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Antica Corte Pallavicina

There is a narrow strip of land on the right bank of the Great River in between the cities of Parma, Piacenza and Cremona famous for being the home of the king of cured pork meat, "Culatello". Yet, few people know that this area produces the greatest variety of cured pork meat in the world, the so-called "immagliature" (cured pork meat tied up with string), before the leftover meat and the trimmings are ground to make salamis. Salamis that the local expert "masalini" (butchers) have perfected over the centuries creating different varieties, each one with its own special nuance of flavour.
However, it is with the skilful use of the inimitable climate of this small piece of land that all this pork meat is cured and made to reach that degree of perfection that brings to mind a Verdi symphony!

In fact, if the cold, damp, foggy winters and hot, muggy summers that "bake the brain in people's heads", as Giovanni Guareschi puts it, are a curse for its inhabitants, for the cured pork meat this climate constitutes the basic element in the curing process that is also linked to the damp cellars located in the ancient houses with saltpeter oozing from their thick walls.  
Apart from the brief drying period that varies according to the type of cured pork meat and during which a fairly dry and slightly heated environment is needed, this dampness, a nuisance to man because it "breaks your bones", is what keeps the "fiocchi", the "pancette" and the "coppe" soft and ensures that characteristic, slow, ageing process to which the cured pork meats owe their softness and sweetness in addition to their incomparable flavour and strong fragrance.
For each gem on the crown of the king "Culatello" a page has been written up describing their specific characteristics and qualities with the aim of providing information to those who have not had the good fortune of "getting to know" these wonderful cured pork meats first hand. 
 
Our great grandfather was a sharecropper on the Piantador farm that belonged to the Maestro Giuseppe Verdi.  Our father used to recount how his grandfather told him that the Maestro (as Verdi was called in the area) was a great connoisseur of fine food. At Christmas, when, by contract, they had to turn in a share of the poultry and the cured pork meat, Verdi demanded only the highest quality.
Then one day, while cutting grass, our great grandfather, Carlo Spigaroli, killed a hare.  Being the good servant that he was, he brought it to the Maestro who became enraged and told him that nobody had the right to kill the animals on his land and that by "San Martino"  (11th December, the last day of the agricultural year) he would have to find himself another job. Incredulous, but sure that the Maestro would keep his word, he started to look for another farm for share cropping. In the end, our great grandfather managed to find a farm in Polesine only two kilometres from where he had been before (it certainly was not easy to find a place after having been sent away by such a famous person), where he was given a contract for only one year, but ended up staying for more than thirty!!!
Our father used to tell us that his grandfather was a man of great wisdom and never spoke badly of the Maestro in spite of what had taken place. Jokingly, he would say to his children: "It would have been better if we had eaten it!".
He was grateful to Verdi because he had taught him how to do things well and the meaning of perfection.
Now about 130 years have gone by, but the tradition of well-made things has remained.
In 1905 our grandfather Luigi Spigaroli, Carlo's son, managed to become the tenant of the Antica Corte Pallavicina on the banks of the Po river. The old castle was built in 1400 by the Marquises Pallavicino and became a farm in 1700.
Six children were born, the last child born in 1916 was our father, Marcello Spigaroli.
 
He used to say that living in the castle was nice: they had the ferry on the river, in summer they looked after the farm, they raised lots of pigs that they butchered in winter to make the cured pork meats. At first, the cured pork meats were sold whole to the ferry passengers, then later, with the building of the first small wooden hut on the banks of the Po river, sliced and served with bread to the people from the nearby towns who came to take walks along the river banks. That same hut was later enlarged, still using wood, and became the "Lido di Polesine" (Polesine beach), where people came to dance and eat. With a supreme joint effort, our Aunt Emilia and our parents transformed that small wooden hut into the "Al Cavallino Bianco" restaurant of today.
There are almost no more places left today like the old castle on the banks of the river with walls of over one meter thick and the fantastic cellars where the marquises cured the pork meat that was sent to the Sforza family of Milan. In fact, the closer the cured pork meats and the "culatelli" are to the river the more delicious they are!!
We never forgot all those stories and, ten years ago, when the Antica Corte Pallavicina was put up for sale we decided to buy it, with a great financial effort on our part, in order to continue to make cured pork meats as our great grandfather, grandfather and father before us. Our cured pork meats are unique, not artificial, and when you eat them, you discover where they come from and who made them.
But then again our family learned the meaning of perfection from a person who knew all about perfection and we could not allow all of that experience to simply slip from our hands.

Massimo and Luciano Spigaroli
Marcello's sons