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Chickpea farinata is a very flat quiche, prepared with chickpea flour, water, rosemary, salt and olive oil. It is baked in a baking-tin. When you bake it, the colour becomes bright yellow.
Its origins are very old: different Latin and Greek recipes report baked flans with legumes dough. In the Middle Ages the dish spreads from Genoa . The legend tells the farinata was born in 1284 by chance, when Genoa defeated Pisa in the battle of Meloria. The Genovese galleys, full of rowers who where prisoners, found themselves in a storm.
During the bustle, some oil barrels and chickpea sacks fell down and got soaked with salty water. Since these were the only eatable food supplies on board and there was not a wide choice, they salvaged everything that could be eaten. Sailors received bowls with some chickpea and oil dough. Trying to solve the problem, some bowls were left under the sun, which dried the mix in a sort of pancake.
When Genoese people got to the land, they decided to improve this recipe by cooking the dough into the oven. The result was so good that as derision to the losers, it was called “the gold of Pisa ”.