The term gnocco means, first of all, a food based on boiled potatoes mixed with wheat flour, to be preformed, cooked in boiling water and seasoned to taste.
To be honest, potato gnocchi are just the evolution of a much older Italian recipe, dating back to 1300-1500 AD. In fact, the very first gnocchi were called "zanzarelli" and, like the canederli, they were based on stale bread; this was then enriched with dried fruit and mixed with milk.
In the seventeenth century, despite the fact that the potatoes were already well present in the area, stale bread and dried fruit were replaced by flour, while milk from water and chicken eggs; these were defined as "bad".
The contemporary gnocchi took hold in Italy only at the end of the nineteenth century, after many years of importing potatoes from the American continent.
Today, the gnocchi continue to be offered in the kitchen of the whole country, with greater prevalence in the central regions.
