Condiglione – Liguria’s Summer Salad

Condiglione is a summer salad from Liguria, the thin coastal strip of north-west Italy that curves around the Gulf of Genoa. The core ingredients are tomatoes, red onion, Ligurian olives, capers, good olive oil, and oregano. There is no fixed recipes if you ask ten Ligurian cooks how they make it and you will get ten different answers. The dish shifts with the season, the cook, and what looks good at the market that morning.

But one thing remains constant. It must be light, fresh and quick to prepare on a hot Ligurian summer’s day.

What is condiglione?

Condiglione is Liguria’s version of the big summer salad, the kind of thing that appears on tables from June through September when tomatoes are s their best and when it’s too hot to cook. The name comes from the Ligurian dialect word condiglion, related to the verb condire (to dress or season), which tells you what this dish is really about: the dressing, not the ingredients.

The tomato of choice in Liguria is cuore di bue, literally “ox heart”, a large, ribbed, meaty variety with low acidity and dense flesh. It holds its shape when sliced and doesn’t release water into the salad. If you can find them, use them. If not, any large beefsteak tomato works.

In Liguria, taggiasca olives are always used. These small, dark, and mild olives grow on the terraced hillsides above the Ligurian coast. They have none of the bitterness of a Greek kalamata. Their flavour is gentle and slightly nutty, which is exactly right for a salad this simple.

Nice, Salad Niçoise, and the Ligurian connection

If condiglione reminds you of salade niçoise, that’s not a coincidence. Nice is firmly French today, but the city was part of the County of Nice, which sat within the Kingdom of Sardinia until 1860. That year, following the Second Italian War of Independence, the county was ceded to France by Sardinian Prime Minister Cavour in exchange for French military backing. The city had been Italian-speaking and culturally Ligurian for centuries before then.

The food tells the same story. Both condiglione and salade niçoise are built on the same logic: tomatoes, olives, capers, olive oil, summer vegetables, sometimes tuna. They share that logic because they come from the same culinary tradition. .

What goes in Condiglione

This is where cooks can disagree. The core ingredients that appear consistently across Ligurian versions are ripe tomatoes, sliced red onion, taggiasca olives, capers, good extra virgin olive oil, and fresh oregano. Beyond that, the salad is yours.

Common additions include cucumber, green beans, and tuna, though tuna pushes it toward a more substantial dish. Condiglione at its most traditional is lighter than that: a salad of vegetables and olives, dressed with the best oil you have.

What it is not is a salade niçoise with anchovies piled on top, hard-boiled eggs, and a composed presentation. Condiglione is looser, rougher, and simpler. The ingredients go in the bowl. You dress it. Done.

Ingredients

The olive oil carries the dish, so this is not the place for a generic supermarket bottle. Use a Ligurian extra virgin, Taggiasca oil if you can find it, or any good cold-pressed Italian oil with a mild, fruity character. Dried oregano works better than fresh here: the dried version has a concentrated, slightly resinous flavour that holds up against the acidity of the tomatoes.

Capers packed in salt are better than capers in brine. Rinse them well before using.

How to make condiglione

Slice the tomatoes thickly and arrange in a bowl or on a wide plate. Slice the red onion as thin as you can, a mandoline helps but a sharp knife works. Add the olives whole, scatter the capers, and add any other vegetables you’re using. Dress with olive oil, season with salt and dried oregano, and leave to sit for ten minutes before serving. The tomatoes release a little juice that mixes with the oil and becomes the dressing.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Condiglione – Liguria’s Summer Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4

A light and simple Ligurian summer salad of tomatoes, taggiasca olives, red onion, capers, and oregano dressed with extra virgin olive oil.

Equipment

• Sharp knife
• Chopping Board
• Wide serving bowl or large plate

Ingredients

• 500 grams cuore di bue tomatoes (or large beefsteak tomatoes)
• 1 medium red onion (thinly sliced)
• 1 yellow bell pepper (sliced and de-seeded)
• 100 grams Taggiasca olives (pitted)
• 2 tbsp capers (salt-packed, rinsed)
• 4 fillets anchovies (roughly chopped)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Ligurian if possible)
• 1 tsp freshly oregano (chopped)
• Salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)

Optional

• 100 grams cucumber (sliced)
• 100 grams green beans (blanched)
• 80 grams good-quality tuna in olive oil (drained)
• 4 soft-boiled eggs (quartered)

Instructions 

• Slice the tomatoes into thick rounds or rough wedges. Arrange in a wide bowl or on a large plate.
• Scatter the red onion, yellow bell pepper, taggiasca olives, anchovies and rinsed capers over the tomatoes and onion. Add cucumber, green beans, soft-boiled eggs, and tuna at this stage if using.
• Pour the olive oil over the salad. Season with salt and dried oregano. Turn gently once or twice. Leave to sit for 10 minutes before serving so the tomatoes release their juice into the oil.

Notes

1. Taggiasca olives are the correct choice here. Their mild, nutty flavour is nothing like a kalamata. Look for them in Italian delis or online.
2. Cuore di bue tomatoes are the traditional Ligurian variety. Any large, meaty beefsteak tomato is a good substitute.
3. Salt-packed capers have a better flavour than capers in brine. Rinse thoroughly before using.
4. Do not refrigerate before serving. Tomatoes lose flavour in the fridge. Dress at room temperature and serve immediately.
5. Tuna makes this a more substantial dish. Leave it out for a lighter antipasto or contorno.