There are only a few left to work it, mostly the elderly. Above all very willing and even more worthy for having kept alive an ancient peasant tradition of the Venetian lagoon: the violet artichoke of Sant'Erasmo, tender, fleshy, with an elongated shape with dark violet bracts ending in thorns, a very tasty gastronomic rarity. All this between Sant'Erasmo, an island in the lagoon half an hour by vaporetto from the Fondamenta Nuove of the Serenissima, and the tiny archipelago of Lio Piccolo.
Sant'Erasmo, an island in the northern lagoon, second in size immediately after Venice, is located at the center of an ideal triangle which has its peaks between Punta Sabbioni and the islands of Murano and Burano.
The particular insular position and the fertile nature of the land have determined its agricultural character over time. Already at the end of the sixteenth century, Francesco Sansovino literate with a passion for medicine, politics and agriculture, in his work “Venice, a most noble and singular city” he referred to Sant'Erasmo as an island rich in vegetable gardens and vineyards which supplied "the city with a copy of herbage and fruit in great abundance and perfect".
The historical presence of the production of the violet artichoke of Sant'Erasmo in the islands of Venice is dealt with in a book by the lawyer Luigi Carlo Stivanello of Venice dated 1872 kept in the Correr Civic Museum entitled "Owners and growers in the province of Venice, study essay cheap". The island - wrote Stivanello - "still retains an agricultural vocation, typical first fruits are the castraure and for this reason it is considered the vegetable garden of Venice".
Castraura, for the uninitiated, is the apical fruit of the artichoke plant which is cut first in order to allow the development of another 15-20 lateral artichokes, the so-called botoli. A Sant'Erasmo is a very tender artichoke with a unique flavour, a mix of flavor and delicate but intense fragrances, slightly bitter but at the right point, which is usually eaten raw with a drizzle of oil and a squeeze of lemon, but also fried in grega-style batter, or served with tasty lagoon prawns.
As big as half the city, the island of Sant'Erasmo is crossed by canals. Tasty vegetables grow on the clayey, well-drained soils with very high salinity, especially artichokes, so much so that the variety grown on the lagoon took its name from this island. Once upon a time in the gardens of the lagoon they fertilized it with scoasse (garbage, in Venetian) or with shells and crab shells, which were used to correct the acidity of the soil. Instead, to protect the seedlings from the bora wind, the motte, i.e. small mounds of soil, were raised on the side facing the sea.
The artichoke season in Sant'Erasmo begins at the end of April. The first flower that produces the plant is the famous Castraura which blossoms in the first weeks of April. Extremely sought after by connoisseurs. Followed by the second artichokes the Botoli and then gradually we arrive at the end of May with the Masette artichokes which have a very long and completely edible stem with a unique flavor. Artichoke Funds follow in June, then the splendid flowering and in the autumn-winter period the thistles.
The greengrocers they transport the vegetables with boats, the caorline, from the island to the markets of Rialto and Tronchetto. Articiochi, as artichokes are called in Venice, were introduced into Venetian cuisine by the Jewish community. They are mainly eaten raw and the castraure are a real treat available only for a few days: 10, 15, no more. There are many artichoke-based recipes: fried in batter, raw with a drizzle of olive oil, or with grace, that is, cooked with sautéed garlic or onion over a very low heat and covered pan, with the final addition of vinegar or lemon. And again alla grega, cut into wedges, browned and served cold with lemon, or married with schie (lagoon prawns), anchovies and sardines. In the taverns they appear among the cicheti, boiled and seasoned with garlic, parsley, pepper and oil.
In short, a real goodness which, however, has suffered heavily over time from the competition of artichokes from areas traditionally suited to large-scale crops such as Sardinia, Puglia and Tuscany. This represented a serious problem for the farmers of Sant'Erasmo who wanted to proudly preserve the tradition of growing this tasty artichoke defending it above all from some producers in the South who put fake Sant'Erasmo artichokes on the market. And this is how a group of greengrocers from the islands of the lagoon came together in a consortium to defend this small historical treasure, a precious testimony of biodiversity, aiming to enhance it with the aim of making its cultivation more profitable.
