Piadinas
Learn more about the history of piadinas, where they come from and why they are so delicious.
Piadinas
The History of
Piadinas
Piadinas are tasty flatbreads which originate from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy. We cook them fresh to order on a griddle and fill them with a variety of delicious, quality ingredients. They are a healthy, nutritious and satisfying alternative to pizza and panini plus, they’re foldable – making them the ideal meal-on-the-go! They can be made to accommodate any dietary requirements and as you can see, our wide ranging menu Italian flatbreads in the heart of London.
Scroll down to learn about the history of Piadinas and simply pen us into your diary and visit our stall at Old Spitalfields Market in the heart of London.
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Our value
The Only Language We Speak Is The Food Language
If you’re looking for a delicious and handcrafted Italian flatbread, look no further than Piadina Bros, at Old Spitalfields Market.
History of Piadinas - 1200BC
Unleavened flatbread is a type of food whose origins belong to a distant past. Over time, it has evolved in many forms: ‘Piadina Romagnola’ is one of them.
Not surprisingly, its name is closely linked to one of the Italian regions that are most interesting from a culinary point of view, Romagna. Let’s find out the fascinating history of this delicacy, learn its most intimate secrets and savor its most authentic taste thanks to the precious help of the Consortium of its most traditional producers.
Born of flour, iron, and fire. The piadina descends from the unleavened bread prepared with various flours and cooked on red-hot slabs. Its most ancient traces date back to 1200 BC at the sites of the Lombard stilt houses.
The Etruscans prepared a gruel of grains, and influenced the Romans, who started to make “puls” with barley, then with spelt, and then with wheat, until the piadina became a tradition in ancient Rome.
The Story Continues (1300BC)
The piada was eaten during Middle Ages too. In 1300, the year of the plague, it was made with dried legumes and acorns.
During the Renaissance while the creative minds of the culinary arts were inventing refined dishes, the poor continued to eat the piada, which during famines was often made with bran or even poorer ingredients.
The first known historical document about “Piada” dates back to this period (1371). The term was found in the description of Romagna compiled by Cardinal Angelico. Among the tributes that the city of Modigliana had to pay to the Apostolic Chamber, there were 2 “Piade.”
In 1371 the piada appeared for the first time in a historic document: the Description of the Province of Romagna by Cardinal Angelico.
Today, still, the piada is imbued with genuine Romagna culture, its raised areas recall its territory, and its flavor brings to mind the air of the local beaches.
The Piadina Fame Grows
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Piada had a great revival, thanks to corn flour mixed with wheat flour, which made possible to obtain excellent results at low costs.
When little girls were five or six years learned how to roll out the dough and cook the fragrant Piadina in the oven, stuffing it with traditional homemade salami, grilled sausages, boiled cabbage seasoned with oil, garlic and rosemary, or coppa di testa.
The Piadina began to conquer the tourists who were coming to Romagna in the 40s and the 50s. That was when the first kiosks appeared along the roads leading to the sea and to the holiday resorts, and they became a distinctive element of the gastronomic culture of Romagna. The Piadina became then a real street food.
The Pascoli Influence
It was the famous poet Giovanni Pascoli, several centuries later (*10), who formalized the name of the delicacy he loved, the ‘Piada’ (*11).
For a long time, the specialty remained ‘family food’, prepared by the ‘arzdore’, the housewives from Romagna, for their children and husbands.
The situation changed completely after World War II, especially in the 1960s, at the time of the economic boom, when large numbers of Italian and foreign tourists started to pour onto the Adriatic beaches.
It was then that the first kiosks (‘Chioschi’) opened along the roads leading to the sea: they were (and still are) the ‘temples of a Piada’, which, in the meantime, had become ‘Piadina’.
Range of Varieties
There are two recognized types of the Piadina: the Piadina Romagnola, and the Piadina Romagnola alla Riminese. While the ingredients of the two are the same, a few tweaks in technique yield slightly different flatbreads.
The Piadina Romagnola is smaller in diameter and thicker than its svelte Rimense cousin, making it the denser and less flexible of the two.
They are also distinguished by the colour and distribution of their beauty marks; the Piadina Romagnola has small, light brown cooking spots spread evenly across its surface, while the Piadina Romagnola alla Riminese has large, darker brown spots with non-uniform distribution.
The Piada has now become famous in Italy and abroad and it has begun to be identified with the land of Emilia Romagna, with the holiday breaks spent by the sea and it has remained an iconic food from La dolce vita era.
Try our version of Piadinas
Our story is a novel one..2 friends got inspired by the Italian piadina, and decided to open a business..The name came naturally… PiadinaBros.
Our flatbreads are made from scratch, from the bread itself to our delicious pesto (available in both green and red) and chimichurri sauces.
But It’s because of respect for the people of Emilia Romagna that we call our product Flatbreads and not Piadinas.
So pop by and give them a try and tell us what you think!
Testimonials
What they say about us.
Have a look at just some of our reviews, and visit us daily at Old Spitalfields Market.
Mon - Wed
Opening Times
10:00 - 19:00
Thur - Sat
Opening Times
10:00 - 19:30
Sunday
Opening Times
10:00 - 19:30
