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Food and wine on the Island of Elba: ltypical dishes and traditional flavours

Elba cuisine: food and wine and typical products

The flavours of the Elba cuisine come from simple dishes where fantasy mingles with knowledge when choosing the ingredients. This very cuisine, considered humble in the past, thanks to tourism is today considered refined.

The most popular dishes are those that require long and complicated preparation, and one of the hot favourites is without a doubt the Rio style stockfish, an exquisite dish made with salted anchovies, onions, tomatoes, basil, parsely, green peppers, black olives, pine nuts, capers and of course oil, chilli peppers and salt.

Gurguglione is another speciality from Rio made from vegetables, cuttlefish ink risotto, stuffed tattlers, the famous cacciucco or fish soup, but also very simple dishes like boiled octopus, fried picarels or stuffed sardines.

After all these delicious dishes you could only finish off with a good wine, even though, sad to say, Elba used to have about 3.000 hectares of vineyards but over the past fifty years they have gone down to less than 200.

However the Elba wines are first class and many bear the DOC label, such as the excellent: Elba White, Elba Red, Rosato, Ansonica, Moscato and Aleatico (DOCG).

PIT Elba

PIT Elba is the home delivery service on the Island of Elba that enables you to order lunch or dinner straight from your home in just a few simple clicks.

Food & Wine Experience

A selection of the best wineries on the Island of Elba where you can taste some food and also do some wine tasting.

Traditional recipes

The oldest dishes of Elba cuisine: traditional, local recipes

Bonito in oil

Bonito in oil is delicious if served with boiled white haricot beans, slices of mature, fresh tomatoes, fresh onions and basil.

Stuffed mussels

A simple cuisine dish that is perfect as a starter or served as a main course.

Risotto with squid ink

How they make risotto with squid ink in Elba.

Elbano's "Penne in Barca"

The recipe for the world famous "Penne in Barca", invented by the Portoferraio chef Elbano Benassi.

Spaghetti with Spider-crab

The Elba recipe for spaghetti with Spider-crab (Granseola)

Pappardelle with mushrooms

The recipe for home made pappardelle with fresh mushrooms

Spaghetti with squid

Squid sauce is very tasty and perfect for any occasion and is made with fresh and delicious ingredients.

Stockfish Sburrita

The Rio version of stockfish sburrita, the best known and most tasty on the Island of Elba.

Bordatino

A humble man's dish that has several variations in many of the coastal regions in Tuscany.

Gurguglione

Recipe for “Guguglione”, a mixture of stewed peppers and aubergines and other vegetables, very popular in the past among miners and farmers.

Poacher's wild boar

The recipe for poacher's wild boar is very tasty and is known all over Italy as "Hunter's wild boar".

Elba style cacciucco

Cacciucco is a fish soup made with different types of what is considered today poor man's fish and shellfish.

Fried stockfish

The recipe for fried stockfish: a simple cuisine dish but very tasty and easy to prepare.

Rio style Stockfish

Recipe for Stockfish, a delicious and very tasty traditional dish from Rio.

Fried anchovies

Recipe for fried anchovies, that are very tasty and easy to make

Stuffed sardines

One of the many dishes with sardines, a fish that was considered humble but that in actual fact is very tasty and is rich in nutritional values.

Elba style boiled octopus

Step by step recipe for boiled octopus, following the Elba recipe that requires no seasoning.

Elba-style panzanella

The Elba-style panzanella is prepared with salted tuna fish in oil, and in Elba it is also called "Capponata" in memory of the original name.

Stockfish with chickpeas

One of the many recipes with stockfish as the main ingredient handed down by the women in Elba: stockfish with chickpeas

Whitebait fritters

Delicious fritters made with tiny fish, also called "gianchetti" in Italian

Stuffed squid

One of the many variations of the recipe for stuffed Squid

Cauliflower with anchovies

Cauliflower with anchovies is a typical Chrismas Eve dish.

Castagnaccio and fritters

The recipe for Castagnaccio is typically from Elba, and by following the same recipe you can also make delicious fritters.

Schiaccia Briaca

Recipe for “Schiaccia Briaca”, the typical Elba cake made from aleatico wine and dried fruit.

Fig jam

Fig jam is easy to make, use figs when they are in season and you can enjoy it in the winter months.

Resiné

A type of mustard, not unlike the French «raisiné», often eaten to accompany most types of cheese.

Easter Schiaccia

One of the typical recipes from Elba, not very different to those for other parts of the region of Tuscany.

Bread with birds made in San Piero

This bread is shaped using a metal cutter and is traditional, Elba cuisine. Tasty and fragrant, it is decorated with birds, doves or other Easter symbols.

Chestnut pudding

Ingredients and method for making chestnut pudding

Sailor's Bread

Sailor's (or Fisherman's) Bread was given to sailors as a comforter, and the recipe is known in many Mediterranean countries.

