In Colli al Metauro all it takes, to get some rest after a long walk, is to get into one of its many typical little restaurants, calmly sit down, and taste a variety of delicacies, the product of carefully cared for local cultivations, rooted into the respect for consumers and the care for quality. Making a list of all the excellent products of the territory is not easy. But let us mention the fine olive oil and the fresh Bianchello del Metauro wine, which respectively come from the splendid olive groves and from the vineyards that dominate the landscape, which in November is further enriched by the multicoloured expanse of blossoming chrysanthemums, a characteristic cultivation of this area. There are also cheeses by the strong taste, such traditional pastas as “cappelletti” and “passatelli”, and such warm sweet products of the oven as “maritozzi” ( a sort of soft croissants) and nut flavoured bread. A special mention is certainly deserved by the Pera Angelica di Serrungarina (Angelic Pear from Serungarina) , acknowledged as a traditional product of Marche. It is a fruit fully deserving its name, since the sweet and tasty juice pouring out of its white soft pulp, under a golden and bright red skin that recalls the colours of the sunset, does not really look like belonging to this world. Farmers, in Colli al Metauro, always cared for their unique pear groves, which they safeguard with the labour and the love that belong to those who devoted themselves to agriculture. In the beginning of September, during the festival dedicated to the Angelica Pear, this fruit can be tasted in a number of different uses and recipes, from grappa to raviolis, to marmalades and cakes. Also heavenly is the Liquor d’Ulivi (Olive Liquor) produced by Giuliano Berloni’s biological farm, a company always characterized by the high quality of its products, strengthened by the choice of practicing the biological agriculture. Dante makes this spirit mention in his Comedy, in Paradise, by St. Pier Damiani, who lived not far from the Berloni Farm. This liquor is produced from the infusion in alcohol of olive leaves and branches, with the addition of sugar and of rigorously natural scents, through a traditional process that lasts a few months. The outcome is a liquor by the sweet balsamic flavour, which can be enjoyed either straight, or cold, or warm.
Serrungarina