Gastronomy
Culture and food
Now more than ever before, enogastronomy plays an increasingly important role in attracting visitors and tourists in Terracina.
The local enogastronomy helps visitors to discover typical and authentic products that offer the genuine taste and flavour of the locality, which in turn influences the expectations and experiences of any holiday.
Italian food and wine are world famous. Especially the pasta and the pizza
This is the region of the origine of both. But of course, there are also specialities of the town. Terracina is situated between Rome and Naples so the eating and drinking tradition is a mix of these two big cities.
The Roman food is known for its simplicity. They prefer nutricous and rather heavyfood. A great part of the Roman foodtradition has its origine in traditions from the Ancient times, when many people were poor. They lived on what the rich part rejected. Therefore you can still find many dishes based on intestines, even in the more luxurous restaurants in Rome.
Beef, lamb, chicken, turkey. For the preparation they use "grease", less olive oil and butter. There are few dishes based on fish on the Roman menu. In ancient times the Romans frequently used impressions from foreign countries in their cooking, but nowadays it’s the contrary. Very traditional. The Neapolitan kitchen is based on pasta: Even if the inventors of the pasta were the Chinese or even as some people claim, the Romans, Naples is the home of the Italian pasta!
Two other important ingredients are cheese and vegetables. The industry of canned tomatoes was born in Naples.
In the aera around the Vesuvio, they grow tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, artichokes, and fennel, which are all important ingredients in Neapolitan cooking.
In Naples as in the rest of southern Italy, you eat a lot of fish and shellfish. People of the south has learned to appriciate and take care of what nature offers.
FISH AND SHELLFISH
Since Terracina is situated by the sea, fishing is an important occupation. Partly to the professional fishermen who come into the port early every morning with the catch, and partly to the people who fish just for fun.
It´s exciting to watch them in the middle of the night sitting or standing on the shore with their advanced fishingrods with small green lights attached, so that they are able to see if something happens! The professionals go out in their boats. They sell the night´s catch in the morning at the fishingauction. And then it is distributed to the different shops.
Strangely, fish is quite expensive in Terracina.
In the middle of July the town celebrates, together with the fishermen, "Madonna delle Carmine", protector of the fishermen.
You find several excellent fish restaurants in Terracina. We highly recommend "Antipasto di mare", a starter with many different plates of seafood. The fishsoup is delicious. However you must often tell the restaurant one day in advance if you want the soup! You would better ask also about the price to avoid unpleasant surprises!! As we already mentioned, fish is expensive.
In southern Italy most people prefer fish to meat. In the north it´s the contrary. It is served in a plain, simple way. It´s either grilled, fried, cooked or baked in the oven.
To make a fishsoup you use different sorts of fish, cook it in tomatosauce with garlic and herbs. You also find a lot of deepfried fish and shellfish, served with only lemon.
Now, as well as 2000 years ago, oysters are luxury. Mussels are much less expensive and more common. The Venusmussel, vongola in Italian, is the main ingredient in the famous "Spaghetti alle vongole". In many menues, you also find "octupus". In fishsoup, but also grilled or in casseroles.
Shrimps, seawater crayfish and scampi is also very common but the taste may surprise you if you are used to the cooked, salted ones. Here you buy them raw and fry or deepfry.
PIZZA we suggest you Pizzeria Posterula in the Historical Centre.
The first mentioning of the phenomenon, PIZZA, is in a book from 1858.
The author describes it as " a flat piece of dough" upon which you can put "whatever is available", add oil and put it in the oven. The book is about tradtions in Naples, where the pizza was born.
The first and most classical is "the Margherita". It was originally made for Queen Margherita in the 1880.
It contains basilic, mozzarella cheese and tomato souce. Green, white and red. The Italian "tricolore"!
The pizza was to be found only in Naples until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905 it appeared in New York. Some Neapolitan immigrants opened the first pizzeria outside Naples.
In the 1960:ies the first pizzeria opened in Northern Europe and it wasn´t until twenty years later, that the pizza conquered the rest of Italy.
The Roman pizza differs from the origin. The dough is thinner.
In Terracina you´ll find both kinds, depending on which restaurant you choose.
Most pizzerie have "FORNO A LEGNA" because only in that kind of oven, you get the right very high temperature, 400°....... and the most delicious pizza !!!!!
Mozzarella is the famous cheese produced in Campania and southern Lazio, indispensable for the making of the genuine Neapolitan pizza. It´s also one of the three ingredients in the typical starter from Capri, "caprese", in which the other two are, tomatoes and basil.
It´s extremely delicate and should be eaten immediately. But it preserves the taste a couple of days if you keep it in its package and in the refrigerator.
There are two kinds. One made of cowmilk and the other, the "real" one, made of the milk of the black water buffalo.
The cow-mozzarella, "fior di latte", is much cheaper. The buffel-mozzarella has a stamp which guaranties its genuinity.
Early in the morning you´re awaken by the farmers, coming into the town from the outskirts in their threewheeled vans. They announce their offers through small, but extremely loud loudspeakers assembled on the vans.
