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Cipolla ramata di Montoro (copper onion)

PAT · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Campania

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

The copper onion is named after Montoro, a town in the Irno valley 14 kilometres from Avellino; the regional sheet ties it to the lands of Montoro Inferiore and Montoro Superiore. The word ramata, coppery, comes from the copper colour of the bulb's outer skin.

It is a native variety of the Montoro plain, grown since time immemorial with age-old techniques. In the hardest years of the twentieth century it helped families through the hunger of the world wars: people ate bread, when there was any, with onion.

Almost every family in Montoro grew it, and parmigiana of copper onion was one of the Sunday dishes. Today it is listed among Campania's traditional products and recorded in Slow Food's Ark of Taste as a variety at risk; in 2024 the local Pro Loco presented it as a candidate for PGI recognition.

Sources: Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Prodotto tradizionale: cipolla ramata di Montoro · Fondazione Slow Food — Arca del Gusto: Cipolla ramata di Montoro · Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali: Parmigiana di cipolla ramata di Montoro · Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Montoro · Provincia di Avellino, Sistema Irpinia — L'Oro di Montoro, Festa della Cipolla Ramata (2024) · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

The area is the Montoro plain, between the provinces of Avellino and Salerno, centred on the lands of Montoro Inferiore and Superiore.

The method has stayed the same across the whole area: seedlings are raised in autumn, transplanted to the field in January-February, and harvest begins in the second half of June.

After harvesting, the onions are left to dry in the field, then placed in well-ventilated wooden structures until they are sold, usually in jute sacks. Kept cool in airy rooms, they can last until March of the following year. Sowing thus takes place in late summer or autumn and harvest at the start of the following summer, a cycle that fills almost the whole farming year.

Sources: Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Prodotto tradizionale: cipolla ramata di Montoro · Fondazione Slow Food — Arca del Gusto: Cipolla ramata di Montoro

How to recognise it

It is globular, slightly flattened. On the outside it recalls the colour of copper; inside, the layers show white and purple streaks.

The taste is sweet and delicate, the aroma intensely aromatic. It can be eaten raw or cooked and is very easy to digest.

Its high dry-matter content gives it two qualities valued on the market: it holds up very well in cooking and keeps for a long time. That is why it is the onion of choice for dishes that need long cooking. These qualities make it sought after both in Italy and abroad, and the tradition of growing it in the family has carried its character through to the present day.

Sources: Provincia di Avellino, Sistema Irpinia — L'Oro di Montoro, Festa della Cipolla Ramata (2024) · Fondazione Slow Food — Arca del Gusto: Cipolla ramata di Montoro · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Prodotto tradizionale: cipolla ramata di Montoro

In the kitchen

The best-known dish is ragù alla genovese, the pasta sauce typical of Campanian cooking, which calls for an onion able to withstand long cooking.

Montoro also has its parmigiana of copper onion, likewise listed among Campania's traditional products: the onions, peeled by hand and sliced into rings, are coated and fried in extra virgin olive oil, then layered with peeled tomatoes, cow's-milk scamorza and grated cheese, and the parmigiana is finished in the oven.

Raw, it is excellent in all kinds of salads; cooked, it suits soups, broths, sauces and side dishes, or baked with a thin coat of oil and a pinch of pepper.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Arca del Gusto: Cipolla ramata di Montoro · Provincia di Avellino, Sistema Irpinia — L'Oro di Montoro, Festa della Cipolla Ramata (2024) · Regione Campania — Prodotti tradizionali: Parmigiana di cipolla ramata di Montoro

Where to taste it

Montoro is a town of many hamlets in the Irno valley, at about 190 metres above sea level. Its sights include the Lombard castle in the hamlet of Borgo, the Grotto of San Michele, the sanctuary of Maria Santissima Incoronata and the Museum of Rural and Craft Activities in San Bartolomeo.

In September 2024 the Pro Loco Città di Montoro held the first edition of L'Oro di Montoro, the copper onion festival, in the hamlet of Piano, with tastings of traditional dishes and a talk on the road to PGI status.

The fresh onion season begins at the end of June, but thanks to its long keeping it can be found for much of the year. Avellino is 14 kilometres away, so the visit can continue to the Irpinian capital.

Sources: Sistema Irpinia (Provincia di Avellino) — Montoro · Provincia di Avellino, Sistema Irpinia — L'Oro di Montoro, Festa della Cipolla Ramata (2024) · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Prodotto tradizionale: cipolla ramata di Montoro · Fondazione Slow Food — Arca del Gusto: Cipolla ramata di Montoro

Protection

When

Where

Campania

Read more

Montoro copper onion

A sweet, long-keeping onion: traditional growing, genovese sauce and the Sunday parmigiana, the path towards PGI status, Montoro and its September festival.

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