Minestra di Fagioli con le Cotiche — Friulian Bean Soup with Rind

Friuli lowlands — the combination of Slavic, German-Austrian, and Italian influences in this borderland produces a soup that is specifically Friulian and not replicable in any other region. The bean-and-sauerkraut combination reflects the centuries of Hapsburg administration.

Friuli's winter bean soup is a variant of the pan-Italian bean-and-pork tradition, distinguished by the addition of sauerkraut (crauti) or brovada alongside the beans and pork rinds, and by the use of smoked pork products (speck or smoked pancetta) rather than the fresh pork of southern versions. The combination of smoked meat, fermented vegetables, and beans is the signature of the Central European influence on Friulian cooking — a flavour profile simultaneously Italian and Austrian, reflecting the region's unique position at the intersection of three food cultures (Italian, Slavic, and German-Austrian).

The Friulian bean soup with fermented vegetables and smoked pork is complex and warming — the smoke from the speck, the sourness from the sauerkraut or brovada, and the earthiness of the beans create a flavour that is simultaneously Italian and Central European. It is the flavour of the borderland.