Marche · — · Acqualagna, · Pesaro-Urbino · Province Techniques

Vincisgrassi is Marche's version of lasagne — wide egg pasta sheets layered with a ragù of chicken livers and sweetbreads, béchamel, and Parmigiano — a 19th-century banquet dish named after the Austrian General Windisch-Graetz. The Acqualagna version (from the truffle capital of the Marche) adds shaved white truffle (Tuber magnatum, the same species as Alba's) over the finished vincisgrassi at service. The white truffle's intensity demands the dish be served immediately on hot plates — the first aroma when the truffle meets the heat of the pasta is the dining experience.

The white, truffle-intensive variant of Marche's defining lasagne — no ragù, no tomato; instead fresh porcini and mixed wild mushrooms slow-cooked with shallot and white wine into a concentrated fungal preparation, layered with Marsala-scented pasta and béchamel enriched with double cream, finished with shaved Marche white truffle. This version represents the most refined expression of Marche's truffle-mushroom heritage, eaten in October and November when both mushrooms and white truffle are at their peak simultaneously.