Professor Soups + Focaccia House

10/02/2026

10/01/2026

Pasta Made From…Chestnuts? 🌰🍝🇮🇹
Professor Soup's DIG (Daily Italian Gem): #23

Did you know that in Liguria, pasta isn't always made with regular flour?

This weekend, the town of Busalla, just outside Genoa, celebrates its Sagra delle Trofie di Castagne—a festival dedicated to trofie made with chestnut flour. 🌰

Chestnuts were once such an important food in the mountains of Liguria that they were sometimes called “the bread of the poor.” They could be dried, ground into flour and used to make everything from bread to pasta.

And because we're Ligurian, naturally we took chestnuts, turned them into trofie...and then created an entire festival to celebrate them. 😂🇮🇹

Focaccia last weekend. Chestnut pasta this weekend. October is looking pretty good in Liguria.

09/25/2026

Yes, Genoa Has a Festival Just for Focaccia 🇮🇹🥖
Professor Soup's DIG (Daily Italian Gem) #22

Did you know that this weekend Genoa is holding its first-ever Fugassa Festival?

On September 26 & 27, the Porto Antico will be taken over by bakers, tastings, demonstrations and more than 10 stands celebrating one thing: focaccia. There’s even a Saturday night Fugassa Party. Because apparently Genovese people looked at focaccia and thought, “This needs its own festival.” 😂

And fugassa? That’s simply what we Genovese call focaccia in our local dialect.

So while Genoa celebrates focaccia 4,000 miles away, we’ll be doing our part right here in Lake Orion. 🇮🇹🇺🇸

No plane ticket required. Come grab a slice of Genova this weekend! 🥖