Eighty per cent rye flour and twenty per cent semolina, mixed and baked in wood-fired ovens: Nicolosi's black bread, also called «Immanù», takes its name from the Germanic irmana, irmanu, indicating the grain's origin. It is recognised by its dark crust and dense crumb, heavier than wheat bread.
According to tradition, rye reached the slopes of Etna with the Benedictine monks of the nearby San Nicolò monastery; a hardy plant, it grew even on poor lava soils, which is why it fed entire generations through times of famine. During the Second World War rye was not subject to the rationing imposed on wheat, and black bread became, for years, the only real answer to hunger in the Etna area.
Cultivation had almost died out, until in 2010 an elderly farmer from the Troina area kept and handed over half a kilo of seeds of the old «irmana» variety: from there, with the Parco dell'Etna, the Comune di Nicolosi and the Università di Catania, sowing began again in volcanic soil. On 3 May 2012 Nicolosi's black bread was granted municipal denomination of origin.
