Lucanica di Picerno

History and origin

The story of lucanica begins long before its present name. Latin authors such as Varro, Martial, Apicius and Cicero mention a sausage the Romans had come across in Lucanian lands, between the late third and early second century BC. Ancient Lucania, far larger than today's Basilicata, was covered with oak woods where pigs grew fat on acorns; folk songs also keep traces of this recipe, whose name has travelled well beyond Italy.

The specification cites a study by the agricultural economist Ettore Bove of the University of Basilicata, according to which the pre-Roman Lucanians were among the first to make this kind of sausage. For centuries it remained a family product.

In the early 1970s a first small sausage maker opened in Picerno, and the generic word salsiccia began to give way to "Lucanica di Picerno". Since then production has grown while keeping to craft methods, up to recognition as a Protected Geographical Indication in the European register.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Lucanica di Picerno IGP · Camera di Commercio della Basilicata — Disciplinare di produzione della Lucanica di Picerno IGP · eAmbrosia — Lucanica di Picerno (PGI-IT-02313)

Area and method of production

The production area brings together fourteen municipalities in the province of Potenza, in the Lucanian Apennines: Picerno, Tito, Satriano di Lucania, Savoia di Lucania, Vietri di Potenza, Sant'Angelo Le Fratte, Brienza, Balvano, Ruoti, Baragiano, Bella, Muro Lucano, Castelgrande and Sasso di Castalda.

Only cuts from heavy pigs go into the mix: boned shoulder, neck, chuck, belly, fillet tip and ham trimmings, cleaned of soft fat and connective tissue and minced medium-coarse. They are seasoned with salt, sweet or hot red pepper, wild fennel seeds and black pepper, and rest for four to twenty-four hours in the cold before being stuffed into natural pork casings.

Then come five hours of dripping, three to seven days of drying and at least eighteen days of curing in cool, humid rooms. The specification links the product's character to the climate of the Lucanian Apennines, with hot summers and often snowy winters that suit wild fennel: Picerno even had a small market for its seeds, gathered and sold by older people.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Lucanica di Picerno IGP · Camera di Commercio della Basilicata — Disciplinare di produzione della Lucanica di Picerno IGP

How to recognise it

Lucanica di Picerno is recognisable at once by its U shape, which comes from the habit of leaving the sausages to dry hanging on special racks. The classic size is 20 to 35 centimetres long, 3 to 3.6 centimetres across and weighs 250 to 350 grams; the slicing version can reach 70 centimetres and 1.2 kilos.

Cut, the slice is soft and compact, ruby red, with small, evenly spread specks of fat. The leading aroma is wild fennel, followed by the spicy notes of pepper and the fragrance of red pepper; the sensory tests by the University of Basilicata cited in the specification confirm that fennel dominates. In the Piccante version the red pepper note is stronger.

It is sold loose or packed, whole, in chunks or sliced, with the designation's logo on the label.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Lucanica di Picerno IGP · Camera di Commercio della Basilicata — Disciplinare di produzione della Lucanica di Picerno IGP

In the kitchen

Lucanica is an ingredient in many traditional recipes of Basilicata. At the table it opens the meal as an antipasto, sliced together with other cured meats and local cheeses.

In the kitchen it becomes the base for sauces and hearty dishes, often paired with pulses and garden vegetables, which take on the scent of fennel and the sweetness of red pepper. That scent has household roots: Picerno's farmhouse recipe, the specification recalls, called for about a hundred wild fennel seeds per kilo of mix.

It should be kept in a cool, dry place. A traditional method of keeping it is still known: the sausages are packed into terracotta jars and covered with melted pork fat, so they keep for a long time.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Lucanica di Picerno IGP · Camera di Commercio della Basilicata — Disciplinare di produzione della Lucanica di Picerno IGP

Where to taste it

The reference point is Picerno, a small town in the Melandro valley in the province of Potenza, where the first sausage makers started. Production is also rooted in the other thirteen municipalities of the designation, where many producers still work according to methods handed down in families.

The specification mentions the many events organised by local and regional authorities, in Italy and abroad, with tasting stands and material on the history of Picerno's production.

A trip through the Apennines around Potenza crosses these towns, from Tito and Satriano di Lucania to Muro Lucano and Sasso di Castalda, and offers a chance to taste lucanica on home ground, alongside the cheeses and garden produce that Lucanian cooking pairs it with.

Sources: Qualigeo (Fondazione Qualivita) — Lucanica di Picerno IGP · Camera di Commercio della Basilicata — Disciplinare di produzione della Lucanica di Picerno IGP

Protection

• Protected geographical indication (PGI) — PGI-IT-02313 (eAmbrosia — Lucanica di Picerno (PGI-IT-02313))

When

• The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Basilicata