«In casa mia mi sa meglio una rapa / ch'io cuoca, e cotta s'un stecco me inforco, / e mondo, e spargo poi di acetto e sapa, / che all'altrui mensa tordo, starna o porco / selvaggio»: In these famous verses of Satire III, Ludovico Ariosto strongly vindicates the autonomy and independence, and while he offers a concise but effective representation of some elements belonging to the sixteenth century kitchen. In particular, the feminine noun "sapa" which is a continuation of Latin sapa in turn be connected probably with knowledge "having taste" and sapidus "tasty," indicates a particular type of wine, cooked and concentrated by boiling, already used by ancient Romans as a condiment. Indeed, among the ancient Romans were produced and variously consumed different types of cooked musts or wines, among those most frequently mentioned in written sources we have to recall caroenum the Defrutum and Sapa. All three musts were concentrated by boiling and differentiated according to the percentage of residual water, as described in a document of Varro.

Sapa is a typical sweet sauce of the Marches, where it is considered one of the typical flavors of food farming. It is a grape syrup that is obtained from the must of white grapes or red. Sapa is also called "cooked must". The must is immersed in a copper pot and simmer for 24-36 hours. Sapa is ready when it will be reduced to one third of its original quantity. It is very sweet and very well preserved thanks to the sugar content. In Apiro and in Macerata, is used to create one of the sweets of the winter period: "i cavallucci", stuffed croissants with Sapa and dried fruits that can be preserved for a long time.

The Sapa is a sweet sauce colour caramel. Its density and its sour taste of cooked must with a pleasant bitter aftertaste make it special in conjunction with polenta and goat cheese (dried, salted and smoked) as the Marche tradition teaches. Exquisite along with cheeses and savory, the sapa goes very well with strawberries and as a sauce for ice cream and whipped cream. In summer, added to water becomes a great thirst-quencher, in fact, in ancient times, was used along with the snow to create a slush.