Apulica — Taste Travel Together

APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES

Bagno onion

Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Abruzzo

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

The Bagno onion is a local ecotype from the L'Aquila basin, tied to the hamlets of Bagno, Civita di Bagno and Monticchio in the municipality of L'Aquila, and to part of the neighbouring municipality of Ocre. Until about sixty years ago it was also grown higher up, at around a thousand metres, on Monte Ocre.

Until the 1960s it was an important source of income for growers: part of the crop went to a merchant in Terni, together with beans sown on the stubble, to be processed. Locals have always credited the onion with special qualities, which they link to the water of the small lakes of San Raniero and San Giovanni used for irrigation.

The ecotype has survived thanks to a few farmers and many family gardens. In Bagno nobody lets other onions flower, to avoid cross-pollination, and one Presidium producer grows the seed and hands out sets to anyone who asks.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla di Bagno

Area and method of production

It is grown on flat, irrigated land. The cycle starts with the seed: between January and February the largest bulbs from the previous year are planted, and between late June and early July the small black seeds are gathered and dried in the sun. The seed is sown in small plots set aside for sets, which are trimmed to about twenty centimetres before transplanting.

The field is prepared in autumn with ploughing to 30-35 centimetres and light harrowing, and fertilised with well-rotted manure, preferably sheep manure. The crop is rotated every year with wheat or barley.

The sets are planted out between late May and late June, around the patron feast of San Raniero on the last Sunday of June. Generous flood irrigation follows, and the crust of the soil is broken up. The onion grows half above ground; in rainy spells near maturity the stem is bent over. It is harvested between late August and late September.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla di Bagno

How to recognise it

It is a slightly flattened onion with a golden skin and white, almost translucent flesh. The taste is sugary; the smell is pungent but leans towards sweet, and the texture is firm.

It is a big onion: each bulb weighs on average between 400 and 1,100 grams, with a diameter usually of 10 to 15 centimetres and up to 20-25.

It is mostly eaten fresh, but it also keeps: families tie it in braids and store it somewhere cool in the cellar, or put it in upturned crates.

Its bond with the place is strong: to protect the ecotype, nobody in Bagno lets other onions flower, so as to avoid cross-pollination.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla di Bagno

In the kitchen

Traditional dishes are onion with salt cod, served on feast days, onion baked with breadcrumbs and onion baked with potatoes.

Many families turn it into compote, jam and sweet-and-sour preserves following household recipes. The compote and preserves go well with fresh and aged cheeses and with boiled meats.

In Bagno people still remember a snack grandparents made for children: an onion cooked whole under the embers of the fireplace, then cleaned, opened and sprinkled with sugar. A simple way to bring out its natural sweetness.

Compote and preserves mean it can be enjoyed well beyond the harvest season.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla di Bagno

Where to taste it

The onion is found in the hamlets of Bagno, Civita di Bagno and Monticchio, in the municipality of L'Aquila, and in part of the municipality of Ocre. The best time is late summer, when it is harvested between late August and late September.

The farming calendar follows the village's religious one: planting takes place around the feast of San Raniero on the last Sunday of June, and the small lakes named after the same saint and Saint John are those that supplied the irrigation water.

A visit to L'Aquila, with its hamlets and the basin ringed by mountains, is the chance to discover this product in its own landscape.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Cipolla di Bagno

Protection

When

Where

Abruzzo