The hills of the valley have an ancient wine tradition: already in the mid-‘500, in the treatise on the best Italian wines of Sante Lancerio, bottler (we could say sommelier ante litteram) of Pope Paul III Farnese, the excellent wines of Castell’Arquato and surroundings are mentioned.

The best known and most popular wines of the Colli Piacentini are gutturnio, full-bodied red wine, malvasia and ortrugo, white wines, all available in sparkling or still variants. In Val d’Arda there are also two excellences with unique peculiarities: Monterosso Val d’Arda and Vin Santo di Vigoleno. The first takes its name from a hill near Castell’Arquato and is, despite the name, a white wine. Each winery produces its own version, mixing in different percentages the grapes that compose it: Malvasia di Candia, Moscato, Trebbiano, Ortrugo. It is produced in only five municipalities of the Val d’Arda.

Vin Santo di Vigoleno DOC is a passito wine produced exclusively in the Municipality of Vernasca. The grapes intended for production must be carefully chosen and must be dried with the traditional method only on racks; the wine then ages at least 60 months and does not

Sulfites are used for preservation.

The dishes of the culinary tradition are tasty and often suitable for those who follow vegetarian diets: among the first courses are to be mentioned the anolini in broth (with cheese filling), the pisarei and fasö (pasta dumplings with bean sauce), the tortelli with butter and sage, the tagliatelle with mushroom sauce.

Moving on to the second courses, meat dishes are more frequent: stewed beef, roasted game, stewed wild boar, cooked salami.

In season you can find dishes based on fresh mushrooms and truffles.

It is still common in many restaurants and trattorias the custom of offering the afternoon snack instead of dinner. In these cases the predominant flavors are those of PDO cold cuts (coppa, bacon, salami) and cheeses accompanied by bortellina or fried cake,

traditional hot and tasty pancakes.

The typical dessert of the Val d’Arda is the Torta di Vigolo, a chocolate tart from the secret recipe produced by the pastry chefs of Vigolo Marchese, a small village on the outskirts of Castell’Arquato.