Hannah Roberts
Porchetta, a whole deboned pig stuffed with a mixture of herbs before being roasted for five or six hours, is prepared all over Italy, but in Ariccia, where priests have helped prepare it for feast days for thousands of years, it is sacred.
South of Rome, on the famous Appian Way, Ariccia is one of the pretty hill towns where noble families traditionally escaped the city’s summer heat. In the 17th century, the prominent Chigi clan invited Gian Lorenzo Bernini, considered by many to be the greatest sculptor of his age, to improve the town’s medieval centre, leaving it studded with his baroque monuments.
Porchetta should be heavily seasoned, sliced by hand and served with plenty of crackling in a scored, crusty roll at a fraschetta, one the town’s informal tavern-style restaurants.
Click here for the FT’s porchetta recipe.
Mela Godo, full of Romans stopping off en route to their country houses, is a cut above the rest. A carafe of romanella, the sweet, sparkling local red wine, complements the saltiness of the meat.
Strada Pozzo Comune 12
Photographs: Getty Images/iStockphoto; De Agostini/Getty Images
