Marsican cuisine underwent a major change in the nineteenth century, when the entire food chain had to change after the drying up of Fucine Lake. In fact, the territorial upsetting that took place with the end of Fucine Lake resulted in a profound change in the local cuisine.

This change first occurred at the climatic level leading to the decrease of some types of crops in favour of others. This affected local inhabitants, who modified accordingly their food diet and also their jobs, passing from being mostly fishermen to becoming farmers.

Drying up, the Fucine Lake gave way to a large agricultural plain, cultivated mainly with sugar beets, potatoes and carrots. At the zootechnical level, cattle breeding was introduced, previously almost absent in the area. In conclusion, in Marsica in the 1880s, there was a true morphological and custom revolution that affected all sectors starting with food.

This cultural revolution fully affected the riparian villages, which almost suddenly became agricultural villages and underwent a very rapid change. The other centres, however, especially those in the mountains, resisted in their agro-pastoral traditions. At the culinary level this revolution brought the Fucine cuisine closer to the cuisine of mountain villages, with the introduction of meat in cooking recipes.

Initially the introduction of cattle in the Fucine area was not done for the production of meat, but above all to help in fieldworks. In fact, in Fucine in the 1880s cattle of the Marche breed were introduced, very suitable to work in the fields and for the production of meat.

Avezzano, given its proximity to the Fucino and as the capital of the Marsica, was among the first centres to be hit by the novelty of times. By transferring the location of his business here, Alessandro Torlonia made the town central to the Marsican scene. In a short time, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Avezzano grew a great deal, reaching 15,233 units.

With the 1915 earthquake the growth of the city broke off, due to the severe destruction caused by the earthquake to its productive fabric and to the huge number of dead brought about. After a few years Avezzano was partly rebuilt and under Fascism the city regained strength. Then the terrible years of the Second World War and the 1944 bombings, which again brought death and destruction upon Avezzano, again interrupted the path of development, which resumed at full capacity only after the war.

Then after the war, the harsh fight by the Fucine peasants against Torlonia, to gain control of the land they farmed as workers, allowed them, between ups and downs, to turn into agricultural entrepreneurs starting from the 1960s. A series of events situations such as the construction of the A24 and A25 motorways allowed a substantial improvement in the trade of agricultural products, which contributed significantly to the improvement of living conditions and to the subsequent economic boom of Marsica.

This economic boom, which exploded in the mid-1980s, saw Avezzano as its driving force with the numerous companies present on site, many of which had become medium-sized in 1985 and had Fucine as their major base.

Therefore, with the drying up of the lake in 1878, many former fishermen became peasants in the 1880s, and then over the course of several generations they evolved as agricultural entrepreneurs constituting from the 1960s and 1970s a highly productive economic fabric, especially in function of the development of some vegetables widely cultivated in the Piana del Fucino.

In practice with the drying up of the lake in 1878, many former fishermen became peasants in the 1880s, and then over the course of several generations they evolved as agricultural entrepreneurs, constituting since the 1960s and 1970s a highly productive economic fabric, especially in function of the development of some vegetables widely cultivated in the Fucine Plain.

The vegetables in question are the traditional Fucine potatoes and carrots, which over time have reached a very high level of quality, even better than the vegetables from northern Italy. Next to these products other crops were added in the second half of the 20th century; fiber hemp, cauliflower, fennel, wheat, salad, corn, tomatoes, red chicory and celery.

These vegetables, combined with cow and sheep meat ,are the basis of many local dishes, both first and second courses, which over time have mixed with the traditional Abruzzese mountain cuisine. In the municipality of Avezzano there some typical dishes, both as first and second courses, and some typical sweets. Below is a brief list.

 ___________

FIRST TYPICAL DISHES OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF
AVEZZANO

– Sagne with beans.
– Macaroni alla chitarra (“on the guitar”).
– Anellini alla pecorara (“shepherd’s style”), a typical first course of the Marsican cuisine, belonging to the rural and pastoral tradition based on fresh sheep’s milk ricotta and vegetables (pepper, courgette, aubergine, onion).
– Fettuccine with white potato meat sauce and lard with duck sauce or seasoned with a preparation of mushrooms and truffles from Abruzzo.
– White creamed rice with sheep’s cheese, a typical dish from Avezzano.
– Pappardelle with porcini mushrooms and pest with lard from Colonnata.
– Pork tortelli in chicken broth and old cow’s cheese.

– Trimming of scrippelle with meatballs from Abruzzo.

 ___________

SECOND TYPICAL DISHES OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF AVEZZANO

– Arrosticini di pecora (“sheep kebabs”)
– Pork fillet with orange and fennel tempura
– Grilled cockerel with mountain herbs and asparagus tips
– Pecora ajo cotturo (“sheep in the cauldron”), a typical
dish from Antrosano, a hamlet of Avezzano. This dish is very old, dating back to the times of the Middle Age-Renaissance transhumance of the fifteenth century, when it was made along the path from the Abruzzi to the Tavoliere delle Puglie to bring sheep towards better pastures. Shepherds ate the sheep dead from fatigue, crippled or wounded, cooking them in special cauldrons of copper or aluminum, called cottora, cotturo or callara, supported by a tripod and a hook over the living fire of wood.

DESSERTS

– Soft Marsican amaretti (“macaroons”)
– Peaches in alchermes, filled with butter cream, lemon cream or chocolate
– Coperchiole (“waffle cookies”) made with almond waffle and
honey

DRINKS

– Acqua Santa Croce di Canistro
– Amaro Taccone
– Wine produced in Paterno dei Marsi. A Fucine cooperative winery which produces Trebbiano di Avezzano, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Fucense, Fonte Vecchia wines etc.

– Casanova sparkling wine