One of the most appreciated ingredients in Italian cuisine to give a more marked and decisive flavor to dishes is certainly chilli pepper: practically cultivable in a large part of the national territory, this plant reaches an average of 100 cm in height. Its origin, however, is to be found in Central America and, in particular, in Mexico where it was cultivated as early as 9000 BC, with the classic - and world-wide known - name of Chili. It seems that chili pepper was originally savored together with cocoa: this combination, moreover, is still valid even today. We owe the arrival of chilli pepper to Europe to Christopher Columbus.