Crescentine, crescente or tigelle (sing: crescentina, crescenta or tigella) are thin, 10cm round breads from the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

in the

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

area of

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, Northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. They are made from flour, water, salt, and yeast, and traditionally eaten filled with ''cunza'', a spread made from pork lard and flavoured with garlic and rosemary or with cold cuts, boar, rabbit, cheese, salty dressings or sweet spreads. In the Apennines, ''crescente'' have long been eaten at home or enjoyed in traditional restaurants, but in the last decade some fast-food and casual restaurants have added ''crescente'' to their menus. Similar breads such as

piadina ''Piadina'' or ''piada'' is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna historical region (Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini). It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. The dough was traditional ...

borlengo A borlengo (plural: ''borlenghi''), also called a ''burlengo'' or ''zampanelle'', is a thin flatbread now made with water, eggs (sometimes omitted) flour and salt. Originally a food eaten by the poor and made with flour and water, it is now often ...

gnocco fritto The () or () is a bread in Italian cuisine from the Emilia region of Italy, prepared using flour, water and lard as primary ingredients. Cracklings are sometimes used in its preparation as well. In Emilia-Romagna, it is typically sliced into dia ...

and panigaccio are made in neighbouring areas. Originally, ''crescente'' were baked between tiles called ''tigelle'', a term derived from a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word for cover. Later, the name ''tigella'' came to be used for the bread itself. Nowadays, ''crescente'' are baked in restaurants using electric griddles while at home, a special aluminium pan called a ''tigelliera'' or ''cottola'' over a gas cooker is used. Tigelliere

Crescentine have been identified as a Traditional Agribusiness Product by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture.

References

{{Reflist Italian cuisine Italian breads