Senigallia, seaside resort, traces its gourmet heritage to the daily catch from the Adriatic sea: anchovies, sardines, mackerel, red mullet, curled octopus, cuttlefish, sole, mantis shrimp, grey mullet, clams and mussels. Two traditional seafood dishes are always available on the Senigallia menu, grigliata (
grilled fish
) and fritto misto dell’Adriatico (
Adriatic mixed fry up
). The grilled fish is presented strictly “sa la mollica”, the local dialect for seasoned breadcrumbs with garlic and fresh parsley.
The mixed fry up always includes fresh fish locally called “le zanchette, i guattoli, la parazzola”. A delicious though nowadays quite rare dish, is the local
fish soup
brodetto senigalliese
. The authentic recipe as prepared by the “portolotti” (port people) includes 13 different types of fish, cooked slowly with fried onions, tomatoes (preferably tomato concentrate), and vinegar. Only a few restaurants have this dish on the menu, and only if ordered in advance.
Both the grilled and fried fish dishes should be accompanied by white wines from the local hills:
Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi
and
Bianchello del Metauro
.
Try also the tasty country cuisine. Amongst the traditional farmhouse dishes, discover a real Summer surprise,
roast goose
, and for Christmas dinner
salsiccia matta
(mad sausage) only available by ordering in advance from selected butchers in the town centre. In Senigallia it is also possible to savour a very tasty
roast pork, porchetta
, slowly cooked in a wood oven and seasoned with wild fennel.
With your roast pork a good glass of
Lacrima di Morro d’Alba
is highly recommended, red wine from the local hills, while for other roast meats the recommended wine is Rosso Conero , a quality Montepulciano with a hint of saltiness from the Adriatic.
Another typical local delicacy is called pizza con il formaggio, a special kind of bread with cheese, which, in the past, was prepared around Easter time. It deliciously combines sheep’s cheese,
pecorino
: the mature cheese is grated and then added to fresh chunks and mixed in the dough.
The traditional dessert is a cake called
ciambellone
. At Christmas this is accompanied by
vino di visciole
, a sweet drink made of wild cherries marinated in sugar and red wine (usually Sangiovese). During the grape harvest all the towns’ baker’s make
ciambelle con il mosto
, small cakes with grape juice and aniseed.
Senigallia also has a long tradition in olive oil production. The hills overlooking the sea are particularly suited to olive tree cultivation, and produce an exquisite
single- olive oil Raggia
, made by several small local farmers.
In the last few years an important project has been launched to promote
salame di
Frattula
, this salami is made according to a strict regime that uses only pigs bred in the open air, within a restricted area North of the Province of Ancona, which includes a part of the Senigallia council district (Scapezzano and Roncitelli).
Worth mentioning is the cooperative “La Terra e Cielo”,which has been operating in the Senigallia area for over twenty years. It is one of the most important Italian producers of organic food. They are also internationally famous for their prize winning pasta, made from durum wheat, organically grown on the hills of Senigallia.
