Peperoncino, Capsico, Diavolillo, Pepe di Cayenna

It is thought that chilli was brought back from America by Christopher Columbus. It quickly became known as la droga dei poveri, ‘the poor man’s drug’, because of its powerful taste that could flavour any food, however dull. It also had the extra benefit of stimulating digestion as well as acting as a disinfectant. In Italy, chilli is very popular in the South, where it is used as a condiment and offered on the tables of restaurants along with the salt and pepper.

Peperoncini are part of the Capsicum (sweet pepper) family, but instead of producing the large mild peppers, the plants bear small fruits of green or fire-red in the shape of little horns. The smallest chillies, called diavolilli (little devils) in Abruzzi, are the hottest, while other varieties include the round cherry-shaped red chilli, the long, fat chilli called sigarette and the very common cayenne, a small pointed chilli which is dried and powdered to make pepe di cayenna or pepe d’India (cayenne pepper), much like the Hungarian spice paprika only hotter.