The shape of the sweet fruit vaguely resembles a dove. And it justifies the name of “Palommina” (from the Neapolitan dialect “Palomma” meaning "dove" ) of the variety clearly prevalent among the chestnut trees populating the woods of Montella.
The strict production regulation provides that 90 percent of the chestnuts must belong to the area protected by the PGI, while the remaining part belongs to the “Verdole” variety. Together, the two species of chestnut trees contribute to the landscape of Terminio-Cervialto, homeland of the Montella chestnut, a national excellence which is rooted in history. Because the chestnut groves have ben growing in the Irpinia mounts for at least twenty-five years, favoured by the soil and the climate, to which the human care has been added over time, already prescribed in the Lombard period, when the availability of chestnut flour and its long conservation period proved to be very useful during the recurrent sieges.
Fresh, dried, desiccated and toasted to make the Christmas “priest’s chestnuts”, transformed into delicious marrons glacés or into flour for the castagnaccio, in purée or in preserve, in Montella they also obtain an excellent liqueur and a typical pantorrone.
Other production centres of the Montella Chestnut are Bagnoli Irpino, Cassano Irpino, Nusco, Volturara Irpina e Montemarano.
The IGP chestnut of Serino is bigger, ideal for the consumption and marrons glacés. These chestnuts are from the “Verdole” and “Montemarano” varieties. They are grown in the upper valley of the Sabato and on the Picentini, where there were introduced by the Benedictines between the 12th and the 13th centuries.
