Ricotta and Rosemary Schiacciata

For a small town, Vicchio del Mugello in northeast Tuscany holds a goodly share of historical fascination. Among its notable sons are Giotto and Beato Angelico, artists whose legacies are kept very much alive in the area through museums and cultural events. Vicchio was the epicenter of the devastating 1919 earthquake, one of the strongest in 20th-century Italy and the greatest natural disaster in modern Mugello history. In March of 1944, partisans occupied  Vicchio and killed several Fascist-sympathetic prisoners, an incident followed by a swift reprisal from the RSI (Italian Social Republic): five men were arrested for draft evasion and taken to Florence, where they were condemned and shot on March 22 at the Campo di Marte football stadium. The men, four of whom were Vicchio natives, are remembered as the ‘Campo di Marte martyrs.’ Perhaps Vicchio’s most notorious citizen was Pietro Pacciani, the local farmer convicted and later absolved of the ‘Monster of Florence’ murders, widely considered one of criminology’s most perplexing and disturbing cases.

Happily, Vicchio also enjoys a reputation as a place of uncontested beauty—from its gorgeous verdant landscapes to its many noteworthy religious and civic structures—as well as an understated gastronomic appeal for fans of potato-stuffed tortelli and wild boar meat. According to Mugello food and folklore writer Tebaldo Lorini, a schiacciata made with fresh ricotta was a traditional treat at farmhouses around Vicchio come the holidays.