Peperone Dolce, Peperone Amaro

August and September is the time when red, yellow and green ‘sweet’ peppers are at their best, large and firm. Chilli peppers, peperoncini amari, fruit in July and August, but these usually remain green until well into September, when they finally turn a fiery red. In hot weather they are a definite stimulus to appetite.

A Carrarese friend insisted that Italians are so busy worrying about their digestions that they have given up la peperonata. But this is as improbable as the Greek contention that watercress is an aphrodisiac.