CASENTINO IS OUR HOME

Grigio del Casentino® couldn’t exist without its territory. Between animals and forests, there’s an indissoluble bond, the same bond that exists between our products and Casentino’s gastronomic culture.

Our project aims to bring back a tradition. We’ve restored the farming methods of our grandparents, without drugs to make the animals grow faster or barns to confine them in. Even our approach to meat is like it used to be. There’s no waste, for a matter of respect and because every cut of a pig raised this way is precious, even the fat.

Casentino is the habitat of our pigs, but it’s also our home, the valley where we grew up and brought our project to life.

When farming is intimately tied to territory

Our Grigio del Casentino is a hybrid pig. Like all pigs with a gene of an Italian autochthonous breed, it has a considerable fat component – inherited from the Cinta Senese – that serves to survive outdoors in the coldest months.

We are talking, therefore, about a pig genetically predisposed to extensive breeding. The animals must be free to move, or the amount of fat becomes excessive.

The forests of Casentino are the place of our Grigio, its natural habitat. In this territory, pigs find acorns, berries, mushrooms, chestnuts, roots and fruits according to the season.

The habitat of our pigs, our home

Casentino is not only the land of origin of our animals, it is also our home. Our project came to life right here, in Soci, in the province of Arezzo.

For Massi, the first farm was the estate purchased by his grandmother in 1961. In the small stable under the house there were two pigs, the basis of a subsistence economy. Every winter they were slaughtered; one was consumed by the family and the other was sold to cover the expenses of the first.

At that time, the pig was a primary asset for the family, so much so that it was subject to seizure. Its meat was a precious gift, which could not be wasted in any way. This was the first lesson Massi learned, and even today it is the logic that guides the entire project.

After the death of his grandmother, the estate was divided among her eight children and then among the grandchildren. However, before dying, the grandmother had expressed the desire that everything, sooner or later, would return as it was. She wanted the family estate to remain united, and that even after her there would be someone to take care of the pigs with respect and experience.

She understood that Massi would be the right person. She left him a smaller share of land than the others, but designated for him the stable, which has now become his home. And Massi slowly bought back the entire estate and started raising pigs there.

Now the animals are many more, we are talking about a real extensive breeding and the estate is no longer enough, but the underlying idea is the same. Farming like it used to be for the welfare of the animal and superior quality meat.

The gastronomic tradition of Casentino

Casentino is a land rich in history, nature and culture. Here you can find the National Park of the Casentino Forests, the Monastery of Camaldoli, the Sanctuary of Chiusi della Verna and the splendid Romanesque parish churches.

The gastronomic tradition of the area is one of the reasons for its fame. Our farming is part of a rich tradition of products that have pork as the protagonist.

The ‘costoliccio’ (ribs), the ‘rocchio’ (sausage), and the ‘sbriciolona’ (wild fennel salami) are typical products of the area, but what best reflect our idea of ​​conscious consumption are the cured meats considered less “noble”.

The ‘sambudello’, with mixed meat and offal, is the perfect example of the recovery ideal. The name itself demonstrates it: ‘sambudello’ derives from “S’ha un budello?” (Do we have a gut?), the question that the butcher asked to preserve scraps and leftover offal.

Even the ‘capaccia’ is an emblem of our motto “everything but the oink.” Head, rind and ‘quinto quarto’ (fifth quarter) come together in this mosaic of cuts, scents and different flavors.

However, beware: don’t think that the quality of these products lies only in recovery. They are perfect from an ethical point of view not to waste meat, but their value goes far beyond. Those who have tasted them at least once know: the goodness of these traditional products cannot be described in words.

It all starts from the territory

Grigio del Casentino pigs cannot be raised just anywhere, or at least not with the same results. The goodness of their meat depends on natural feeding, which in turn depends on the season and the abundance of the Casentino forests.

Even our perspective would be different far from this land. Here is where we were born, where we learned the value of extensive breeding, and where we shaped our taste in meat.

Finally, this is the land of fatback, cheek and porchetta, but also of many recovery products, real opportunities to enjoy the most genuine goodness.