FRIULI
VENEZIA GIULIA
TERRITORY
AND HISTORY
Friuli Venezia Giulia is a region in the north-east of Italy that overlooks the Adriatic Sea and borders with Austria and Slovenia. The region is home to the peaks of the Dolomites and the famous vineyards for white wines. Trieste, the capital, belonged in the past to the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the nineteenth century.
The name Friuli is of Roman origin and derives from the town of Forum Iulii (now Cividale del Friuli) founded by Julius Caesar around the middle of the 1st century BC and became, after the destruction of Aquileia by the Huns in 452 AD, the capital of the region Venetia et Histria, in a more secluded but safer piedmont location. With the barbarian invasions the name, contracted in its present form, was extended to the whole surrounding region on which the city exercised its jurisdiction, which became the first duchy, then the brand and finally the county of Friuli. Even the name Venezia Giulia refers to the Roman tradition of Venetia et Histria and the Alpes Iuliae, recalling the substratum of the Venetians and the exploits of Julius Caesar and Caesar Octavian Augustus, both from Gens Iulia. It was proposed in 1863 by the Gorizia glottologist Graziadio Ascoli.
CUISINE
AND TRADIOTIONS
Friuli cuisine is affected by the morphology of the region that goes from the sea to the mountains, the diversity of cultures and populations that have inhabited it, contributing substantially to a differentiation of culinary traditions. It is a predominantly earthy cuisine, with incursions into the sea cuisine on the Adriatic coast, and also some peculiarities, such as boreto alla graisana, (Grado soup), a fish soup without tomato and with a predominance of turbot. The typical dishes are frico (probably the etymology is "fritto") in the two versions with potatoes and crunchy, the brovada and the musetto, the cjarsons, the blecs and the corn polenta, the gubana.
The traditions are certainly not lacking in the Friuli region. In October, in Venzone, the Festa della Zucca is held, during which the historic center of the city goes back to the Middle Ages, with musicians, jugglers, ladies and knights who walk the streets. On the first Sunday of July, a procession of historic boats is held in Grado, which are decorated with garlands and wreaths, called the Perdon di Barbana.
An interesting historical reconstruction, this time relating to the Roman period, is the one held in Aquileia, where the habits, customs and customs of the imperial era will be repeated.
Friuli Venezia Giulia has always been the land of great white wines. The fame of these wines, although with very different styles and expressions, has reached such levels as to push someone to call them "superwhites". Next to the grapes of international vines, which here have in many cases found ideal production areas, equally important is the presence of native vines that with their wines characterize the enology of the region.
TYPICAL DISHES
San Daniele Ham
It can be considered the starter par excellence, world-famous. Alone, or accompanied by other cured meats, it is the appetizer par excellence. In the summer season it is also enjoyed with melon or figs. Then, in the opinion of the writer, its true taste is "enjoyed" by tasting it in the town where it is produced: it must be the effect of the microclimate, the same that makes it a unique product.
Pasta barley and beans
Poor, peasant dish, which is eaten warm in summer, when fresh beans are found and then in winter, hot and steaming, prepared with dried beans. Beans are strictly borlotti, which are grown in abundance in Friuli.
Brovada and Muset
Typical dish of Friulian cuisine, used to accompany roast or boiled meat, combined with wine. Since 2011 it has also been recognized as a DOP brand.
It is obtained by cutting in small slices (about the same as sauerkraut) of the purple-collar turnips macerated in the pomace and cooking them for a long time in the pot, with oil, bay leaves, and often a piece of pork (rib or nose or other fatty cut of the pig ).
Cjarsons
The cjarsons, are a typical dish of Friuli cuisine; more precisely from the Alpine region of Carnia but also widespread in the Friuli plain. They are made from a mixture of soft wheat or stuffed potatoes, similar to agnolotti or ravioli, and characterized by a contrast between the sweet and salty taste.
Goulasch
Typical of Hungary, for the preparation of this dish the meat was cooked together with the onions until all the cooking liquid was dried. Then he spread on wooden boards to dry it in the sun. What was made from it was put into leather skins so that it could be easily transported during long wanderings.
Frico and Polenta
It looks like a cheese pie, to which potatoes or onions are often added, in the Sauri area, then, it is also presented with speck. Always soft, warm and stringy inside, it can sometimes have a crispy crust, other times it can be cooked evenly. There is also a crunchy version.
Jòta Triestina
Soup made with sauerkraut, beans and seasoned with ribs or other smoked pork at its discretion. La Jòta is a soup that lends itself to many variations and some of these are also widespread in neighboring Slovenia. Butter, pancetta, ham bone, wine and sausages: a restorative pot to cope with the harshest winters and the Friuli winds.
STARRY
RESTARAUNTS
AGLI
AMICI
Via Liguria 252
Udine (UD)
+ 39 0432 565411
TRATTORIA
AL CACCIATORE
Via Subida 52
Cormons (GO)
+ 39 0481 60531
HARRY'S
PICCOLO
Piazza Unità d'Italia 2
Trieste (TS)
+ 39 040 660606
L'ARGINE DI VENCO'
Località Vencò
Dolegna del Collio (GO)
+ 39 350 521 2804
LA
TAVERNA
Piazza Castello 2
Colloredo di Monte Albano (UD)
+ 39 0432 889045
LA
PRIMULA
Via S. Rocco 47
San Quirino (PN)
+ 39 0434 91005
AL
FERARUT
Via Cavour 34
Rivignano Teor (UD)
+ 39 0432 775039
OSTERIA
ALTRAN
Via Cortona 19
Ruda (UD)
+ 39 0431 969402
LAITE
Borgata Hoffe 10
Sappada (UD)
+ 39 0435 469070
