Maccherone pasta festival

Original name: Sagra del Maccherone

Place: Sassofortino hamlet, in Roccastrada municipality, in Grosseto Province.

First year of the festival: 1978

Period: first half of August

2019 scheduled on: from 3 to 7 and from 9 to 15 August

Opening times: every evening from 7.30 pm; Sundays and 15 August on lunch too, from 12.30

Local Specialties:

• First courses - maccheroni al ragù, maccheroni pasta with meat sauce; maccheroni al cinghiale, maccheroni with wild boar;; tortelli maremmani al cinghiale, tortelli pasta with wild boar; tortelli al ragù, tortelli with meat sauce; tortelli al burro e salvia, tortelli with sage and butter;
• Second courses - trippa, tripes; cinghiale alla cacciatora, wild boar stew; bistecca di manzo, t-bone steak; bistecca di maiale, pork steak; salsiccia, pork sausage
• Side dish - fagioli all’uccelletta, beans in tomato sauce; fagioli all’olio, beans with olive oil

Generally maccheroni pasta isn’t part of Tuscan traditional cuisine, but Sassofortino is in south Tuscany and so it gets some influence from north Latium, where pasta has a central place in cooking. That’s why here you’ll have a choice of first courses with pasta, not only the “maccheroni” but also the tortelli maremmani, with different sauces going from the rich wild boar, to the classic ragù meat, and a more simple “burro e salvia”, butter and sage.

As for second courses, the wild boar stands out as the most complex dish, while other recipes are all great traditional Tuscan: grilled veal t-bone steak, pork steak, grilled sausages; and trippa, tripes, another favorite of our region.

Beans will be perfect as side dish too, in two recipes, simply boiled and seasoned with olive oil, or “all’uccelletta” with sage and tomato, both delicious.