_among flavours and traditions

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The room on the ground floor of the Castle, next to the reception/ticket office, keeps some local kitchen items of the end of XIX and the beginning of XX centuries as well as some tools connected with Parma ancient handicraft.

Compiano and Valtaro area can boast some internationally well-known food excellences: Parmigiano Reggiano di montagna (Parmesan cheese), cold cuts, Porcini mushrooms, chestnuts and a great many agricoltural products as well as the traditional homemade fresh pasta. Those traditions, either lost or
changed by technique over the centuries, come back to life in the story-telling of some video-stations.

There are advertising materials from the Barilla period, some tools related to the production and preservation of local food together with the ancient ones used by peasants, butchers and cheesemakers.

Among the several objects on display, there are some "testi", which are very ancient tools of the Lunigiana cuisine, made in cast iron, once in terracotta. They are composed of two parts of a 40/50 cm about diametre: the bottom, called"sottano", and the upper lid, called "soprano".

After they have been red-hot on an open fire, testi are put on some wings in order to be just barely raised in relation to its flames and embers. During those preliminary works, the "soprano" is covered with embers and ashes so that its temperature remains uniform, before pouring a rather liquid dough, made from wheat flour, water and salt, on the "sottano" and initially left to bake uncovered. After that the "testo" is closed with its "soprano". When it is ready, that kind of flat bread, called "testarolo" can
be tasted either with cold cuts and cheese or cut into lozenges and soaked in boiling water, with the fire off, and seasoned with oil and grated cheese, basil pesto or mushroom sauces.

At the end of your visit, you can taste your "testarolo" at our restaurant "Al Panigaccio".