The 400-Year-Old Heirloom Corn of Lombardy: The Revival of Mais Spinato di Gandino

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It looks like a spiky corn, but behind its unusual shape lies a story spanning more than 400 years: mais spinato di Gandino is a Bergamo variety rescued from extinction and grown again today in the Seriana Valley.

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Have you ever seen a corncob with sharp-tipped kernels? In Gandino, in the Val Seriana, this distinctive shape gave its name to one of Lombardy's oldest corn varieties: the "mais spinato di Gandino". Its defining trait is precisely the pointed, "beak-shaped" kernels that resemble a small thorn and make it instantly recognisable next to more common corn. Its story began more than 400 years ago: according to one study it was already being grown in Gandino in 1632, on the lands of the Giovanelli family, prominent local textile merchants. It would have been one of the first corns to reach Lombardy, shortly after spreading through the territories of the Republic of Venice.

From arrival in Lombardy to the risk of disappearing

For centuries the mais spinato accompanied farming life in the Gandino valley, but its fate changed with the growth of the local textile industry. The valley, famous for its wool and cloth production, progressively reduced its crops, and many ancient corn varieties nearly vanished.

The spinato was saved by a project launched in 2007 to recover this old variety through collaboration between local bodies and Crea – the Maize Research Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture. The original seeds were recovered thanks to an old corncob kept by the Savoldelli family at Cascina Parecia, allowing the corn to return to the fields. Today the mais spinato di Gandino is protected as a "conservation agricultural variety", and its seeds are also stored in the Global Seed Vault — the world seed depository on the Svalbard islands, created to protect the planet's agricultural biodiversity.

Sustainable cultivation and a flour with strong character

Cultivation follows sustainable methods tied to the biointensive system, a farming technique that aims to improve soil and yield without chemical inputs. The result is a flour with a warm colour and intense flavour, particularly suited to making polenta, one of the symbols of Bergamasque cuisine.

The Comunità del Mais Spinato di Gandino has turned this recovered variety into a true gastronomic chain: alongside the polenta flour came products such as the Melgotto biscuits, the Spinata (a sort of local take on pizza made with corn) and the Spinetta, an extruded crispbread designed as a snack or an accompaniment to cured meats and cheeses. The world of beer has also embraced the ingredient: hence the Scarlatta, a craft beer made with mais spinato di Gandino and yerba mate leaves.

From field to events: a corn that tells the story of a territory

In recent years the mais spinato has become one of the gastronomic symbols of the Val Seriana. Every autumn Gandino celebrates the harvest with I Giorni del Melgotto and the Galà dello Spinato, events dedicated to sustainable gastronomy and the promotion of ancient local crops. What today looks like a curiously shaped corn is in fact the product of a four-century farming history: a variety that risked disappearing and returned to the Bergamasque fields thanks to farmers' memory and a biodiversity-recovery project.