[OCCQN]Class III F including Niccolò Pisano from Marina di Pisa, Castagnolo branch of San Piero a Grado
These two years of pandemic have also stopped the organization of the Sagra del Pinolo di S. Piero a Grado, the most loved event by the residents of the area, and not only, which takes place in the lawn adjacent to the basilica before the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage he preferred to move it. The Festival was held the first two weekends of July and hosted thousands of people in its stands offering gastronomic products such as Torta coi bischeri and pasta with pesto, linked to the basic ingredient: the pine nut of the Migliarino Park, S. Rossore and Massaciuccoli. Naturally there was no shortage of grilled meat, roasted on the spot by skilled stokers, all in an impeccable organization. Why a pine nut festival in S. Piero a Grado? Let’s briefly review the story helped by a conversation with prof. Enrico Bonari of the S. Anna High School. It was agricultural in 1980, says the professor, he had recently taken over the management of the experimental farm of the park when the parish priest Guerri di S. Piero a Grado proposed that he think of a festival for the town, thus involving the University of Pisa. It was a way to link the territory with its different realities. Indeed, Prof Bonari was studying the mechanical harvesting processes of pine nuts at the time. The pine nut festival took off with the help of local characters, immediately attracting people of patrons and the proceeds were used to help the families of the town in financial difficulty. Pine forests have been planted in this area for centuries thanks to the sandy soils and the temperate climate of the coast. Information on the history of these pine forests also comes to us from Luca Gorreri, official of the Park Authority and co-author of the book The pine forests and the production of pine nuts in the territory of the park of Migliarino, S, Rossore and Massaciuccoli (Pisa 1998). In the 1000s there was the greatest decline as the coastal terrain had become swampy. In modern times, on the other hand, maritime pines were preferred to protect the coast from sea winds and to help the land reclamation; subsequently, starting from the nineteenth century, the inhabitants started planting the stone pine which, although it was less resistant, the great advantage of producing pine nuts. But it was in the early twentieth century, during the reclamation period, that two companies began a thick reforestation of domestic pines. The collection of pine nuts thus becomes a source of work and therefore of subsistence for the inhabitants of S. Piero in Grado and its surroundings. Naturally, before the recent mechanical harvesting, the pine nut pickers were divided into “Shakers” and “Raccattini” professions for which excellent physical fitness was required. The first ones shook the foliage of the pines by climbing the trees with ladders, sometimes hovering on the high branches and with a pole making the pine cones fall. The latter, on the other hand, as the name suggests, collected pine cones. Then the “loaders” and “barrocciai” transported them to the processing areas. Since the 1980s, as we have seen, the harvest has been mechanized.