Fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno

Grown around Trasimeno for centuries and popular until the 1950s, then all but gone: partly the emptying of the countryside, partly the work, which is long and still entirely by hand from sowing to threshing. The beans are tiny and oval and come cream, black, salmon and every shade of brown, sometimes speckled. Cooked they are tender and buttery and taste of a great deal; best boiled and dressed with the local oil.