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Vallo di Diano sausage and soppressata

Slow Food Presidium · PAT · Meats and cured meats · Campania

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

In the Vallo di Diano pork butchery is a centuries-old tradition, born of a farming economy based on livestock and sheep. The oldest evidence lies in one of the medieval statutes of Diano, the town that has been called Teggiano since 1862.

The document regulates the sale of foodstuffs in the square and lays down that «well-made» soppressate and sausages be sold by the rotolo, a measure of about one kilo, at the price set by the catapani, the town officials in charge of supervising the market. The Campania Region dates this evidence to some eight centuries ago and regards it as proof of the very ancient origin of both cured meats.

Today the sausage and the soppressata of the Vallo di Diano are each listed with their own sheet among the traditional products of Campania, and together they form a Slow Food Presidium.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Salsiccia e soppressata del Vallo di Diano · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Salsiccia del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale) · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

The Vallo is a high upland farming plain entirely surrounded by mountains: a climate that, according to Slow Food, favours curing. The distinctive feature is the handwork: the meat is selected by hand and cut with the point of a knife. For the sausage, shoulder, belly and part of the loin and ham are used; for the soppressata, the leanest parts of the back and leg, with back fat cut into small cubes.

The sausage is seasoned with salt, sweet or partly hot ground pepper, wild fennel and black pepper; the soppressata only with salt and whole peppercorns. No sugars, starters, flavourings or colourings are added. The mix goes into natural pork casings, is tied with hemp string and pricked; the soppressata is pressed for at least 24 hours.

After about fifteen days of drying, curing continues in natural rooms for several more weeks. The Presidium uses meat from local farms that feed their pigs at least 60% on produce from the area, without GMOs.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Salsiccia e soppressata del Vallo di Diano · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Salsiccia del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale) · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Soppressata del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale)

How to recognise it

The sausage is cylindrical, 2-4 centimetres across and up to 60 long, with two ties at the ends and one in the middle. It is red, turning brown as it cures, with visible pieces of fat; the flavour is aromatic and lingering.

The soppressata is shorter, 10-15 centimetres, cylindrical but flattened by pressing, tied vertically and sometimes horizontally too, so that it forms two or four lobes; it weighs between 200 and 500 grams. When cut it is pink or purplish red with orange hints, with clearly visible white fat and a compact texture. It smells of spices and curing, with sweet notes and a marked savouriness.

Both cure for 30-40 days and are traditionally kept under oil or fat, in glass or earthenware jars. They are made all year round, except in the hottest weeks of summer.

Sources: Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Salsiccia del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale) · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Soppressata del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale) · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Salsiccia e soppressata del Vallo di Diano

Where to taste it

The production area covers sixteen towns in the province of Salerno: Atena Lucana, Buonabitacolo, Caggiano, Casalbuono, Monte San Giacomo, Montesano sulla Marcellana, Padula, Pertosa, Polla, Sala Consilina, San Pietro al Tanagro, San Rufo, Sant'Arsenio, Sanza, Sassano and Teggiano. These are the towns where the Presidium's pork butchers work, and Teggiano, the ancient Diano, is where the first written record comes from.

Because they are made entirely by hand, these cured meats are increasingly rare even locally, also because the number of pig farms in the area has fallen: it is best to look for them in the towns of the Vallo itself. The Vallo di Diano borders the Cilento, and a trip through the south of the province of Salerno can combine the coast and the inland villages.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Salsiccia e soppressata del Vallo di Diano · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Soppressata del Vallo di Diano (prodotto tradizionale)

Protection

When

  • The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Campania