Modica is one of the pearls of Italy. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is known for its architectural beauty and for the artisan workshops that process cocoa beans. Until the late 1940s, the town’s economy was based on agriculture and animal husbandry: pastures where the Modica breed was raised alternated with cultivated fields divided by dry stone walls typical of the area.
The members of the Fava Cottoia di Modica confraternity cultivate fava beans “considered the poor man’s dog” because they are nutritious and tasty, The “Fava Cottoia di Modica” is renamed from the particularly tender tegument that facilitates cooking ( hence the term “cottoia”) and is part of the Slow Food Presidium, Cultivation is entrusted to selected farms and all located in the various districts of the Modica area, where the land is suited to the production of the fava cottoia.