Stroscia di Pietrabruna

Pietrabruna rises in the hinterland of Imperia at around 500 metres above sea level, clinging to the slopes that divide Valle Crosia from Valle di San Lorenzo. The village counts a few hundred inhabitants, and the landscape around it is typical of Liguria di Ponente: terraces wrested from the rock, dry-stone walls, olive groves climbing as far as the ground allows. In this context of peasant economy, where every resource had a precise use, extra virgin olive oil was not simply a condiment but an ingredient that crossed over into everything, sweets included.

Stroscia is the product that best tells this story. It is a flat, crumbly cake, made with flour, sugar and extra virgin olive oil — strictly from the Taggiasca cultivar, the native variety of the Riviera di Ponente. The recipe calls for neither eggs nor butter: oil is the only fat, and its presence is felt in the texture of the dough, which is compact yet crumbles at the touch. The name itself points to this character: "stroscia" comes from the Ligurian dialect verb for rubbing or working with the hands, and it describes the gesture with which the dough is spread across the pan before baking. It is not cut with a knife: it is broken by hand, and that uneven break is part of its nature.

The municipality of Pietrabruna has recognised stroscia with the De.Co. designation (Denominazione Comunale, a municipal recognition), a status that formally ties the product to its territory of origin. This recognition carries no regulatory weight beyond the municipality itself, but it affirms a sense of belonging and safeguards the memory of the recipe within the local community. Artisan production is concentrated in a handful of workshops in the village, though home preparation is still widespread among local families, where the recipe is passed down orally and by practice, without standardised measures.

The Taggiasca oil that goes into the dough carries with it a history of hard work. The olive groves of the Imperia hinterland grow on steep terrain, difficult to mechanise and vulnerable to wildlife that damages the terracing. The quality of the finished product is inseparable from this condition: an oil with a delicate fruitiness, restrained herbaceous notes and low acidity, which in stroscia never overwhelms but supports, letting the simplicity of the dough come through. Ligurian pastry-making in the Ponente area has always used oil where butter would be used elsewhere, and stroscia is its most direct expression.