Schiacciunta

Recipe for “Schiacciunta”, a sweet, biscuit type of cake from the Island of Elba that is usually made during the winter months.

Fig "imbollita"

Recipe for Fig "Imbollita", one of the Island of Elba's oldest and most traditional cakes.s

Corollo

The recipe for the “Corollo” , a ring shaped cake that in the past was traditionally made for a special celebration.

Frangette

Crisp and delicate pastries that are typically made for the Carneval, their name depends on the region they are made in.

San Giuseppe fritters

San Giuseppe rice fritters are a dessert that are made on the Island of Elba on March 19th to celebrate Father's Day.

Ceremito and sportella

The Ceremito (or cerimito) and the Sportella are typical cakes made traditionally at Easter in Rio Elba.

Elba wines

The most important wines from Elba are elba white, red, aleatico, moscato, rosato and ansonica.

Elba Bianco DOC

Elba Bianco is one of the most famous wines from the Island of Elba

Elba Ansonica DOC

The more and more frequent use of cultivating ansonica grapes has made it possible to create the Controlled Denomination of Origin in Ansonica Elba wine.

Elba Vermentino DOC

Since the 2011 grape harvesting it has been produced as Elba Vermentino DOC

Elba Procanico DOC

Procanico wine is a special type of Trebbiano Toscano, with pink coloured grapes that are very rich in sugar but produced to a lesser extent than the Trebbiano

Elba Rosso DOC

This wine is a clear example of the strong and decisive character of the ground the grapes come from: the Island of Elba

Elba DOC Red Reserve

Elba Rosso Riserva DOC is made from the same grapes of the Elba Rosso, with the difference that it is left to age for at least 24 months.

Elba Rosé DOC

Elba has a long term tradition of rosé wines. Elba Rosé DOC is drunk as a nouvelle wine, best if served chilled in the summer months.

Elba Muscat Passito DOC

Elba Muscat Passito DOC is made from 100% specially chosen Muscatel Grapes that, once picked, are left to dry in the sun.

Elba Ansonica Passito DOC

Ansonica grapes are grown in ancient vineyards along the coasts of the Meditteranean.

Elba Aleatico Passito DOCG

Elba Aleatico Passito is the first DOCG wine from the Tuscan Archipelago islands and the eighth in Tuscany.

Herbs and typical products

Home-made honey, beer from Elba, extra virgin oil, wild and aromatic plants.

Herbs and plants

The aromatic herbs, the wild and rural plants that are used in the Elba cuisine.

Bonito in oil

Bonito in oil is a top quality natural product considered a deicacy by the locals on the Island of Elba.

Extra virgin olive oil

The traditional olives grown on the Island of Elba make an excellent extra virgin olive oil that has been awarded the IGP Tuscany label.

Cheeses and ricottas

In the small farms goats and sheep are bred while cheeses and ricotta cheeses have an intense an d inviting flavour.

Honey

Elba honey is a rich, nutririous and important product and is best enjoyed with soft, fresh cheeses.

Beer

Making craft beer is one of the latest innovations in Elba, and is a beer that is neither filtered nor pasteurized but made in a completely natural way.

Jams and preserves

Getting to know the undergrowth and forest fruits and products all over again has encouraged several farms to produce a very wide variety of jams and preserves.

Cakes

Traditionally served on special occasions, the typical cakes on the Island of Elba are made all year round in the bakers' craft laboratories and in the bakeries

Liquors

The liquors from the Island of Elba have the same perfume as that of the essence of the earth.

Typical dishes and their origins

All the Elba dishes have simple, basic ingredients that the skilled members of the previous generation turn into delicacies.

Restaurants and pizzerias

A choice of restaurants and pizzerias in Elba where you can savour the typical Elba cuisine.

Portoferraio

Restaurants, taverns and inns in the characteristic narrow streets in the centre of Portoferraio, dishes made from meat and fish.

Marina di Campo

Restaurants and pizzerias in the town of Marina di Campo, both in the centre and on the sea front..

Marciana Marina

Restaurants, pizzerias, inns and bars in the town of Marciana Marina. Typical Elba dishes made from fish.

Marciana

For those who prefer dishes made from meat, Marciana is undoubtedly the perfect place. Restaurants and taverns in Marciana.

Porto Azzurro

In Porto Azzurro the tables in the restaurants liven up the streets when the sun goes down, and the aroma of freshly served food is in the air.

Capoliveri

Restaurants, pizzerias and inns in the town of Capoliveri

Rio Marina

Restaurants, pizzerias and inns in the town of Rio Marina

Rio nell'Elba

Restaurants and pizzerias in the town of Rio nell'Elba

For celiacs

The restaurants and pizzerias in Elba that cater for celiacs and serve gluten-free food.

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