PIOZZO, Italy — There are as many as 800 varieties of squash in the world. In Piozzo, a village of about 1,000 people in the province of Cuneo, 660 of them are grown. Among them, is the Zucca di Piozzo, a local squash that once came close to extinction but was saved by a small group of growers.

It is no coincidence that the village’s residents are known as lapacuse, or “those who drink from squash.”

“It’s small, weighing no more than about 2.2 pounds. After it is harvested, it turns brown, almost copper-colored. The flavor is sweet and creamy, making it ideal for risotto,” says Ferdinando Musso of the local Pro Loco. He is the brother of Teo Musso, founder of Baladin Brewery, where an exhibition titled “Aspettando la Fiera della Zucca” is being held ahead of the Pumpkin Feast, which takes place on the first weekend of October.

“Twenty years ago, we began working to protect it. Today there are five growers,” Musso says. “Squash tends to cross-pollinate, and we realized that ours was losing its identity. So we began working with Slow Food, eventually first having it added to the Arca del Gusto and then becoming a Slow Food Presidium. This year, because of the heat, we harvested only a few hundred quintals.”

The Zucca di Piozzo is just one of more than 1,500 rare products — from plants and animal breeds to distinctive landscapes — that will be featured at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, Sept. 24–27 in Turin, as Slow Food celebrates its 40th Anniversary.

For the occasion, the organization will unveil a special project, the result of 30 years of work with the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo: 18 atlases documenting the stories of the products listed in the Arca del Gusto — 1,102 in all — and the 419 Slow Food Presidium across Italy’s regions.

These are foods, traditions and landscapes that were once on the verge of disappearing but have survived thanks to the determination of farmers. About half will be displayed in Piazza Castello.

“It’s a way of telling the story of biodiversity through a long walk in the heart of Turin,” says Serena Milano, Slow Food’s Director General.

Among the vegetables at risk of extinction is the Cavolfiore di Moncalieri, now grown by just five or six producers, including Carlo Giacomasso of the Il Tasso Farm.

“My family has been growing it since the late 19th century. It used to be widespread, but in the 1970s and ’80s it was abandoned in favor of hybrid varieties that were more profitable for the market. But we never gave up,” Giacomasso says.

The Moncalieri cauliflower matures slowly. It is harvested from late October through February and requires several passes through the fields. With commercial varieties, by contrast, the entire harvest can be completed in a month or less.

The difference is reflected in the price: about €4 per kilogram, roughly twice the price of commercial varieties.

“It has superior nutritional qualities. And once people try it, they never go back.”

Loved for its intense, sweet flavor and purple skin streaked with orange, the Patata Verrayes in the Aosta Valley was rescued in particular by the Berger family, which has continued to grow it at an elevation of 1,250 meters.

Piedmont is also home to the Carciofo astigiano del sorì. In the Oltrepò Pavese, the Peperone di Voghera — once sold in markets across Europe and the United States — was brought back from seeds preserved in family gardens. Some families still preserve the peppers under grape pomace in large glass demijohns.

Among the more unusual products is the Pompìa, a knobby Sardinian citrus fruit that can weigh up to 700 grams and grows around Siniscola. Too acidic to eat fresh, it is used to make liqueurs and desserts.

Also in Sardinia is Bottarga di muggine dello stagno di Cabras, mullet roe produced using a traditional fishing system that requires 15 fishermen to lower and close a large net in the lagoon.

Then there is Pecorino dell’Alta Baronia, made by just a handful of families from raw milk produced by sheep grazing in the area of the Tepilora Park.

In Liguria, there is the Cabannina, an indigenous cattle breed from the Genoa area that came close to disappearing and is now raised on pastures in the Apennines.

And there is Chinotto di Savona, a small citrus fruit that arrived from China around the 16th century.

Giacomo Parodi, a producer of the Slow Food Presidium, recalls how it was brought back.

“I’m almost 80, and at first I didn’t really believe in it. Twenty years ago, Carlo Petrini encouraged me: ‘Come on, let’s revive Chinotto di Savona.’ At the beginning of the 20th century, much of the local population made its living from this product. Then, little by little, it almost disappeared. There were only three or four of us producers left. We recovered the surviving trees. Today there are about 20 of us.”

Emilia-Romagna is home to its own heirloom melons, from the Melone Rospo, with its warty skin, to the small, slightly peppery Ramparino and the Banana varieties.

Then there is the Moretta di Vignola, a cherry with almost black skin that accounted for more than a quarter of Modena province’s cherry production in the 40s and ’50s. Today, only a few dozen quintals remain.

Veneto stands out for Miele di Barena, honey produced in the Venice lagoon by following the flowering cycles of the barene, the low-lying marshy islands of the lagoon.

Beekeepers practice a kind of “marine transhumance,” moving their hives among the islands. Today, production is threatened by erosion in the lagoon.

Tuscany is known for the Razza Maremmana, cattle raised in the wild and closely associated with the region’s butteri, or traditional cattle herders, as well as for the Fagiolo Zolfino, a small yellow bean grown in poor soils between the Arno River and Mount Pratomagno. Traditionally, it is cooked overnight in a wine flask or wood-fired oven.

Abruzzo is home to Cotta di Roccamontepiano, an ancient technique for cooking grape must, and Ceci di Navelli, prized local chickpeas.

In Calabria, the Pesca tardiva di Magisano, rescued by a group of young agronomists, preserves a characteristic that has become increasingly rare: the trees are propagated from seed.

Finally, in Sicily, about 30 families are working to protect a unique landscape. Filippa Tripi, in Marcatobianco near Castronovo, tends permanent grasslands with her family and raises sheep, cattle and goats.

“We have always lived here, and in our own small way, we have always respected and cared for this land,” she says.

At Terra Madre, she will bring her aged and semi-aged pecorino cheese.

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