Radicchio: a single word for a whole world of red and white leaves. As always, it began in a wild, spontaneous way, with bitter Cichorium intybus, which grows all over the planet and has many names. Particular cultivation and development took place in the north of Italy: Veneto, Trentino, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Red leaves as we know them started in the early 1900s, when Belgian and Italian agronomists developed a technique called imbianchimento (whitening, blanching or preforcing). Pulled from the soil and placed in water in dark sheds, the plants’ chlorophyll production is inhibited, causing them to lose their green pigmentation and develop dark red, white-veined and sturdy leaves. Genetic selection, local competition and time saw the development of distinctive varieties, with different degrees of earthy bitterness, each taking the name of the places where they were developed. Radicchio grown in these places is protected, but of course it can be grown anywhere you care to plant.
