King Potato in Pasta Land

Hilda Steinkamp
Oct 16
5 min read

On the potato trail across Lazio

Long are they gone from the fields in Lazio,

since the end of summer. Harvested and bagged, the potato is now celebrated in October. La Sagra della Patata (Potato Harvest Festival) – a festival for a crop that sprouts in rich bio-diversity in Italian fields from north to south, fills the potato farmers' barns in intermediate storage, and is then carted by tractor and trailer to the villages by the hundredweight for cheap sale.

Entire villages clear their paths, meadows, and squares for the arrival of King Potato. Bustling markets, folk festival style, pop up. Such as in Leonessa, a village of 2,000 inhabitants 130 km east of Rome, across the Apennine ridge.

Fair prices in the village, negotiable at roadside sales, where drivers are prepared to slam on their brakes and buy potatoes in a 10-kg bag for 10 euros.

The route to the potato stronghold of Leonessa is rewarding. Three-quarters of the trip are on provincial and national roads, some of which are asphalt sections in the not uncommon strada deformata category, providing ample opportunity for stopping and capturing the landscapes in my head and in my camera:

And suddenly I'm there. At the potato festival in Leonessa. About 2 kilometers before the village, wild parking begins along the access roads and side streets. A unique event indeed! People come from far and wide. On a single Sunday in October. Every year, anew. In 2025, for the 35th time.

Thanks to the harvest! The number of visitors exceeds that of the villagers. Potatoes are joined by other crops and creatures from fields, forests, and meadows. And by products from various industries: textiles and leather, food and beverages, household goods, and technical equipment. Flea market items included. The sales at the mobile market stalls and in the traditional botteghe e ristoranti enrich the traders' balance sheets and make their hearts beat faster. And the King's followers happy all over.

All sales are in cash, in contanti, of course. Plastic money is not welcome at all. Thus profit margins don't show up in bank transactions and remain nebulous. Anyone wanting to replenish their cash money can do so at the village's only accessible ATM, located in the walls of a converted village chapel, which now houses Italy's largest credit institute.

So, how to get to the potato?

Raw or processed in the advertised delicious dishes?

With throngs of festival visitors, I push myself forward at a snail's pace between double rows of tent stands.

And make other culinary acquaintances on my way to the tuber.

Organic food as if from a thousand and one nights in wonderland:

Delicacies for the palate and soul:

Long-standing classics in fashion and new arrivals for the mild winter season:

Where white smoke rises,

and the afternoon sun sends heavenly rays over the hill:

the message in Catholic Rome and beyond is clear: We have food! The profane promise on the village green. The lines of patiently waiting guests speak for the quality of the potato creations. And there are more varieties than an empty stomach or my blog can hold. The sonorous names alone are filling:

*Crocchette di patate con cuore di mozzarella*

Patate e patatine fritte al forno - not from the fryer — *Patate e patatine fritte al forno* - not from the fryer

And as we all know, gnocchi aren't necessarily part of the pasta family, but are also potato-based, here in varieties with pesto alla genovese and alla puttanesca (hot and spicy, whore-style). Fatti a mano, clear enough, the expert's hand was at work:

The potato is king today, everything else from the grill is a side dish:

The potato kitchen has even more surprises in store: Patata chips! Briefly dipped in aglio e olio, finely roasted al forno. If you're thirsty, there's an alternative to the usual bottled water, a fresh stream from the fountain, here, as in all of Lazio, of the purest drinking quality:

And finally, the supreme creative discipline – potatoes by the meter:

No chance of getting hold of potatoes by the meter any time soon. Backtrack! I have a second love – pizza. And here it's served as pizza fritta. The men at the back of the tent prepare the fried dough with a steady hand and collect the modest fee of 5 euros in a businesslike manner.

The women at the front of the tent are different. They are supposed to fill the pizza flatbread with sweet Nutella, cheesy caccio e pepe, or smoky prosciutto di Parma. But then, suddenly, the sounds of an Italian pop song, una canzone italiana, flood through the tent. With resounding voices and lively dances from the women's league, my pizza meal becomes enjoyable entertainment. The fact that, in the hustle and bustle, my salted ham ends up in a sugared pizza crust only adds to my enjoyment:

Anyone who wants to practice the art of potato cooking can take a bag of raw materials home with them.

Anyone who wants to try the recipe for the Leonessa crispy potato chips at home may listen to an eloquent sales agent for household helpers instructing them in the art of cutting wafer-thin potato slices.

As a child from German lands,

and - what is more - someone with rural roots, potatoes are familiar and beloved to me, whether cooked around a campfire, steamed in a pot or in the microwave or roasted in the oven. A Teutonic staple in German kitchens. That Italy, of all places, the land of pasta, should honor the potato like a king has so far been beyond my intercultural understanding.

But famine breeds innovation! I was told. For a long time, this strange, often ugly-shaped tuber, imported by Spanish sailors from the Inca Empire, was frowned upon in the country of the Romans. It was derisively named tartufolo, after the similarly unattractive but valuable truffle (tartufo). It wasn't until the famine of the 18th century that Italians developed a taste for the tuber and dubbed it patata, after the Inca word for papa. Nutritious and delicious, the Italian potato has long since ceased to be a poor man's food.

In short, the potato has become socially acceptable in Italy. Much more than a side dish. Gourmet influencer EATALY also dedicated two October weekends in Rome to the tuber, true to its motto: "Eat better, live better."

The Romans' double love for pasta e patata

I had already discovered this combo dish before the potato festival in Leonessa. Pizza con le patate e salsiccia is a Roman invention, so it is said. And it is royally revered as la Regina Croccante di Roma. It's far from being counted among trendy foodies ! A piece of Roman culinary culture! Simple, but irresistible.

La pizza con le patate periodically lures me to the Mercato di Testaccio in Rome. Seasoned with Gorgonzola and rosemary, on wafer-thin, crispy mozzarella-white dough, without tomatoes, and with the salsiccia as a spicy meat addition, this concentrated load of carbohydrates is a heavenly temptation. To which I willingly surrender.

And Gambero Rosso, the Italian pope of quality not only for vini, but also for pizze, has for years donated its medal blessing to a special pizza stand in Testaccio: Casa Manco at market stand 22, a Roman institution, the best in all of Lazio.

Their successful combination of pizza e patata is unrivaled among the other pizza al taglio providers at the market. The pizzaiolo cuts the slices according to the customers' appetite and greedy eyes, weighs them, sends them back to the oven, calculates the price, and collects the bill. Then, customer cheerfully devour them from paper plates at tray tables or at the counter.

Roman street food at its finest!