Piadina Romagnola

Piadina is flour, water, salt and fat, traditionally lard, rolled thin and cooked on a hot flat plate, once terracotta and now usually metal, until it blisters. It was peasant bread, made at home when there was no oven, and it moved into commerce in the twentieth century through the piadinerie, small kiosks by the roadside that are still the standard place to buy it. Two styles are recognised in the protected designation: thinner and larger around Rimini, thicker and smaller around Forlì and Cesena. The classic filling is squacquerone, a soft fresh cheese, with rocket and prosciutto crudo.

What you actually see

• The roadside kiosks - piadinerie cooking to order across the region.
• The two styles - thin and wide near Rimini, thick and small inland.
• The squacquerone filling - a soft fresh cheese with rocket and ham.
• The hot plate - a flat metal or terracotta testo the dough cooks on.

When to go

Year-round; kiosks on the coast are busiest in summer evenings, while inland ones work all year. Many open late into the night in the resort towns.

Honest expectations

Quality varies widely, and packaged supermarket versions are not comparable. Traditional recipes use lard, which not everyone wants. Kiosks are cash-friendly and basic.

Nearby

Rimini and the Romagna coast; the inland hills of Forlì and Cesena.