The traditional cuisine of theisland of Giglio, that of grandmothers and grandfathers to be understood, is the result of a mixture of different culinary traditions that met here thanks to the migration of fishermen, from Liguria and Southern Italy, farmers from Siena and the Tuscan hinterland, and the peculiarities that the island territory by its nature has. Looking at it this way today, during a tour of the island by boat in August, it seems, ours, a barren, unfertile land in which it is difficult to cultivate anything, and in fact it is yes, difficult to cultivate, to build on the slopes of a hill, the terraces or greppe (as they are called by us), within which to plant the seeds, the plants and grow them and then reap the fruits. Everything by hand, without the help of automation, only donkeys or the Bee to help the farmers transport the goods: mugnache, or apricots, the prunelle or plums, medlars, bitter oranges, lemons, olives and grapes among the crops; blackberries, prickly pears, strawberry trees among the fruits that grow wild, the torso cabbage, a vegetable rediscovered in recent years by the valuable work of the Le Greppe Cooperative and Slow Food, which has been able to reinterpret and revalue it in a modern way. And then tuna, rabbit and fish caught in our waters. The traditional cuisine, was a poor cuisine closely linked to local products, consisting of legume, vegetable and fish soups, main courses mainly based on fish and white meats, which were raised or caught, such as rabbit. Polenta and semolina were consumed in place of pasta and rice, and sweets, also composed of a few simple ingredients, were eaten during major occasions that usually coincided with religious holidays.

Many of the dishes we will introduce you to in our cooking column are not found in local restaurants today, especially those with meat and vegetables. Instead, more often found are fish dishes such as: fish soup, tuna, squid gigliese style in their different versions, palamita in oil, octopus, and among desserts the most famous: panficato.