THE ANCIENT OVEN

THE ANCIENT OVEN

Particular attention and care were devoted to bread cooking in the whole territory of Triora; in fact a whole Chapter (no. 67) of the local statutes was dedicated to this practice. The chapter reads:

“Bakers must properly cook the bread and astrochee, otherwise known as pies and focacce, that will be brought to their ovens; they will first count the breads brought by each single person and will make sure to return them well cooked and in the right number. Those who will transgress these rules will be fined and will have to reimburse three times the damage done. To estimate the damage, the bread owner’s word or the one of a family member aged over 14 will be taken into consideration, provided they have a good reputation. No derogations allowed to this rule. Half of the fine will be paid to the bread owner and the remaining half to the Comune”.

Several public ovens were located in the area. Triora hosted the Carriera oven, situated in vicolo Forno, the Rocca oven, near the Lourdes cave and Davide’s oven, named after Davide Moraldo who used to live nearby and was a baker for several years.  Other ovens were located in the surrounding villages (Corte, Andagna and Molini), like the Confraria oven and several others. 

The ovens were assigned to different bakers for periods lasting one to three years, following the ‘virgin candle rule’ and in compliance with a set of regulations that remained in force for many years. 

Starting from 1878, an oven was entirely dedicated to the militaries present in Triora (the Alpini first, then the Fanteria and the Guardia di Frontiera (until 1943)). In 1930 a new public oven was added in the area known as Dietro la Colla; that oven was then moved to the residential part of Triora, known as Quartiere. 

The typical bread of Triora, well known for its round shape and genuine and unique taste, gets delivered to several shops in Liguria every day.