Emilia Romagna Castles

A journey through the most beautiful kitchens in the Castles of Emilia Romagna.

The historic kitchens or the most evocative dining rooms of castles and ancient residences represent in Emilia Romagna one of the most unexpected and special do-it-yourself 'tourist routes' to be discovered because, during guided tours of fortresses and manor houses, going in search of period kitchens really means encountering great stories of food and wine, stories of hearths and cauldrons that represent the culinary identity of the territories, stories of iceboxes and storerooms where food, wine, oil and salt were conserved to withstand the harshest months of the year, or where foodstuffs and supplies were stored to cope with famines or sieges.

Numerous castles in Emilia Romagna, as well as abbeys and villas, are characterised precisely by the presence of rooms used centuries ago as kitchens: they were often located in the basement spaces of strongholds, strategically designed and managed to facilitate food supply, preservation and cooking operations in well-defined rooms such as those dedicated to the kitchen, pantries, cellars, ovens or pastry.

In the kitchens, but not only in them, we can find large fireplaces where the ancient spits on which poultry, lambs, piglets or various types of game, often the spoils of the exclusive hunting parties of the nobility, partridges, larks and birds, pigeons or snipe, were roasted.
In the kitchens we can find traces of solutions to improve or facilitate the work or processing of food by the cooks.

We can still admire old tools such as, ovens, iceboxes, pots, dishes, frying pans, grills, handicrafts with copper materials.
In the dining rooms of some castles in Emilia Romagna, service cupboards are displayed or are displayed on special occasions, such as themed exhibitions: tables decorated with centrepieces, trays, tablecloths, plates and spaces to keep food warm.

Here are 5 places of absolute charm to visit in Emilia Romagna.

The Rocca Sforzesca in Dozza (Bologna), an 11th-century building with a hexagonal layout, contains a charming kitchen, an example of Emilian patriarchal equipment with cupboards, utensils and a well.

The Castle of Rivalta (Piacenza) in the Castles of the Duchy circuit houses, visible in the visit itinerary, the beautiful Kitchen of the Branches, with its large fireplace and large collection of pots, cake moulds, copper utensils embellished by other particular objects in iron and precious porcelain. To visit Rivalta Castle, reservations and information: info@castellidelducato.it

At the Castle of Agazzano (Piacenza), also in the Castelli del Ducato circuit, visible in the tour route, there are traces of the ancient kitchen with its wood-burning oven, also used as a set for TV formats such as Gambero Rosso by star chefs Igles Corelli and Isa Mazzocchi. To visit the Castle of Agazzano, reservations and information: info@castellidelducato.it

At the Castle of San Pietro in Cerro (Piacenza), also in the Castelli del Ducato circuit, visible in the tour route, you will find the kitchen with branches in full view, frying pans, pots, copper jugs on a large fireplace and the bucket connected to the external well in the more than twenty-hectare park in the manor house. Over the years, star chefs Aurora Mazzucchelli, Filippo Chiappini Dattilo and Gianni d'Amato have cooked in this castle. To visit the Castle of San Pietro, reservations and information: info@castellidelducato.it

At the Antica Corte Pallavicina in Polesine Parmense (Parma), one of the Castles of the Po, in the Castelli del Ducato circuit, everything is superfine 'cuisine': starting with the large fireplace visible at the entrance to the courtyard, where on the embers a large dark pot evokes soups and gastrofluvial flavours, polenta as well as products of the art of pork butchery reworked in some cases and just as often respecting the best traditions by starred chef Massimo Spigaroli. In this castle, in fact, in addition to visiting the warm and cosy rooms, the ancient cellars - among the oldest in Italy - where Culatelli and cheeses, including Parmigiano Reggiano, are matured, you can also stop and eat at either the Hosteria del Maiale in the left wing of the manor or the Michelin-starred restaurant in the right wing of the castle. To visit the Antica Corte Pallavicina, bookings and information:
info@castellidelducato.it

Would you like to discover other historic kitchens among the castles of Emilia Romagna?
See you soon with the next article and new surprising manors to get to know.

The project blog Castelli Emilia Romagna is co-financed by the European Funds of the Emilia-Romagna Region - Por Fesr 2014-2020. Editing and research by Gianluca Bagnara, Francesca Maffini, Antonella Fava.