Mortadella di Campotosto: the paired salami of the Laga Mountains

Traditional product and Presidium, not PDO

Mortadella di Campotosto has no European designation: it is neither PDO nor PGI. It does appear on Abruzzo's list of traditional food products under two names, Mortadella di Campotosto and Coglioni di mulo, and it is a Slow Food Presidium that the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park supports together with two other products of its territory.

The Slow Food Foundation explains that the Presidium was set up to protect the artisanal salami and to set it apart from the industrial mortadelle that borrow its name. In 2008 the producers founded the Mortadella di Campotosto Producers' Association to safeguard and promote it; the Park lists the association among the consortia and associations in its food basket.

The Presidium's rules require at least two months of ageing. Output is tiny: the Foundation names just two producers, which is one more reason to look for it where it is made.

Sources: Regione Abruzzo — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sezione Abruzzo · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Associazione Produttori della Mortadella di Campotosto · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — I Prodotti del Parco

A family task, in winter

According to the Slow Food Foundation, families in Campotosto once gathered to make the mortadelle together: it was collective work done in the cold months, and the salami was eaten from Easter onwards. The rules of those days, the Presidium page adds, are the same ones producers follow today.

The Park also ties the product to the mountain calendar: the mortadella is made according to criteria set by the season, the tramontana wind and the altitude, three factors that allow good ageing. That is why the work is still done in winter.

The popular nickname comes from the oval shape and from the habit of selling the mortadelle in pairs. The shape, the Park notes, comes from shaping by hand, and the mix contains only meat, salt, pepper and flavourings whose recipe each producer keeps to himself. It is knowledge held by a few hands, grown in a high mountain village.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — La Mortadella di Campotosto

Fine grind and a strip of lard at the centre

The mix is made from lean, selected cuts of pork, such as shoulder and ham, ground very fine. A small amount of minced pancetta adds the right share of fat without making it heavy. Seasoning is basic: salt, pepper and the flavourings each producer measures out in his own way.

The heart of the salami is the lardello, a strip of fat about ten centimetres long set at the centre of the mix. The Park singles it out as the feature that gives the mortadella flavour and softness, and it is also what makes it recognisable at the first cut.

The mortadelle are tied in pairs with hand-knotted string in a double-strap binding; a small stick slipped under the string lets the binding be tightened as the salami loses moisture. When sliced, the meat is a deep, dark red around a very white strip of lard; the meat is firm, the lard sweet and crunchy.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — La Mortadella di Campotosto

Oak or beech smoke, then the north wind

Once tied, the mortadelle are hung from a pole and left for about fifteen days in the smoke of a fireplace fed with oak or beech wood. It is a short but decisive stage that dries the surface and gives the salami its aroma.

They then move to natural ageing rooms. Here, the Slow Food Foundation writes, the tramontana wind and the altitude, around 1,300 metres, provide the right temperature and humidity, with no need for preservatives or additives. The Presidium's rules require at least two months; by the third month the mortadella is ready to eat.

This rhythm explains the link with spring: the salami is made in the cold and reaches the table as winter leaves the plateau, in step with the traditional Easter start. The resulting flavour, according to the Presidium page, is full and long-lasting.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto

How to recognise the real thing

The name Mortadella di Campotosto can be seen hanging in many shops across central Italy, and that very spread is what led to the Presidium. The Slow Food Foundation lists the differences an attentive eye can spot: industrial imitations use pre-sewn casings, frozen strips of lard, elastic bindings and less selected meat, with additives and preservatives that never go into the Campotosto salami.

The original instead has an irregular oval shape, because it is shaped by hand, is sold in pairs tied with knotted string and, when sliced, shows the strip of lard running its whole length.

For the products in its food basket the Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains Park also has its own mark: the logo may appear on a label only with authorisation, together with a code that identifies producer, product and year of the licence. The code can be checked on the Park's website, an extra guarantee for buyers.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — I Prodotti del Parco

The food basket of the Gran Sasso and Laga Park

The Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park describes itself as a storehouse of typical products, old varieties and local breeds, and it supports three Slow Food Presidia: besides the mortadella, the Santo Stefano di Sessanio lentil and the Castel del Monte Canestrato cheese. Its food basket also includes the producers' associations for the turchesa potato, Paganica beans and Aquilan liver sausage, the Farindola pecorino consortium and the honeys of the Apennines.

The Italia.it guide to Abruzzo food places the mortadella next to the Vasto ventricina, another Presidium, and mentions the PDO saffron of L'Aquila grown on the Navelli plateau and the honeys gathered on the mountains around L'Aquila above 850 metres.

The regional list of traditional products confirms how rich Aquilan charcuterie is, from liver sausage, also made with honey, to the soppressata known as salame aquila: a trip through the Park can bring together cured meats, pulses, cheeses and honey.

Sources: Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — I Prodotti del Parco · Regione Abruzzo — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, sezione Abruzzo · Italia.it — Prodotti e piatti tipici abruzzesi

Campotosto and its lake

Campotosto stands on the plateau between the Gran Sasso and the Laga Mountains, overlooking a large body of water. Lake Campotosto, Italia.it notes, is the largest artificial reservoir in Abruzzo: it was created in the 1940s by flooding a wide peat bog to feed a hydroelectric plant, and today it covers about 1,400 hectares, with a 42-kilometre shoreline, at 1,313 metres above sea level.

Meadows and woods surround it and change colour with the seasons. Its shores attract anglers, canoeists and windsurfers as well as cyclists riding the perimeter; for its landscape and natural value the lake is protected by a State Nature Reserve within the National Park.

It is the same setting that shapes the mortadella: the altitude and the wind sweeping across the plateau are what the producers rely on for ageing. Visiting the lake and looking for the salami are, in practice, one outing.

Sources: Italia.it — Riserva naturale Lago di Campotosto · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Mortadella di Campotosto

How to taste it and where to look for it

The Slow Food Foundation recommends pairing it with carefully chosen wines, and I would add only good mountain bread: the thin slice, cut to order, should show the contrast between the dark red meat and the white lard. It is a salami for antipasto or a mid-afternoon snack, to be eaten slowly with nothing to mask it.

With only two producers named by the Presidium, it is best looked for in Campotosto or in shops around L'Aquila that can say where it comes from, asking how many months it has aged and checking shape and binding. I would not plan the trip around a festival: we found no dedicated event announced by the municipality or the local pro loco.

Whole mortadelle, in pairs, travel well if kept somewhere cool and dry; once cut they should be covered and eaten soon. A visit to the ageing rooms should always be arranged with the operators in advance.

A day on the Laga plateau

Campotosto is a village hit by the earthquakes of recent years and still engaged in reconstruction, as the municipality's own website shows, with a section devoted to the subject and notices marking the anniversaries of the quake. Going there also means supporting a fragile mountain economy of few producers and pastures.

I would suggest a day combining the plateau road, the lake shore and a stop to buy the salami directly where possible, ending with the descent towards L'Aquila or Santo Stefano di Sessanio, to set mortadella and lentils side by side, two Presidia of the same Park. Those with more time can add Castel del Monte and its canestrato cheese.

In winter the mountain road can be demanding, so check conditions before setting out. Spring, when the mortadella is ready and the meadows turn green again, is the moment when journey and product coincide.

Sources: Comune di Campotosto — sito istituzionale · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — I Prodotti del Parco