Corte Luceoli

On the road that connects the city of Urbino with the Adriatic Sea, at a certain point you enter the Marche region and encounter an ancient medieval village: Cantiano. Its name has become famous worldwide for its extraordinary amara cherries and visciole. The latter are nothing more than wild cherries of the Prunus cerasus species, an austere variety. Their goodness was also known to the ancient Royal House of Savoy, which sourced them directly from a local producer. Along the Flaminia road, near the municipality of Cantiano, you can observe these little visciola trees, which are now becoming increasingly rare.

Corte Luceoli embraced the Visciola of Cantiano a few years ago. The Tommasini family decided to revive an old visciola orchard and bring it back into production. Moreover, they are now committed to replanting these trees in other available areas. Unfortunately, the Visciole of Cantiano produce little, and the plants are not productive for many years—not like sweet cherry trees. For this reason, there are many imitations circulating throughout Italy. Marilena Tommasini, along with her family, her brother, and her father, represents the last bastion of the reproduction of this extraordinary cherry, to be preserved in syrup with just sugar and water.
 

Corte Luceoli and the traditions proposed in a modern key
 

Forget the many amarene you find around, so sweet that they sometimes feel almost fake and certainly unappetizing; the Visciola of Cantiano carries with it a pleasantness and an acidity that make it particularly balanced, with an almond finish that dries the palate and makes you crave more. In short, they could be defined as casual amarene, one leads to another.

They are extraordinary on ice cream, inside chocolate pralines, as a garnish for chocolate cakes, to enhance dishes with wild game instead of red currants.
From the Visciola, the Tommasini family also produces the intriguing Vino da Visciola, nothing but visciola juice added to excellent Sangiovese from the Tuscan lands of the prestigious Nobile di Montepulciano. Try them also in jam with pears. 

We wanted Corte Luceoli on our portal at all costs because it represents the true authenticity and history of a people, confined to a small locality. What the Tommasini family is doing is bringing ancient culinary traditions back to light with significant effort and much love for their land.

And we love passionate and engaging stories very much.