PGI Amiata chestnut

The Castagna IGP del Monte Amiata is one of the food and wine excellences of Tuscany, a precious fruit of the Castanea Sativa Mill botanical species.

PGI recognition is reserved for chestnuts of the brown, red bastard and chickpea varieties. The cultivation of chestnuts on Monte Amiata is an ancient activity, just think that already in 1300 there were special statutes that regulated the exploitation of the chestnut plant, both in terms of the harvesting of the fruit and the use of wood. The chestnut has represented and continues to represent one of the main economic activities for the Amiata area, and in ancient times one of the most important sources of food, used both fresh and dried or reduced to flour.

Production area

The Castagna IGP del Monte Amiata is produced exclusively in the province of Grosseto, in the municipalities of Arcidosso, Castel del Piano, Castell’Azzara, Cinigiano, Roccalbegna, Santa Fiora, Seggiano  e Semproniano, and in the province of Siena in the municipalities of Abbadia San Salvatore, Castiglione d’Orcia and Piancastagnaio, in the range between 350 and 1000 m.

Variety

The PGI recognition for the Monte Amiata Chestnut is reserved exclusively for three varieties: Marrone, Bastarda Rossa and Cecio.

• Marrone: the chestnut of this variety is medium-large in size, with good vigor, an open crown and a wrinkled trunk. The buds are quite large and reddish-blonde in colour, the leaves have an elliptical-lanceolate shape. The fruit has rather large dimensions and a shape that can vary from oval-elliptic to obovate-round, the pericarp is tawny red or reddish brown, the episperm is brown or light brown and easily removable, the pulp is creamy white, with a sweet taste. It is a very valuable variety, it is mainly used for fresh consumption and in the confectionery industry.
• Bastarda Rossa: the chestnut of this variety is large in size but with medium development, the foliage is open, the buds are small or medium and the leaves have a lanceolate-elliptical shape. The chestnut is large in size and has an oval shape, the pericarp is reddish in colour, the episperm is brown in color with medium difficulty to remove, the pulp has a light cream color and a sweet flavour. It is a rather valuable variety, mainly used for fresh consumption.
• Cecio: the chestnut tree is large, with a rather thick crown and well developed branches, the buds are small and conical in shape while the leaves have  an ovate-lanceolate shape. The chestnut is large in size, with a reddish-brown pericarp, light cream-colored episperm and sweet-tasting pulp. It is an early variety, used both as a fresh product and in the food industry.