Calabrian cuisine is oriented to the valorization of vegetables and fruit: essentially poor but healthy, the typically Mediterranean cuisine, which has been recently rediscovered and valued.

The wine
The Greek colonists baptized Calabria Enotria, the “wine land“, thus giving birth to the rite of giving these wines to the athletes in Olympia.
These Calabrian wines had a high alcohol content and resist to travel and spread all over the Mediterranean until To the Middle Ages.
Nowadays Calabria produces seven DOC wines, coming from the wine areas of Bivongi, Cirò, Lamezia Terme and Castrovillari. The production extends to dozens of other unique white and red wines, such as the area of Bianco on the Ionian coast where white, black and sangiovese wine variety are grown. The wine Greco of Bianco is produced by the oldest vineyard in Italy.

The oil
Apart from the quantity, Calabrian oil production is also distinguished by the great value of its quality due to the respect of an ancient tradition. In Calabria there are a lot of mills that have been marked D.O.C. and D.O.P. their oils thanks to their quality and production process.
Selected olive groves to obtain a unique aroma and flavor oil, highly digestible and universally recognized as a principle ingredient of the Italian cuisine.
Among the regional oil productions, we have to mention should the aromatized ones, obtained by flavoring the oil with virgin dried spices, such as chili pepper, rosemary, lemon, oregano and basil.
These oils give special flavor to the traditional Calabrian dishes.

The sweets
The desserts tell Calabrian traditions as well as the different cultures passed here in this region, for example the “crustoli“, which are even quoted in the verses of a famous Latin poet. They are small fried pasta, which can then be eaten naturally or flavoured with honey.
You may also taste “crispeddi a ventu” and the “tardiddi“, the latter ones fried and flavored with honey, of Brettia origin.
We obviously find the Saracen influence thanks to the addition of citrus and cinnamon that certainly give a spicy taste even more pleasing.