This spice has been used since the Middle Ages to season delicate meat and fish dishes, to flavour soups and scrambled eggs. Use it in your own recipes or enjoy it in dishes made by local chefs. The saffron grown around Lake Trasimeno is sold in the form of threads as a guarantee of quality.

Saffron in history

The Crocus plant – now known as saffron –  has been cultivated in Umbria since the Middle Ages. It was a major crop in Città della Pieve already in the thirteenth century, when it was used primarily as a pigment to dye fabrics, a major industry in that period, and for medicinal use. It was used in delicate recipes and as an ingredient in perfumes, cosmetics and liqueurs until it was replaced by new spices that appeared on the market after the discovery of the Americas. The cultivation of saffron in Città della Pieve was brought back to life in the 1970s, and thanks to the hard work of the Saffron Consortium which promotes the production and marketing, this precious spice is once again an important crop in the Trasimeno area.