Tigella

Tool for preparing mountain crescentine

The discs of terracotta, or firestone, in which the crescents were originally cooked are called tigelle . The term comes from tegella , diminutive of “tegula” which in Vulgar Latin meant lid, from the verb tegere (to cover).

Today, in the lowland areas and in the rest of Italy, this characteristic bread is referred to with the increasingly widespread metonymic name of tigelle (similarly to what happens for Valencian paella) despite, according to purists, the only correct name remains crescentina montanara , because the original and etymologically exact one.

Traditional cooking took place by stacking the dough alternately with discs usually made of terracotta (properly called tigelle ) already red-hot in the fireplace using chestnut or walnut leaves to separate the dough from the terracotta, flavor it and keep it clean of ash.

These stones are traditionally formed with finely ground chestnut earth and shaped in a wooden mold, then dried and fired. The mold features bas-relief engravings (geometric decorations which then remain printed on the pasta during cooking): the "flower of life" as a sign of prosperity and fertility.