Saffron of Navelli – Specialties
30 Kilometres from the city L’Aquila lies the elevated plain of Navelli which is renowned internationally for its cultivation of world class saffron. The harvest of the precious Crocus sativus, the Saffron flower takes place in October.
Those who have witnessed the Saffron harvest don’t question the high price of the spice which is dealt internationally as the most expensive spice in the world. Flower for flower is picked in painstaking (and may I add, backbreaking) manual labour and the red Saffron filaments, the stigmas, therefore female part of the flower, are removed on the same day and dried afterwards. One becomes aware of the degree of the Sisyphus labour entailed when the small mountain of individual filaments, 300.000 needed to produce one single Kilogram of Saffron, is spread out on a table.
Tradition since Roman Times
Saffron was cultivated in Navelli by the Roman Empire and used as a pigment for their mural paintings. Well into the 16th century the province of L’Aquila was a hub for saffron production and today the yearly yield is between 50 and 100 Kilograms. Characteristically, saffron never played much of a role in the Abruzzese cuisine and any “typical” recipe found today is actually a very young one; the precious spice was plain and simply too expensive for it to be consumed locally and was exported from the early beginnings.
Luckily things have changed and there are a variety of saffron specialties available on the plain of Navelli but the majority of the crop is still exported and sought-after in many metropolitan cities such as Milan, London, Paris and New York. A legendary and internationally acclaimed dish is “Risotto Milanese” which integrates the coveted spice.
DOP-Quality
Saffron of Navelli has received the European “DOP” (Denominazione d’Origine Protetta) seal of quality which guarantees the origin of the products carrying this seal. The designation “Zafferano dell’Aquilla DOP” is carried by saffron from the following growing areas: Barisciano, Caporciano, Fagnano Alto, Fontecchio, L’Aquila, Molina Aterno, Navelli, Poggio Picenze, Prata d’Ansidonia, San Demetrio nei Vestini, San Pio delle Camere, Tione degli Abruzzi und Villa Sant’Angelo.
The yearly saffron festival, “Sagra di Ceci e dello Zaferrano”, takes place in the middle of August in the small medieval town of Navelli in order to celebrate chickpeas and the venerated saffron. On offer is a variety of regional specialties such as “gnocchetti con ceci” and saffron risotto.
