In ancient times broad beans (fave) were used for voting in public and  private meetings. After debating a proposal the councillors would secretly drop a broad bean into a box - a white bean meant YES a black bean meant NO. Broad beans were also used to predict the future: on the night of December 31st girls would hide three beans  under their pillows. One of them was half skinned,  one was without skin and one was intact. The next day they would pick a bean at random: the first indicated  marriage to a not so wealthy man, the second  to  a poor man, the third to a rich man. Freshly picked broad beans  are eaten raw in May when they are tender. When the pods get bigger they have to be cooked. There is a delicious traditional dish that can be served as a side-dish or as an appetizer: the fava 'ngreccia - broad beans blended with  anchovies, capers, parsley, garlic vinegar or lemon, salt and pepper. Yummy !
In the Marches, especially in the area surrounding Macerata, fresh broad beans are best eaten with sheep's cheese of local origin that has a full and mellow taste , becoming  more intense as the cheese matures - the pecorino. The great Italian poet, and Marche native,  Giacomo Leopardi would write thank-you cards to his family for the pecorino cheeses they sent him on request.  "..... the cheeses you send me are welcome and will serve to enhance my popularity amongst my friends here. They appreciate the cheeses more than Parmesan and they appear on a gentleman's table whenever they are available, which is something rare." (8 February 1826)