The inclusion of the violet artichoke of Sant'Erasmo was fundamental among the principals of Slow Food, which has turned the spotlight of gourmets and cooks on this exclusive product, as well as the fact that the Veneto Region has included it among the PATs, traditional Italian food products.
Every year the Violetto di Sant'Erasmo artichoke consortium organizes a festival in honor of the island artichoke where it is possible to taste dishes obviously based on artichokes, drink local wine and buy excellent natural products at the farmer's market.
Among the few growers of this prized product from the Venetian lagoon is Michele Borgo, 47 years old, Venetian by birth, a man who dedicated his life to the violet artichoke of Sant'Erasmo with such strength and such passion that he moved there and put family here.
In 1981, Borgo's parents bought a farm in the lagoon in Lio Piccolo, a historic fraction of Cavallino-Treporti on the north coast, once known for the activity of the local salt pans which archipelago structure, a set of lagoon islets, where fishing is practiced, separated by very narrow canals, covered by vegetable gardens and spontaneous vegetation.
Michele, a Venetian from Cannaregio, when his father bought this house and land from the Armenians in the 80s, became passionate about living in this uncontaminated natural oasis far from tourist routes. To get to the house you have to walk along a cobbled lane that looks like a path, Venice with the swarming of tourists, boats, busy people is so close and so far away. Michele adds that he would no longer be capable of abandoning this little earthly paradise of Lio Piccolo and would not be able to imagine any other job in life than that of staying at Sant'Erasmo to follow the seasonal trend of his artichokes.
Michele was passionate about his parents' agricultural activity from an early age to such an extent that he chose to attend university studies at the Faculty of Agriculture, and to graduate from the University of Padua. During his studies he met Marika, who was to become his wife, and together they decided somewhat adventurously to try living in the countryside by living only from agriculture. The passion for artichoke cultivation was passed on to him by his father, a pioneer in the defense of lagoon biodiversity and he on his own gave life to the consortium of the Violet Artichoke of Sant'Erasmo, betting everything on the relaunch of this ancient variety selected over the centuries which has adapted so optimal for the brackish environment and harsh winters. With the birth of the consortium, cultivation improved a lot, and marketing managed to go beyond the barrier of local markets.
Michele Borgo admits that the choice to be a farmer in Lio Piccolo, almost a voluntary isolation from the world, dedicating himself exclusively to the cultivation of the violet artichoke, has not turned out to be easy at all, from a personal point of view and that of his family, and from the economic one since in some years the climatic trend puts a strain on the production result. But he has no regrets and is highly satisfied with his choice of life. Michele personally takes care of his plants, has no employees and takes care of them for 9 months a year, a long and careful gestation for the plants to bear fruit. And if she went back – she confesses – she would do it all over again. Today, with his wife Marika, he collects the first satisfactions and, speaking of his family composed not only by his wife of three children Matteo, Matilde and Marco, he says "I hope that one of them will choose to continue on this road because even if it is considered humble by many, yet it is rich in values”.
Michele Borgo now cultivates 12.000 violet artichoke plants protected by a brand that he shares with 13 producers. 60% of the artichokes are destined for the private sector, the rest for large-scale distribution and markets.
We read in an old treatise about Sant'Erasmo and Lio Piccolo: “the soil there is very fertile and the cultivation is alternated with vegetable and vegetable garden with artichokes depending on whether the territory is less or more clayey. where clay predominates, artichokes are preferably cultivated which give an abundant and therefore very lucrative early harvest. these are of 3 varieties the pizza the White and the red or common. In October they fertilize and when the cold arrives they put themselves underground up to their necks making a parapet of mud or wheat canes on the Tramontana side. The fields are surrounded by trellises to shelter them from the influence of the winds. Sometimes all these precautions are not enough, and especially when the winter rains are followed by icy winds which, keeping the water on the field, harden it and then all hope vanishes. The perishing of the artichoke plants is a half ruin for the farmer who relies on them as on the most easily hesitable and least expensive product".
Life is as hard today as it was then, but for Michele Borgo those 12.000 artichokes are all his children and for his children, you know, any sacrifice is made.
BORGO MICHELE AGRICULTURAL COMPANY
VIA della Sparesera 6
Cavallino-Treporti Venice
e-mail michele.borgo@gmail.com
telephone 041/5300869
mobile phone 3336042024
