Rimini, Italy

How does food map a territory?

Crossing several cities of Emilia Romagna including Bologna, Reggio Emilia and Modena, Via Emilia tracks a tasty spectrum of the piadina, a typical regional dish locally referred to as “piada” or “piè”. It is a round piece of flatbread, with different thicknesses or ingredients depending on the cook, enclosing the most various toppings. Piadina is a local tradition and its geographic specificity also made it a brand, giving restaurants in other cities making it a folkloric and exclusive appeal.

Although the Via Emilia is a roman heritage, the punctuating it belong to a much more recent imaginary, with 60s fashioned vertical stripes Daniel Buren would be jealous of. Summer leisure and carefree times, as depicted in many memorable film classics of those years, are often synonymous with the Riviera Romagnola, the region's touristic seaside. Times and tourists change, but Via Emilia can probably be a good start to explore Romagna's culture and food.

Mission Report

With our Mini Clubman, Alberto and I left Milan and immediately entered the Via Emilia. Along the way, we shot and took pictures of the architectural landscape changing around us, while we were driving along it, even if we knew that the piadinerias would have been only in Romagna. When we finally got in Rimini, the piadinerias were opening: these kiosks essentially work in the evening, at dinner time or after the discos closing time.
We passed through the Riviera and were hit by the unmistakable style of these small shops, similar to multicolored striped houses. We asked people about their Piadina recipes, and each Piadinaro has its own: some of them use honey, or milk, or sugar to keep it from going sour.
The most famous and most sold one is filled with stracchino cheese, raw cheese and rocket salad. But some recipes approach cheese to fruit, and other interesting tastes.
Many of these shops have grown along with the times: until the end of the 80s, a lot of sidewalks along the seafront weren't built yet, and the sea reached the street, blocking every project of structural enlargement of these kiosks.
Other ones are similar to normal fastfood joints, with no independent or mobile structures, simply a store inside of a building.
In the end, some clubs or restaurants added the Piadina into their menus, a commercial initiative that doesn't affect the success of the real Piadinari from Romagna.
Roberto Paolini, Alberto Dedè