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Regional recipes and food discoveries · Vicenza
Vicenza’s bitter herb, from Sunday street food to gelato and a celebrated risotto
Rice fritters eaten outside church, spring festival flavours and a recipe selected by La Cucina Italiana.
In Valdagno, in Italy’s Vicenza province, an aromatic bitter herb flavours rice fritters traditionally eaten after Sunday vespers. Today, local cooks use it in risotto, pastry and gelato, giving travellers interested in Europe’s regional food traditions several delicious reasons to investigate.
Tanacetum_parthenium_Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
THE STORY ↓
WHERE TO EAT↓
About
Valdagno has two unusually different claims to fame. One is Marzotto. The other is an intensely bitter herb normally better known for medicinal use. Botanically it is Tanacetum parthenium, or feverfew in English, a perennial plant with small white flowers and intensely aromatic leaves. In Valdagno it became so closely associated with local cooking that the municipality gave it De.Co. recognition.
What is maresina, and where can you taste it in Italy?
Maresina is the local name for Tanacetum parthenium, known in English as feverfew, an aromatic herb with a distinctly bitter flavour. In Valdagno, in the western part of Vicenza province, it is closely associated with rice fritters and recognised through De.Co., the municipality’s designation for local food traditions. For travellers exploring Italy through regional recipes, the place to begin is the frìtola co’ la maresina, a freshly fried rice fritter scented with the chopped leaves. April’s Festa della Maresina brings the tradition into Valdagno’s historic centre, alongside contemporary interpretations by local food businesses.
Why were these fritters eaten outside church?
The municipal account describes fritters cooked near the church on Sunday afternoons, as people emerged from vespers, the evening prayer service. Served hot in a square of paper, they belonged to the social life around the church as much as to the kitchen. Their texture begins with rice cooked until it becomes a thick cream. Flour and chopped maresina are then added to the cooled mixture, which rests before frying. The resulting fritter brings together a golden exterior, soft rice and the herb’s bitterness. Although the municipal description calls it a savoury fritter, the registered recipe also contains sugar. It permits a version with a sardine fillet, known locally as sardela, inside each fritter.
From local street food to La Cucina Italiana
Valdagno cook Massimiliano Guaiana used maresina in a risotto with albacore tuna ceviche, combining the local herb with a preparation associated with Peruvian cooking. His dish was selected among the ten finalists in La Cucina Italiana’s La Migliore Ricetta Italiana 2025 project, receiving the recognition associated with inclusion and the meeting of culinary cultures. He also presented the risotto at Valdagno’s 2026 festival. For recipe enthusiasts, the magazine publishes the preparation online. It offers a contemporary way to explore an ingredient better known locally through its traditional fritters.
What does maresina taste like in gelato?
The 2026 festival provided two particularly interesting answers. Il Gelataio Valdagno created a cheesecake flavour with maresina, red berries and crisp pastry, alongside a vegan sorbet combining lime, basil and maresina. Pasticceria Cosmo also participated, serving maresina fritters alongside separate polenta and apple versions. These documented festival preparations give visitors specific dishes to ask about when planning a visit.
WHERE TO EAT MARESINA IN VALDAGNO
Traditional fritters at Trattoria Castiglieri
The restaurant association I Ristoratori di Vicenza lists fritters with sardine and maresina among this trattoria’s specialities. Contact the restaurant about availability when reserving, particularly if the fritters are the reason for your visit.
Address Via Chiesa, Campotamaso, Valdagno, Vicenza, Italy
Phone +39 0445 410077
Festival fritters at Pasticceria Cosmo
During the 2026 Festa della Maresina, this pastry shop served the traditional herb fritters, together with polenta and apple varieties. Ask about the next festival programme and whether maresina fritters are available on your chosen date.
Address Via IV Novembre 6, Valdagno, Vicenza, Italy
Phone +39 0445 401126
Creative flavours at Il Gelataio Valdagno
This is the address behind the festival’s maresina cheesecake flavour and lime, basil and maresina sorbet. The shop publishes its changing selection online; contact it directly about the return of these particular flavours.
Address Piazza Roma 5, Valdagno, Vicenza, Italy
Phone +39 0445 822105
Email info@ilgelataiovaldagno.it
Website ilgelataiogusti.com
The annual Festa della Maresina
Held in Valdagno’s historic centre in April, the festival brings together fritters, local food businesses and a programme of culinary events. Established in 2013, it received the Italian UNPLI “Sagra di Qualità” designation from 2026.
The most recent edition took place from 17 to 19 April 2026. Contact the organiser for the next confirmed dates and programme.
Organiser Associazione Provaldagno
Phone +39 377 3745989
Email associazione@provaldagno.com
GOOD TO KNOW
The traditional frìtola co’ la maresina and many of the more experimental maresina dishes are easiest to find around the April festival.
Where can you find a maresina recipe?
For the traditional rice fritter, consult Valdagno’s municipal De.Co. specification, which records the ingredients, resting time and frying method.
Provaldagno also publishes a risotto recipe using Vialone Nano rice, maresina, speck, mascarpone and Parmesan. For Guaiana’s contemporary interpretation, La Cucina Italiana publishes the risotto with albacore ceviche.
Together, these recipes explain why this small corner of Vicenza deserves attention from cooks exploring Italy’s less familiar regional ingredients.