all around Italy, but I have to say that this might’ve been one of my favorite renditions. The flavors were balanced and the pasta itself was paper-thin and delicate. It melted in your mouth.
The second pasta course, pisarei e faso, consisted of tiny, hand-rolled dumplings (which are unique in that there are bread crumbs mixed into the flour dough) dished out in a stewy, tomato-bean sauce. The bread crumbs in the dough not only help stretch out the flour (a savvy trick in cucina povera, or peasant cooking) but also create a uniquely bouncy chew.
Love discovering Italy one bite at a time? Subscribe to the free Appetito newsletter for the latest in Italian food, travel and favorite recipes.
I did later find out that the not-so-secret ingredient for this dish was lard and since then I’ve been seriously contemplating just keeping a jar of it at home. We finished the meal with a slice of light-as-air limoncello-meringue cheesecake. At this point in the day, I was fully prepared to roll myself into bed and hibernate like a bear, but this was a marathon, not a sprint.
Inside the mill
Next, we went to the molino for a full tour of its production facilities and learned more about its milling processes. Every batch of grain is actually analyzed by an in-house team for strength, elasticity and protein parameters before being dry-cleaned and washed in water. While all mills dry-clean their grains to remove debris, Dallagiovanna is one of the only mills that take the next step to wash their grains with potable water in specialized tanks. This step hydrates and conditions the grain, leading to a whiter, cleaner and more aromatic flour. After the grains are cleaned, they’re ground at low-temperatures (which helps protect the sensory properties of the wheat germ) and sifted and blended accordingly.
Celebrating the harvest
After our tour, the festivities officially began. The team set up a beautiful outdoor space next to the mill outfitted with several billowing tents, a brightly lit stage and overflowing buffet tables. A large part of the Festa dei Granai centers on award shows and celebrations. This year, the mill honored some of the local grain farmers through the Chicco d’Oro, or Golden Grain awards; served as the grand finale stage for its Pizza Bit Competition, a high-stakes margarita-making challenge; and then hosted several live culinary demonstrations.
The event also acted as the official launch for Molino Dallagiovanna’s latest invention: Blackery flour. The flour is actually made with just a hint of cocoa powder, which adds not just a deep, dark color but also a subtle, earthy, bittersweet complexity. I already have it in my head to make pasta using Blackery flour and to serve it with some sort of savory ragu or bolognese (the baking spice flavors from the sauce will certainly complement the cocoa powder nicely).
In a world that is increasingly enamored of speed and quantity over care and quality, Molino Dallagiovanna’s Festa dei Granai was a welcome reminder as to what actually matters in gastronomy (something that Italians do so well): time, patience, details and a deep respect for not just the product but the land where it came from. I left Piacenza, not just with a full stomach and a bag full of my new favorite flour, but also with a newfound appreciation for the humble grain of wheat.
