Verified in 2 cities.
Crescentine (tigelle) is a signature dish of Italy; we have verified places to eat it in Bologna and Modena.
Crescentine, also known as tigelle, are small round griddled flatbreads from the Apennine foothills south of Bologna, split hot and stuffed with cunza (lard-and-rosemary paste), mortadella or squacquerone cheese.
Crescentine take their name from the terracotta tigella discs, traditionally heated in the fire and used to cook the dough between two layers. The hill villages of the Modenese and Bolognese Apennines (Zocca, Vergato, Castel d'Aiano) have made them for at least 600 years; the recipe is a simple lard-flour-milk dough cooked in cast-iron pans now. The classic filling is cunza, a paste of pounded lard, garlic, rosemary and Parmigiano, plus a slice of mortadella or prosciutto. Trattoria Anna Maria, Sfoglia Rina and the agriturismi south of Bologna serve them by the basket; the bread arrives hot, the salumi board cold.
Where to eat in Bologna:
Where to eat Crescentine (tigelle) in Bologna: the editor picks
Crescentine, called tigelle almost everywhere outside the Apennines, are small round breads of flour, milk, yeast and lard, split while hot and filled with cunza, salumi or soft cheese.
Crescentine come from the Modenese Apennines, where the dough was baked in a stack between red-hot terracotta discs called tigelle, lined with chestnut or walnut leaves, in front of the fire. The name of the disc passed to the bread in the plains, which is why Modena argues over it: in a 2016 Gazzetta di Modena poll 64 per cent voted for crescentine and 36 per cent for tigelle. At home most cooks now use an aluminium mould that holds four to seven at a time.
Where to eat in Modena:
Where to eat Crescentine (tigelle) in Modena: the editor picks
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