APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Mischiglio
PAT · Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Basilicata
In brief
- A blend of wheat, barley, oat and pulse flours such as chickpea and broad bean, traditional in Calvera, Chiaromonte, Teana and Fardella, in the Lucanian Pollino park. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
- It arose because wheat barely covered taxes paid in kind and had to be stretched with other grains and pulses. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
- Recipes vary by village: half Carosella wheat and half broad bean in Teana and Fardella, and a third each of Senatore Cappelli, Carosella and pulses with barley in Chiaromonte and Calvera. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
- It is used for rascatielli, pasta shaped with the fingertips and dressed with a very thin tomato sauce. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
History and origin
Mischiglio was born on the Lucanian side of the Pollino park, in the Serrapotamo valley between the Sinni and Serrapotamo rivers. Here lie Chiaromonte, clinging to a rocky spur above the valley, Teana, Fardella and Calvera. The area is so fertile that it was nicknamed «little Mesopotamia», yet it is not especially suited to cereals.
In past centuries farmers grew wheat mainly to pay taxes: from the mid-eighteenth century the Bourbon kingdom collected its duties in grain, and what was left was not enough for families. So wheat flour was mixed with flours of oats, barley, chickpeas and broad beans, creating a blend called mischiglio, from the word for mixture.
With this flour people made a special version of rascatielli, the pasta of the poor. Today mischiglio flour is listed among Basilicata's traditional food products and is a Slow Food Presidium.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)
Area and method of production
Today mischiglio is made by blending soft wheat flour from the old Carosella variety or durum wheat Senatore Cappelli with oats, barley, chickpeas and broad beans in varying proportions. The Presidium area covers Calvera, Chiaromonte, Teana and Fardella and the neighbouring municipalities, in the province of Potenza, inside the Pollino National Park.
The Presidium follows the chain from field to table. Cereals and pulses are grown on agroecological principles, and some belong to old local varieties such as Carosella wheat or the Latronico chickpea. The work continues in the mills, which grind local grains and pulses together, and ends in Lucanian kitchens.
The Presidium community brings together farmers, mills and pasta makers committed to preserving this flour and making it known beyond Basilicata.
How to recognise it
There is no single mischiglio: each of the four villages where the tradition survives has its own recipe. In Teana and Fardella the flour is half Carosella wheat and half broad beans. In Chiaromonte and Calvera it is one third durum Senatore Cappelli, one third soft Carosella wheat and one third pulses and barley, with oats added when needed.
Each blend combines cereals and pulses, often old local varieties such as Carosella wheat or the Latronico chickpea, and bears the imprint of a peasant economy in which nothing was wasted and wheat had to be made to last.
Mischiglio flour is recognised among Basilicata's traditional products under the name «Farina di mischiglio».
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)
In the kitchen
Mischiglio is used above all for rascatielli, or raschiatelli, a pasta shape found throughout Basilicata and Calabria, which in Lucania dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. They are still made by working the dough with the fingertips on a board, and look like orecchiette, only larger and longer.
The traditional dressing is a very runny sauce of tomato, garlic and basil called «scind scind», sometimes with flakes of crusco pepper added. The dish is almost a soup and can be eaten with a spoon or with bread.
It is a humble and generous cuisine, bringing cereals and pulses to the table together and keeping the taste of the fields of the Serrapotamo valley.
Where to taste it
Mischiglio is found in the four Presidium municipalities, Chiaromonte, Teana, Fardella and Calvera, and in the nearby villages of the Serrapotamo valley, on the Lucanian side of the Pollino National Park. In the kitchens of these villages mischiglio rascatielli are a home dish.
The Presidium community, made up of local farmers, mills and pasta makers, works to make the flour and pasta available beyond the valley; the best way to get to know them, however, is to taste them on the spot, with their tomato and crusco pepper dressing.
A trip to the Lucanian Pollino, between Chiaromonte and the Sinni valley, combines mountain scenery, hilltop villages and one of Basilicata's oldest peasant traditions.
Protection
- Traditional agri-food product (PAT) — Basilicata, n. 79, 26th revision (Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026))
- Slow Food Presidium — mischiglio (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
When
- Traditionally eaten: all year round (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mischiglio)
Where
Pollino
A mountain landscape shared by Calabria and Basilicata, explored through walks, villages and a considered pace.
Read the guide →Photo: Gianni Lupindo / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.
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Teana miskiglio pasta
Wheat, broad beans, barley, chickpeas and oats milled together: the pasta born to pay taxes in grain, the Slow Food Presidium, four Pollino villages' recipes and Teana's summer.
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