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Traditional food of San Marino: 12 dishes to know

Traditional Sammarinese food is the peasant cooking of Romagna and the Marche on a hilltop: piada flatbread, fresh egg pasta in broth or with ragù, pork, beans, polenta and simple desserts of flour and dried fruit. Almost all of it is shared with Italy. The most emblematic dishes are the piada, passatelli, cappelletti in capon broth and the Torta Tre Monti.

Updated 2026-10-155 min read

What Sammarinese food is built on

San Marino is a microstate entirely surrounded by Italy, and its cooking is, frankly, Italian: that of Romagna to the north, the Marche to the south and the hills around Monte Titano. Its main farm products are cheese, wine and livestock, and its recipe book is a peasant one that survived the economic changes of the late 20th century.

The building blocks are wheat flour and lard for flatbreads, eggs for fresh pasta, broth from capon or beef, pork in every form, beans and chickpeas, cornmeal, Parmigiano and pecorino. Meat is roasted in the oven or cut on a wooden board. Desserts rely on flour, honey and dried fruit. Cheesemaking has long been one of the republic's main activities, and when San Marino took part in the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, its three exhibits were of olive oil and cheese. The republic is divided into nine castelli, historic villages along the ridge, and their taverns are where polenta on the board and other old peasant dishes are served again today.

Only a handful of foods exist nowhere else, and they are mostly sweets such as the Torta Tre Monti. That is why lists of national dishes struggle with San Marino, as our article on the national dish of San Marino explains.

Flatbread and fresh pasta

Piada — An unleavened flatbread of wheat flour, water, pork lard and salt, once mixed with some cornmeal, cooked for a few minutes on a terracotta testo or a cast-iron plate. The Consorzio Terra di San Marino defines it as thicker than the piadina of Rimini and thinner than those of Cesena and Ravenna. The classic filling is stracchino, prosciutto crudo and rocket, and in the villages it is still part of the daily meal. Make it with our piada recipe.
Passatelli — A firm dough of breadcrumbs, Parmigiano and egg, scented with lemon zest and nutmeg, pushed through a perforated iron straight into simmering broth. They cook in about 2 minutes, until they float. They are one of the festive soups of Romagna and the northern Marche, and just as much at home in San Marino. Follow our passatelli recipe.
Tagliatelle al ragù — Fresh egg ribbons with a slow meat sauce, the Sunday first course above all others. San Marino shares this culture of fresh egg pasta with Romagna.
Cappelletti in brodo — Small stuffed pasta served in capon broth, the dish of Christmas Day.
Strozzapreti — Called strozapret in dialect: pieces of flour, water and salt dough rolled between the palms into irregular sticks, then dressed with meat ragù and pecorino.

Soups, polenta and meat

Pasta e ceci — A soup of chickpeas and pasta with garlic and rosemary, eaten on Christmas Eve before the cappelletti of the next day.
Fagioli con le cotiche — Beans cooked with pork rinds, a robust soup for the cold months and for Christmas.
Polenta al tagliere — Winter cornmeal porridge spread on the wooden board that gives it its name, topped with sausage sauce and grated pecorino, or in a richer version with a sauce of small game birds, lard and sage. It was once the only course of a peasant meal and is now served again in some taverns of the ridge villages.
Nidi di rondine — "Swallows' nests": a baked pasta dish with smoked ham, beef, cheese and tomato sauce.
Coniglio in porchetta — Rabbit roasted porchetta-style, with fennel, the dish of feast days. Roast lamb is the Easter meat, and grilled meat belongs to the summer fairs.

Sweets

San Marino has a few more sweets of its own: Torta Titano, square wafers layered with cocoa, coffee and hazelnut cream under dark chocolate; verretta, a chocolate of hazelnuts, praline and wafer named after the crossbow bolt; cacciatello, a set dessert of milk, sugar and eggs close to crème caramel; and zuppa di ciliegie, cherries stewed in sweet red wine and served on white bread. Castagnole fritters belong to Carnival and frittelle to the feast of Saint Joseph.

Torta Tre Monti — Thin wafer discs layered with cocoa and hazelnut cream and coated in dark chocolate, named after the three towers of Monte Titano. It is made commercially by La Serenissima in Domagnano, from 1942 or the post-war years depending on the source, and carries San Marino's mark of origin for local craft products. Build a home version with our Torta Tre Monti recipe.
Bustrengo — The peasant cake of stale bread, cornmeal, raisins, dried figs, honey and lemon zest, dense and moist, and traditional at Christmas in San Marino and the provinces of Rimini and Forlì-Cesena. It was once baked in the fireplace in a copper pot whose lid was covered with hot coals.

Wine, liqueurs and the food calendar

Sammarinese wines are made by the Consorzio Vini Tipici, founded in 1979 to promote local grapes, from vineyards on the clay and limestone ridges between 150 and 500 metres. The five main wines are Sangiovese, Ribolla, Biancale, Brugneto and Tessano. Local liqueurs include Mistrà, flavoured with anise as in the Marche, and Tilus, a bitter made with truffle and herbs.

The year still sets the menu: tagliatelle on Sundays, pasta and chickpeas on Christmas Eve, cappelletti on Christmas Day, bustrengo at Christmas, castagnole at Carnival, roast lamb at Easter. Some dishes have almost vanished, such as bobolotti, squares of flour-and-water dough boiled with lard and dark beans.

Cook Sammarinese food at home

Piada, passatelli and Torta Tre Monti have full step-by-step recipes in Copper. You will find them on our page about the food of San Marino.

Because San Marino's table is Romagna's table, it reads best next to the traditional food of Italy. For the wider family of kitchens it belongs to, see our guide to Western European food.

The recipes

Questions people ask

What is the most popular food in San Marino?

The piada, a lard flatbread filled with cheese and cured meat, is the most widespread food. Torta Tre Monti is the best-known speciality and edible souvenir.

Is Sammarinese food different from Italian food?

Only slightly. San Marino is surrounded by Italy and its cooking is that of Romagna and the Marche; the piada, passatelli and cappelletti are eaten on both sides of the border.

What do people in San Marino eat at Christmas?

Pasta and chickpeas on Christmas Eve, cappelletti in capon broth on Christmas Day, and bustrengo, a cake of bread, cornmeal, dried fruit and honey.

Is the piada the same as the piadina?

It is the same kind of lard flatbread. The Sammarinese piada is defined as thicker than the Rimini piadina and thinner than those of Cesena and Ravenna.

What wine is made in San Marino?

Sangiovese, Ribolla, Biancale, Brugneto and Tessano, all from the Consorzio Vini Tipici, founded in 1979.

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