Marche, central Italy. Named after the Austrian general Windischgrätz — the name is a Marchigiana pronunciation corruption of the German. The first documented recipe appears in Antonio Nebbia's 1779 book 'Il Cuoco Maceratese'.
Vincigrassi is the regional lasagne of the Marche — a baked pasta of egg pasta sheets, a rich ragù of chicken livers, sweetbreads, and minced meat, besciamella, and grated Parmigiano. Unlike Bolognese lasagne (all'Emiliana), vincigrassi includes offal in the ragù — specifically chicken livers, prosciutto, and sometimes sweetbreads — which gives the sauce a darker, more complex, more mineral flavour than the pork-and-beef Bolognese ragù. It is named after an Austrian general (Prince Windischgrätz), which commemorates the 1799 Battle of Ancona.
The chicken liver adds a mineral, slightly ferrous depth to the ragù that elevates it beyond the straightforward sweetness of a Bolognese. The besciamella unifies and enriches. The combination is more complex and adult in flavour than Emilian lasagne — richer, darker, more complex.
The ragù is the defining element: minced beef and pork combined with chicken livers (cleaned and roughly chopped) cooked in butter, with prosciutto crudo, white wine, tomato, and beef or veal stock. The chicken livers are added partway through cooking — they need only 5-10 minutes or they become grainy. The pasta sheets are very thin egg pasta. Assemble like standard lasagne: pasta, besciamella, ragù, Parmigiano, repeat. The besciamella is thick — thicker than for a standard lasagne — because the ragù is quite liquid. Bake at 180°C until golden.
The chicken liver ratio should be modest — enough to give a mineral depth without dominating. Some Marchigiana recipes add dried porcini to the ragù base, which deepens the flavour without adding meatiness. Rest the finished vincigrassi for 10-15 minutes before cutting — the layers firm up and serve cleanly.
Overcooking the chicken livers — they become granular and bitter; they should be just cooked through, slightly pink inside when added. Besciamella too thin — the layers slide apart when baked. Too many layers — vincigrassi is traditionally 4-5 layers, not a towering construction. Skipping the sweetbreads — they add a creaminess to the ragù that is lost with their omission.
Elizabeth David, Italian Food; Oretta Zanini de Vita, Encyclopedia of Pasta