Trieste and the osmize: what they are and how to find them
In the heart of the Karst, that limestone plateau that stretches between Trieste and Slovenia, it hides a food and wine tradition as simple as unknown to those who do not usually visit the area. They are the “osmize” or “osmizze”: characteristic places deeply rooted in the history of the territory. If you want to live a stay in Trieste as a true resident, it is worth knowing what osmize are, how to find them and what to order.
What are osmize and what is their history
The term “osmiza” is derived from the Slovenian word for number eight, the number of days during which agricultural holdings in the province of Trieste were authorised to sell their surplus products to external customers. The decree dates back to the time of the Habsburg rule, but the tradition has been preserved over time and today several osmize maintain the same basic principles. An osmiza is therefore a farm, where farmers open their doors – the doors of their homes, often – to the public two or three times a year and for a few consecutive days.
The osmize are distinguished by their simple and familiar environments: unlike a common agritourism they do not serve cooked food but only products such as cold cuts, cheeses, bread and wine, of own production and therefore in limited quantities. Hence the few days of opening: there are no longer laws that set a precise limit, but the need to serve own products limits availability in a natural way. Being open to the public only for a few days in a year means that you will not find a room intended for customers as in a restaurant, but just a few tables outdoors or in the kitchen of home, in an atmosphere of great sharing often accompanied by music and songs.
How to find open osmize
Tradition has it that to identify an open osmiza you must look for the “frasca”: in the past, in fact, the farm that wanted to signal its opening hung a real branch at the entrance. It is still so today, driving through the streets of the Karst in certain periods of the year you will come across flecks and red arrows that indicate the way to follow to find an open osmiza.
But the advent of the internet has also modernized the search, so – especially if you are not practical in the area – you can start by consulting the official portal of open osmize. In the province of Trieste about twenty have remained, to which are added others in Slovenian territory very frequented for a Sunday out of town.
What to eat in Trieste osmize
Once you find an open osmiza, what to order? Needless to say, the real protagonist of many osmize is wine, produced directly from local vineyards. Among the most common wines are for example Terrano, a full-bodied red, and Vitovska, a fresh and aromatic white. In addition to wines, osmize usually offer cold cuts and cheese, eggs – boiled, the only thing cooked before -, in some cases salads as a vegetarian alternative, pickled vegetables.
The main ingredient, however, is the conviviality that can be enjoyed in osmize: a real piece of Trieste history that allows you to live an experience out of time.
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