Friggione
Photo: Popo le Chien · CC0

Friggione is Bologna's slow-cooked side dish: white onions, San Marzano tomatoes and salt, simmered for three hours into a dark, sweet jam. Served with bollito misto, polenta or as a salumi-board condiment.

Friggione is the everyday Bolognese countryside dish that arrived in the city in the 19th century through the contadino kitchens. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina deposited the legal recipe with the Camera di Commercio of Bologna on 23 January 2009: 1kg white onions, 500g peeled tomatoes, sea salt, no garlic, no herbs, slow-cooked uncovered three hours over very low heat until the onions break down into a dark, jam-like glaze. The 2009 deposit settled the long Bolognese kitchen argument over whether olive oil or lard was canonical (the answer: olive oil). Trattoria di Via Serra, Da Cesari and Diana serve it as a side; Tamburini sells it by the tub at the counter.

4 editor picks for Friggione in Bologna, ranked by editorial score. All Bologna signature dishes · Friggione across every city.

Trattoria di Via Serra ★ 4.7

€€Bolognese TrattoriaBolognina

Trattoria di Via Serra in Bologna's Bolognina is the Flavio Fabbri and Tommaso Trifoni room, a 28-seat osteria with the city's most-cited tagliatelle al ragu.

OrderTagliatelle al ragu, tortelloni burro e salvia, friggione.

TipBook three weeks ahead online; the lunch service is the easier seating and the kitchen runs the same carte at both meals.

Trattoria Anna Maria ★ 4.6

€€ItalianUniversita

Trattoria Anna Maria in Bologna near Via Zamboni is the city's most-photographed sfoglia trattoria, run by Anna Maria Monari since 1985 with hand-rolled.

OrderTagliatelle al ragu, tortellini in brodo, lasagne verdi, gnocco fritto.

TipBook a week ahead for dinner. Lunch is calmer and the sfogline still hand-roll pasta in the window between services.

Da Cesari ★ 4.4

€€Bolognese TrattoriaCentro Storico

Da Cesari in Bologna's Centro Storico is the four-generation Carati family trattoria, operating since 1955, a steady room for the canonical Bolognese carte.

OrderTagliatelle al ragu, cotoletta alla bolognese, friggione on the side.

TipBook a fortnight ahead by phone; the family carte does not change and the wine cellar is run by Massimiliano Carati personally.

Tamburini ★ 4.4

€€Salumeria, Bolognese CounterQuadrilatero

Tamburini in Bologna's Quadrilatero is the 1932-founded salumeria-and-self-service operating from Via Caprarie, with cured-meat counters, a daily-changing.

OrderThe mortadella tagliere, the daily pasta plate, a tigella with squacquerone.

TipThe self-service runs 11:00-22:00 daily; the salumi counter closes at 19:30 and the aperitivo crowd takes over after 18:00.

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Friggione makes more sense with someone from Bologna explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

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