Food products
Cinta Senese: or Siena Belted is a local
pig race, present in the area of Siena since
the middle ages and actually endangered for
the small number of the animals. It is used to make the Finocchiona.
Pici: a kind of rolled out by hand pasta made from a few
basic ingredients: water, flour and little salt with spaghetti shape. To be seasoned with meat sauce or garlic, or, in the lack of anything else in the house, with breadcrumbs fried in oil.
Saffron: In San Gimignano you can find the best saffron,
produced here since the 1. 200 and used for the soup.
Sweets
There is a great deal of variety in traditional Siennese dessert: Cavallucci, Ricciarelli, Copate,
whose recipes have been handed down from medieval pharmaceutics, aside from the home-made desserts like 'Biscotti della nonna'
and fruits tarts. Panforte, which goes back to the Middle Age, is made with almonds, candied fruit, honey, and spices. 'Panpepato'
is a dessert which has more spices including pepper.
Wines
Red wines from 'Chianti' to 'Brunello' and white ones from the 'Vernaccia of S. Gimignano' to the 'Bianco Valdarbia'.