The history of the Chiana aglione dates back to Etruscan times in the Val di Chiana. The Chiana aglione is also found on the island of Giglio. In 1544 the pirate Khayr al-Din, known as Barbarossa, sacked the island of Giglio, killed anyone who opposed him and deported as slaves more than 700 Gigliese. Later the Medici family repopulated the island with people from families in the Val di Chiana, who surely brought among the things in tow the bulbils of L’aglione della Chiana. The historic area of production is the Val di Chiana, in the municipality of Montepulciano, in the hamlets of Abbadia, Acquaviva, Gracciano, Montepulciano Stazione and Valiano.
The Chiana aglione is now very rarely cultivated. There are less than ten producers left, in the reclaimed flat lands of the Val di Chiana and in some hamlets of the municipality of Montepulciano. It is a giant garlic with a characteristic aroma devoid of alliin and its derivatives. It is white in color tending to ivory, has an almost spherical shape with slight flattening at the poles. It possesses inside generally six separate, large bulbils and can reach a weight of up to 800 grams. It has an extremely delicate taste.
Pici, on the other hand, are very long noodles made of only water and flour that need to be "appicciati" or rolled up so that they become long.
Ingredients for 4 people – Homemade pici –
400 g of 0 flour
200 g of durum wheat flour
300 g water
Mix the two flours well, preferably sifted. Place them in a well on the pastry board, pour the water into the crater and incorporate the flour little by little.
Knead for 10 minutes, after which take the dough and start making strips, roll them with your hands until you get long spaghetti noodles . Arrange them on a surface sprinkled with semolina while waiting for cooking. The picio should cook about 15 minutes.
Ingredients for the sauce
700 g ripe tomatoes
1 fresh chili pepper
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
Vinegar and salt to taste
Boil the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute, peel them and remove the seeds, then cut them into small cubes. In the meantime, take another frying pan and place the crushed garlic in it with the oil and the finely chopped seeded chili pepper, sauté over a very low flame. Add the tomatoes, prepared in advance, and add vinegar and salt. Cooking time 20 minutes
