Troccoli of Faeto: the pasta that tells the story of Faeto

Troccoli from Faeto are a dish that satisfies the soul as well as the palate. Handmade fresh pasta, the typical pasta of Faeto for generations, able to distil into a few ingredients the whole identity of a village that has withstood time by staying true to itself.

Anyone arriving in search of what to eat in Faeto will find a precise, deep-rooted, uncompromising answer: troccoli, thin strips of semolina pasta with a square cross-section, just rough enough to embrace bold sauces such as the one made with guanciale and coppa from black pigs.

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A village on the edge of the world, at the centre of everything

Faeto lies in the Alta Valle del Celone, at over 800 metres above sea level in the Monti Dauni, in the province of Foggia. It is one of the few places in Italy where a variety of Franco-Provençal still survives, a language brought here in the Middle Ages by settlers from the Franco-Alpine area. This linguistic uniqueness has also shaped the material culture of the village: customs, rituals, recipes. A layering that makes Faeto a singular destination for the gastronomy of Puglia.

Here the landscape is made of woods, silent valleys and open ridges. The air tastes different from the rest of Puglia. And so does the cooking.

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The troccolaturo: the tool that gives shape to tradition

The fresh pasta of the Daunian Subapennines

Troccoli from Faeto are a local variant of Apulian troccoli, a pasta shape found throughout the region but which in Faeto takes on its own character, linked to the ingredients and the way it is made. The dough is simple (durum wheat semolina, water, sometimes eggs), but it requires a skilled hand and respect for timing.

The tool that defines them is the troccolaturo (also called truccaturo): a grooved wooden rolling pin which, run over the rolled-out sheet of dough, cuts it into regular strips with a square or slightly rounded cross-section. 

Making troccoli the Faeto way involves no complex techniques, but it does require attention: the dough must be kneaded at length, the sheet rolled out patiently, the troccolaturo moved with steady pressure. It is a slow, meditative gesture. What today we would call slow food has always simply been the way things are done here.

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The sauce: guanciale, coppa and cherry tomatoes

Troccoli with guanciale and black pork from the Monti Dauni

The sauce that goes with troccoli in Faeto, whether in a traditional restaurant or a home kitchen, is no accident. Guanciale, coppa from the black pigs of the Monti Dauni and cherry tomatoes form a coherent culinary system, born of the same land.

Raising black pigs is a long-standing practice in the Monti Dauni. The animals roamed freely in the oak and beech woods, feeding on acorns and roots, and their meat, more flavourful and more marbled, has remained the heart of the cuisine of the Daunian Subapennines. Guanciale and coppa are the cuts through which this tradition expresses itself most directly.

The resulting sauce is intense, rich in just the right measure, balanced by the acidity of the cherry tomatoes. On troccoli, rough and firm enough to hold it without giving way, it becomes something complete. A dish that needs nothing more.

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Where to eat them: inns and living memory

The tradition of troccoli from Faeto has survived in the village’s inns and in private kitchens. It is a dish that has not been reinvented much. That is why it remains so authentic: it is still prepared as it always has been, with local ingredients and no concessions to standardised tastes.

For anyone planning an itinerary devoted to food, wine and the villages of Italy’s inland areas, Faeto is a rare stop: a place where the traditional fresh pasta of the Daunian Subapennines is still lived as part of the community’s identity, not as a museum attraction.

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Faeto, walking routes and the flavours of inland Puglia

The food experience in Faeto cannot be separated from the land around it. The walking routes and flavours of inland Puglia meet naturally here: the trails towards Monte Cornacchia, the highest peak in Puglia, run through woods and pastures that are also the larder of this cuisine.

Whoever comes to Faeto to walk, to seek silence, to taste the typical pasta of the Monti Dauni or to discover the extraordinary anomaly of a village that still speaks a Gallo-Romance language brought here from beyond the Alps in the Middle Ages, will find all of this organically connected. These are not separate experiences: they are aspects of the same story.

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Keep exploring the Alta Valle del Celone

Discover more places, traditions, history and intangible heritage of Faeto and the Alta Valle del Celone: from Franco-Provençal origins to local produce, from nature trails to the events that bring the village to life throughout the year.