Main courses in Verona

Verona's culinary tradition is known for tasty main courses which we highly recommend during your stay in Verona.

The most famous is Bollito misto con la Pearà, beef with pepper sauce (pearà in dialect) prepared with grated bread, meat broth, oxtail and black pepper. Pearà is particularly creamy with a buttery consistency, and with a sweet fragrance and aftertaste that highlights the taste of the pepper. Generally the bollito misto con pearà is served in characteristic terracotta dishes, still piping hot.

Another traditional main dish from Verona is Pastissada de Caval, a casserole of horse meat, wine, vegetables and herbs, often accompanied by polenta or used as a condiment for gnocchi. According to tradition, this dish is prepared following a recipe that is one thousand five hundred years old. Legend has it that at the end of the battle fought in 489 AD between Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, and Odoacer, King of the Heruli, hundreds of horses lay dead on the ground. The starving people of Verona decided not to waste the meat. They cut it into pieces and marinated it with wine and spices to preserve it, then cooked it in stew, unwittingly starting a tradition.