Rosso scritto bean of the Pantano di Pignola

History and origin

The red scritto bean takes its name from the basin of the Pantano di Pignola, a few kilometres from Potenza. A print from 1702 already shows the lake below the village of «Vigniola», next to the church of the Madonna del Pantano.

According to tradition the bean reached the upper Basento valley even earlier, brought by Spaniards returning from the Americas, and settled in so well that it became a staple of the local diet. In the Napoleonic era the Statistica Murattiana of 1811, the survey commissioned by Joachim Murat on living conditions in the Kingdom of Naples, shows how much beans mattered to farming families. By the late nineteenth century the harvest of Pignola and its surroundings was among the most important, and in 1923 its beans took part in the Third International Trade Fair in Naples.

After the war, farming gave way to livestock and industry, surviving almost only in family plots. Today it is slowly recovering, supported by the Slow Food Presidium.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola

Area and method of production

The Presidium area covers the municipality of Pignola and part of Abriola, above 600 metres, in the province of Potenza. The Pantano lake lies in a broad basin surrounded by the Maddalena mountains, which rise above a thousand metres and enclose it like a natural amphitheatre.

The climate suits the bean well: in July, August and September maximum temperatures stay below 30 degrees and relative humidity is around 70%. The well-drained silty-clay soil gives the best yields. Harvest falls between the first ten days of September and early October.

In recent years ALSIA, the Lucanian agency for agricultural development and innovation, selected and described the seed together with all the remaining growers. Today the producers belong to an association of guardian farmers with its own production rules.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola

How to recognise it

The plant is a climber and produces a round to egg-shaped seed with a beige background marked by dark red speckles. These marks, like writing on the skin, give the bean its name of «rosso scritto», written red.

To identify the original product, the association of guardian farmers has adopted a mark for beans grown under its own rules. It is a useful guide, since the ecotype is closely tied to the microclimate of the Pantano and its soils.

Production remains small: after years when the bean was confined to family plots, recent studies and its listing among traditional products are encouraging a slow revival of cultivation.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola

Where to taste it

The red scritto bean is found in Pignola and in the parts of Abriola above 600 metres, a few kilometres from Potenza. The landscape is that of the Pantano basin, with the lake below the village and the church of the Madonna del Pantano, beneath the ring of the Maddalena mountains.

The best time to look for it is late summer, between September and early October, when it is harvested after a cool summer, with highs in the basin staying below 30 degrees.

A stop in Pignola fits easily with a visit to the Lucanian capital and the upper Basento valley: a way to get to know a corner of Basilicata where a small group of guardian farmers keeps a crop with a long history alive.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola

Protection

• Slow Food Presidium — fagiolo-rosso-scritto-del-pantano-di-pignola (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola)

When

• Harvest: September–October (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Fagiolo rosso scritto del Pantano di Pignola)
• Autumn

Where

Basilicata