“The national food of the people of Romagna”, so described Giovanni Pascoli the piadina – or piada – in the margin notes of his Nuovi Poemetti (1909). This speciality is indeed widespread on the Romagna menus in a thousand variations: in the areas of Cesena, Forlì and Ravenna it is thick and soft, while in the Rimini area it is thin and slightly larger.

As often happens, its origins are lost in the mists of time: the first official documents date back to 1371, when Cardinal Anglico de Grimoard mentioned it in his Descriptio Romandiolae, but it seems that similar dishes were already in use among the Romans. The name derives from the Latin plàdena, meaning a long, narrow dish.