🥢 Fieno di Canepina: the medieval legacy that melts in your mouth (and in your heart)

✨ Among the chestnut woods of the Cimini Mountains, a golden thread rests on the cloth.It is Fieno di Canepina — past, present, and promise.

📜 Origins between history and legend

Fieno di Canepina, also known as maccarone, has roots going back to the Middle Ages.The first written reference dates to 1620, but the tradition has been passed down orally from generation to generation.

👉 In Canepina, the original name was maccarone, but in the 20th century, thanks to the work of Felice Cunsolo, the term fieno (“hay”) spread, inspired by its resemblance to strands of dried grass.

🍳 A simple recipe, a difficult art

The dough is made with eggs and flour (one egg per 100 g of flour), with no water added.The cut is paper-thin, often done by hand with a knife, and followed by slow drying.

🧺 After cooking, the delicate strands are laid on hemp cloths to dry and soak up the sauce, as tradition dictates.

🎉 The Fieno Festival

Every July, Canepina celebrates its signature pasta with a festival that is both a collective ritual and a feast of memory.The three symbolic condiments take the stage:

🍅 Light ragù – simple and embracing🍄 Cimini porcini mushrooms – the deep flavor of the local woods🌿 “All’Ernestina” sauce – cherry tomatoes, guanciale, and mint, a tribute to homely creativity

🏡 Canepina, the village of fieno

Nestled in the Cimini Mountains, Canepina takes its name from hemp, once a staple crop of the area.Today, alongside chestnut groves and hazelnut orchards, the village guards this gastronomic jewel, now an emblem of local identity.

🌍 From the village to the world

Fieno di Canepina has been included in the Slow Food Ark of Taste and awarded the De.Co. (Municipal Designation of Origin).Thanks to artisanal producers like Fanelli, this golden thread of the Tuscia region now travels across Italy and beyond.

✨ More than a dish, a heritage

Fieno is not just food: it is a Sunday ritual, a family memory, a shared heritage that bridges past and future.

“In every strand of fieno lies the secret accord of eggs and flour,the echo of families gathered together,and the ancient breath of a villagethat never forgets the value of sharing.”