The Mugello kitchen is built on two pillars: the potato of the high valley and the chestnut of the Apennines. Tortello di patate is a recognised Tuscan PAT product; Marrone del Mugello has held IGP status since 1996 (EC Reg. 1107/96).
Book the property →Mugello cuisine, like much Apennine cooking, is rooted in the share-farming economy that shaped the territory until the 1960s. Cesare Bassi documents the system in La cucina mugellana (Polistampa, 2003): a kitchen built on subsistence ingredients — chestnut flour, potato, polenta, lard, wild greens — into which a few prized products were grafted, themselves the result of careful land selection.
The two protected products of the valley are the Marrone del Mugello and the tortello di patate. The Marrone has held IGP status since 1996 (EC Reg. 1107/96): a sweet large-fruited chestnut, harvested in eight Mugello municipalities above 300 m. The historic Sagra del Marrone in Marradi has been held since 1964. The tortello di patate is listed among the PAT (Prodotti Agroalimentari Tradizionali) of Tuscany: stuffed with potato, garlic, parsley, nutmeg and parmesan, it is celebrated in the Sagra del Tortello di Corella (Vicchio), held since 1969.
To these are added the products of Lake Bilancino (1996): freshwater tench and perch, prepared in olive-oil "carpione". From the high pastures comes Mugello pecorino, sold by farmstead dairies in the Marradi and Palazzuolo sul Senio area. The wines — mainly local Sangiovese — find their reference in the Slow Food Presidium of Pieve di Cerbaia, set up to recover historic vineyards in the Sieve valley.
The dining tradition is articulated through the autumn sagre: Marrone in Marradi (October), Tortello in Corella (June and September), Polenta in Vicchio. The Mugello-Romagna IGP olive oil consortium completes the protected-product picture. From the property, the closest sagre are within 15 to 30 km.
The chestnut tree was the bread tree of the mountain.— Cesare Bassi, La cucina mugellana
One of the five rooms of the Leopoldina is dedicated to the Mugello kitchen and to the Marrone IGP. Double room, ground floor, shared bathroom, direct access to the small garden.