Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia (Molise cured pork)

History and origin

Ventricina is one of the oldest and most prized cured meats of Molise's pork-butchering tradition. It is made in the province of Campobasso, and the best known comes from Montenero di Bisaccia, the Molise village that many people know precisely for this sausage.

Its bond with the village runs through the animals: one of the secrets of Montenero ventricina is the exclusive use of pigs raised locally and fed mainly on cereals and dried pulses, a farmhouse diet that gives leaner than usual meat and fat with a particular texture. Traditionally adult sows of 150-200 kilos are used.

Ventricina is listed among Molise's traditional products and is described in the Slow Food Ark of Taste, the catalogue of products tied to the communities that have preserved them over time.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto — Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia · Italia.it: prodotti e piatti tipici del Molise · Italia.it — Montenero di Bisaccia · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

Ventricina uses pieces of lean meat taken only from the pig's leg, to which pieces of hard fat are added. The meat is seasoned with salt, sweet paprika and fennel flowers; in the spicy version a pinch of chilli is added.

The mixture rests in the seasonings for about twenty-four hours and is then stuffed into the pig's bladder, the casing that gives the sausage its shape. A ripening of about fifteen days follows in warm, ventilated rooms.

Curing is long: about a year and a half. At the end the ventricina is coated in melted lard, which protects it and keeps it through the summer heat. It is a slow process that demands time and care at every step.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto — Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia

How to recognise it

Ventricina is recognised by the shape given by the bladder it is stuffed into and, at the end of curing, by the layer of lard that covers and protects it.

When cut it shows pieces of lean leg meat alternating with hard fat, coloured by sweet paprika and scented with fennel flowers. There are two versions: the sweet one, with paprika alone, and the spicy one, with added chilli.

The leanness of the meat and the particular texture of the fat, the result of feeding the pigs on cereals and pulses, are the traits that make it a distinctive cured meat. To this is added a curing of about eighteen months.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto — Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia

In the kitchen

Ventricina is enjoyed first of all sliced, just as it is, to appreciate its lean meat, firm fat and aroma of fennel and paprika.

In the kitchen it stars in one of Molise's best-loved dishes: cavatelli con la ventricina. Cavatelli, cuzzutill in dialect, are a simple fresh pasta made with eggs, flour and water, dressed with a ventricina-based sauce.

For the sauce you can choose between the sweet version, with paprika alone, and the spicy one, with chilli. Thanks to the melted lard that coats it at the end of curing, ventricina keeps even through the summer heat.

Sources: Italia.it: prodotti e piatti tipici del Molise · Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto — Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia

Where to taste it

The home of ventricina is Montenero di Bisaccia, a Molise village set on a tuff ridge just over 270 metres high, about ten kilometres from the border with Abruzzo. The bell tower of the church of San Matteo Apostolo marks the highest point of the village.

Around the village lie the calanchi, eroded badlands crossed for centuries by transhumant flocks, and the municipality reaches the sea: the Marina di Montenero, at the mouth of the Trigno, has pine woods and low cliffs.

A visit to Montenero thus combines the village, the calanchi countryside and the Adriatic coast with the discovery of its best-known cured meat, made from locally raised pigs and cured for a long time.

Sources: Italia.it — Montenero di Bisaccia · Fondazione Slow Food, Arca del Gusto — Ventricina di Montenero di Bisaccia

Protection

• Traditional agri-food product (PAT) — Molise, n. 37, 26th revision (Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026))

When

• The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Molise

Read more