With the hope that in a year we will be back to normal leaving the Coronavirus behind us, on 18 January the Ministry for Cultural Heritage proclaimed Procida Capital of Culture for 2022. The smallest pearl of the Gulf of Naples, whose territory entirely covers that of the islands of Procida and Vivara, was chosen by a jury among 10 candidates (Ancona, Bari, Cerveteri, L'Aquila, Pieve di Soligo, Taranto, Trapani, Verbania and Volterra are the other cities on the list).

Procida, culture does not isolate

With the slogan "Culture does not isolate", the city will offer 330 days of events through 44 cultural projects, 240 artists, 40 original works and 8 renovated exhibition spaces. It will be an opportunity to discover this volcanic island at times still wild – often obscured by the more famous and worldly Capri and Ischia – under which, according to Greek mythology, lies the body of the giant Mimante and where the colorful houses, the narrow alleys, the breathtaking views, the sandy beaches and the rocky coves were the backdrop to cinema scenes (you see The postman with Massimo Troisi) and in which they were set short stories and novels (from Boccaccio to Elsa Morante).

The island of lemons

Procida is often called the island of lemons, a fruit that has been cultivated here since ancient times by practically all the families of the island and reaches very large size, with a light yellow coarse-grained skin and withalbedo (the white part between the pulp and the peel) very often. For this last characteristic, Procida lemons are also called "lemons bread ". THE lemons on the island they can be enjoyed simply sliced ​​as a dessert, with or without a spoonful of sugar – they are in fact less acres than the most popular lemons – or in chunks in the salad together with onion, oil, chilli, salt and mint, or they are used to make refreshing drinks and limoncello.

Fresh artichokes or in oil

Typical of Procida is also the artichoke, of the Roman type, which is proposed fresh or handcrafted in oil according to an ancient recipe that provides that the flower heads of the second and subsequent orders are cleaned, blanched in water, white wine vinegar and salt and stored in glass jars with the addition of extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano and hot pepper. After letting them mature for 2 months, the artichokes in oil are ready to be eaten and can be kept for over 6 months.

Pasta and sweets

The typical recipe of the island is the spaghetti alla Procidana, whose recipe involves dressing the pasta with octopus, cherry tomatoes, garlic, chilli, parsley and spaghetti with poor seafood with anchovies and fried green chillies. What sweets can you find once you've landed? The languages ​​of Procida, a puff pastry filled with lemon cream (but also pastry or chocolate), also known as Ox Languages.