The Ancient Races

The tales I was told as a child nearly always featured a pig, a sow, piglets or their owners. I was also told stories about people from the Bassa (the lowlands near the river Po) for whom those animals were almost members of the family, so much so that they were given particular nicknames referencing their mantle, their shape or their weight… so we find: al macià, al ros, al negar, al curt, al gros, al gras.

Each one was different but their common characteristic was that they made wonderful ‘salumi’ or cold cuts! At the time it all seemed to me to be absolutely natural but, of course, it couldn’t last! The years passed and I became disillusioned, the actors of my dreams were no longer the same… they had all become lean and white! That is when my obstinate search began for ancient, traditional breeds of pig. I heard about them and for over 10 years I gave up my vacation in order to hunt them down…

I did my research, I followed up and I bought, but how many disappointments in those first years. Then finally something interesting happened; somewhere really hard to get to I found ‘al macià’ and I discovered in my research that it was from a breed called “Borghigiana” taking its name from Borgo San Donino (now Fidenza) and famous for its culatelli and shoulders.

This fact was confirmed by the detailed accounts of the elderly “massalino” (butcher) from Vidalenzo di Polesine, the famous Gino da Schen. After so many unprofitable journeys throughout the Romagna region my perseverance was once more rewarded and, in fact, I found an example of ‘al ros’ (the pink one); there are very few of them, I was told that  there were only about 20 left, but I dug my heels in and in the end was able to buy them. It looked like it would be more difficult to find the ‘negar’ (the black one), the more or less unanimous verdict was that the breed was completely extinct, and thus impossible to find…

However, one day Dr Pietro Tanzi from Rocca di Varsi, a tiny village high in the Apennines told me about a photo from the end of the 1940’s which showed his grandmother with a black sow and her piglets. So I decided to go and hunt for them but, as usual, I just found the lean white pigs so I descended the hills into Tuscany where the black race of pigs is well known, but no-one had any to show me and much less sell me! I continued my research into the Marche, the Abruzzo and Molise but there was nothing doing.

I received some information from experts in the sector and I decided to extend my search to Spain, to the south with destination Cabugo, home of the famous “Pata Negra”, the most famous ham in the world. Up there in the mountains full of grazing pigs I got hold of all the books on the subject. From photos and information on the actual animals I discovered that they were very similar to those from my childhood tales but they didn’thave what we called the “tettole” (teats). Talking to a local breeder I discovered that there were