PAN DI RAMERINO

Rosemery Bread & the Middle ages

Its origins are in the Middle Ages when it was eaten during Lent, especially Holy Thursday although now it is available all year.

It used to be a larger loaf, not small buns, with much more flavor than a normal loaf as it was made with ‘rosemary crushed in a

mortar, passed through a sieve, put in a pan full of olive oil and then put on the dough’.

Rosemary bread was once sold by street vendors with the cry of coll’olio (with olive oil) to attract people who were visiting le sette

chiese (seven churches).

People thought that the bread was blessed, partly because of the two slits in the form of a cross which made it seem religious even

if those slits were made to facilitate the rising of the dough.