In Lazio you love artichokes. In the vegetablemarket you can choose between almost all the sorts there are. For example Romanesco (big and round without thorns), Catanese (oval without thorns), Violetta di Toscana (mediumsized with a very mild taste). In the town of Sezze, 35 km from Terracina, they even have a special "Festival of the Artichoke" in springtime.
In ancient Rome the artichoke was named Cynara because of a girl with that name who was transformed into an artichoke.
During the 16th century it was said that the artichoke had therapeutical powers. For example it had a healing and cleaning influence on the blood.
Since masses of people demanded it, the price rose and led to it beeing a vegetable which only the rich could afford.
Nowadays the prices makes it available to everyone. The Italian name is "carciofo". Comes from the Arabian word "kharshuf.
In Italian "fragole".
In the areas surrounding Terracina there are huge plantations.
If you visit the fruit-and vegetablemarkets in Rome, you´ll find lots and lots of Terracina strawberries.
They are famous, with a wonderful, sweet taste.
WINE
Lazio, as a winedistrict, is much more important than you may think. 30 million squaremetres are covered with wineplants from the north to the south of the region. Mostly white wine is produced here. One of the grapes with tradition from ancient Rome, the Falerno, about which Plinio said that it had therapeutical qualities, disappeared for a number of years, but has now returned to the market. It was very popular 2000 years ago, and later a favourite with the Russian tzars and the Swedish king in the end of the 18th century, Gustav.
In the last century 95 % of the grapes in the Falernovineyards was destroyed by a parasite and the production of Falernowine was nonexcisting for about 50 years.
Villa Matilde, a vineyard a couple of km within the region of Campania is now the only excisting vineyard that follows the full concept from the plant to the production of the Falerno wine. For more information search for their website: www.fattoriavillamatilde.com.
A very popular white wine is "Moscato di Terracina. It´s very suitable as drink on the terrace in the sunset or at the piazza after a nice dinner. It doesn´t go well together with food.
A passito (an extremely sweet wine) from Terracina was recently appointed the best passito in the world, in a competion held in France.
A vineyard just outside Terracina is Sant´Andrea. They have a winestore in one of the mainstreets of the town. They also have a website: www.cantinasantandrea.it.
A wellknown wine from Lazio is "Est!Est!Est!" from Montefiascone by the Bolsena lake. Colli Albani and Castelli Romani are two other wellknown white wines from Lazio, as well as the Frascatiwines from the area south of Rome. Other famous winedistricts in Lazio are Cervetri, Cori and Velletri.
COFFEE
Probably we can thank Abbesinian and Arabic goats for the coffee. The sheperds noticed that they behaved surprisingly vivid after eating leaves from the bush called "kif" or "koffe".
Later on the Arabs developed a method which combined this quality with the need of tastefulness that was necessary to make it into the social drink that it is today.
The holy book of Islam, the Koran, prohibited alcohol, but nothing was said about the effects of coffee, so the habit of drinking coffee spread rapidly throughout the whole Arab world.
In Mecca the pilgrims were being served coffee so that they could be able to walk the last tiresome steps to the Kaba.
The first coffeehouses were opened in Damascus and Konstantinopel and during the renaissance the first coffeebeans were shipped to the Christian world.
In Venice in the 17th century the authorities were forced to limit the number of coffeehouses to 206, due to the fact that in a short time 25 new coffeehouses had opened, only in Piazza San Marco!
The moral and religious problems with coffeedrinking was been taken care of by the pope Clemens VIII who gave coffee its blessing.
In 1937 Achille Gaggia invented the first espressomachine. Italian coffee in general and especially the espresso is said to be very strong. That is totally wrong! The beans destined to the Italian market are roasted in a stronger way than the beans sold to the market in Northern Europe. This special method makes the taste appear more strongly, but reduces the amount of coffeine.
So, it´s better for your health to drink Italian coffee!!
In an Italian bar you find for example:
ESPRESSO (means fast, rapid): is called "caffè". You drink it very hot with lots of sugar. "Crema", the lightbrown foam on top, shows that the coffeemachine is working with the perfect temperature and under the right pressure.
CAPPUCCINO: espresso mixed with foaming milk. Got its name from the colour of the cloth in which the Cappucine monks are dressed.
CAFFÈ LATTE: espresso with hot milk.
CAFFÈ CON PANNA: espresso with more water than usual and with wipped cream on top.
CAFFÈ CORRETTO: coffee with alcohol, either mixed into the coffee or in a special glass together with the coffee.
CAFFÈ MACCHIATO: means "spotted" coffee, since a very small amount of milk is added.
CAFFÈ LUNGO: the hot water is run through the filter a couple of more seconds than when you make the espresso. Has a more bitter taste.
CAFFÈ DOPPIO: two espresso in one cup, doppio=double.
CAFFÈ RISTRETTO: twice as strong as an ordinary espresso .....and drink loaths of coffee while staying in Italy, in Terracina the price for one espresso is about 80 cent and a caffelatte about 90 cent !!!!
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