Sermide onions (often called Paglierina onions) are grown in the Oltrepò area, encompassing the Carbonara Po and Felonica Po municipalities. It is a fairly rounded onion with a diameter of 5-8 cm, weighing between 120 and 150g. Only limited quantities are grown these days, with it mainly being used as an ingredient for Tiròt (a local focaccia filled with onion), in onion risotto or simply baked in the oven. The traditional cultivation of such onions is quite strange as it is enormously influenced by the terrain, with a bitter taste when grown in clayey soil, but a far sweeter flavour when the soil is sandier. The most common varieties grown are the Paglierina, planted in autumn and harvested in summer, and the Dorata Invernale, planted in spring and harvested in July and August. During times of war and famine, Sermide onions remained a regular staple on the table; indeed, they were often about all there was to eat and, although very simple food, it is nutritional and has beneficial pharmaceutical properties (helps scarring etc.). It is said that, in Renaissance times, this humble produce of the earth found its way onto the tables of nobles, as it was thought to be an aphrodisiac... Martial, a famous first century poet and gossipmonger, suggested that only people who had a ‘bored wife and tired male member’ should banquet with onions.