Polenta is a dish made from corn or other cereals - such as spelt, rye, or buckwheat -, common throughout most of Italy and therefore prepared in a wide variety of regional versions, including the sweet polente made with chestnuts or beans, typical of mountain areas. 

Once a staple in every Italian farmhouse, polenta is a dough of water and coarse-grained flour, traditionally stirred with a wooden spoon in a copper pot and cooked for up to an hour until it develops a firmer, toasted texture. 

In the Bassa Reggiana, a characteristic polenta is made from yellow corn flour, a cereal once widely cultivated in local fields both for its higher nutritional value compared to other grains (such as wheat), and for its affordability. This polenta is the basis for many traditional recipes, such as polenta pasticciata - a baked dish of polenta layered with cheese, mushrooms and sausage - and casagai - a rustic preparation of polenta dough enriched with pork rinds or beans, which could be sliced and fried -.