The chestnut diffusion and the IGP (Typical Geographic Indication)
Muggello's Marrons IGP (Marradi)
picture courtesy Prof. Elvio Bellini
The chestnut, even if it hasn't anymore the same diffusion of sometimes ago, is however rather abudantly present over all the italian territory and in fact it's hard to find a hill or a mountain (up to about 1000 m on sea level) that
doesn't have its chestnut grove.
In the first half of the XX century the chestnut risk to disappear due to some diseases (Cryphonectria parassitica and Phytophtora cambivora) that brought to death innumerable trees. And moreover in those years the
progressive depopulation of the mountain happened and, consequently, the neglect of the chestnut grove.
Until some decades ago their fruits were sunk into oblivion, because they reminded the poverty that so many people lived. Since the eighties, instead, there has been a growth in the demand for chestnut mainly for the
confectionery industry. In the last few years many initiatives started, both at local and at european level, to make the most of the chestnut tree and especially of its fruits, that have become the symbol of naturality and of the local
culture. The chestnut grove making fruit are also evocative places and they are gaining a tourist role.
Though all Italy is rich in demonstrations honouring chestnuts, some regions have deepest bond with chestnut groves, for the basic role they had in their history. Particularly it is worth to remember Piedmont (expecially the
area of Cuneo) and Tuscany, with the Chestnut of Monte Amiata and the Marron of Mugello, which obtained the european recognition of Typical Geographic Indication (IGP). Great importance, always in Tuscany's ambite, has the
flour of Garfagnana DOP (Denomination of Protected Origin). The other chestnuts that can boast the IGP award are the Chestnut of Montella, in Avellino's province, and the Marron of Castel del Rio, in Bologna's province.
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