There are many reasons to visit Norcia. It’s the birthplace of St Benedict, who founded the Benedictine monastic system. It’s an ancient town that is still surrounded by walls that date back to the fourteenth century (although recent earthquakes have tragically damaged some of the older buildings). It sits in the middle of a valley by the River Sordo near the Sibillini Mountains, providing some wonderful landscapes. But what Norcia is really famous for is its pork, its butchers and its cured meats.
Norcia’s porcine reputation dates right back to Roman times, when the expert skills of the town’s butchers (known as norcinos) were held in such high regard that they were sometimes called on to perform basic operations on humans. By the Middle Ages norcino had become a derogatory term for shady types who travelled the country offering surgical procedures for cheap; today, however, it’s a name given to the very finest artisanal butchers in all of Italy – and many of them can be found in Norcia itself.
Among the beautiful buildings and sleepy piazzas of Norcia you’ll find beautiful family-owned shops with norcineria written over the door (something that’s become commonplace throughout the whole of Italy). These are the businesses of the last few master pork butchers keeping the norcino tradition alive, taking the very best pork and turning it into perfectly butchered cuts or beautiful cured meats and salumi. They’re often packed to the rafters with sausages, cured legs and other porky delights – it’s not unusual to see a few stuffed boar heads (or even the whole animal) guarding the shop entrance either.
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Norcia: Italy’s capital of pork