The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish (called teggia or testo in Romagnol), although nowadays flat pans or electric griddles are commonly used.

The piadina has been added to the list of the prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (PAT) of the Emilia-Romagna region, and to the Protected Geographical Indication of the European Union in 2014[1] Since Ancient Rome flatbreads like this were used, the first mention of the piadina was in 1317,[2] in the Descriptio provinciæ Romandiolæ, when papal legate Angel de Grimoard describes its recipe: "It's made with grain wheat mixed with water and seasoned with salt.

The term piada was officialized by Giovanni Pascoli, who adapted the Romagnol word piè into its more Italian form.

[3] Romagna was heavily influenced by Byzantium during the early Middle Ages, when the Eastern Empire reconquered parts of the Western domain which had fallen to the invading barbarians.

In those days Ravenna was the capital city of the Exarchate, and that would explain how the Greco-Byzantine recipe entered the local gastronomy.