Borlengo Museum and Chestnut Tree Museum

The museum-workshop that teaches the art of making ‘borlenghi’ is located in Ospitale di San Giacomo near Zocca, nestling amid woodland of oak and chestnut. The ancient ‘Ospitale’, or hostel, dates back to 1186 and is today an obligatory stop on tourist trails thanks also to the availability of accommodation and the presence of a museum dedicated to chestnut trees. The borlengo, a kind of thin, crispy crepe, has been part of the culinary tradition in the Panaro valley since ancient times. Considered a poor man’s food, its name is thought to derive from “burla”, signifying the jokes people traditionally played on one another at carnival time. Here, subject to advance booking, visitors can learn to cook borlenghi, no mean feat in itself. Opposite the workshop is the entrance to the Chestnut Tree Museum which, amongst other things, organises various activities for children, including “Fantacastagneto”, a reconstruction of the chestnut grove habitat.