THE NOBLE PORK - The Cinta Senese breed is not only the most appreciated pork breed, but even the most frequently mentioned in history, in art and in myths. It is still present in the fresco painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and located in the Public Palace of Siena and titled: “Effetti del Buon Governo” (“Good Results of the Government”). The cinta senese breed, native to the Montagnola Senese area and the Chianti area, is the mother of all pork breeds in Tuscany. The Etruscans already reared it and then it was among the Romans during their migrations; the farmers of the Middle Ages survived plagues and famines thanks to this animal. It was a good reserve of food for everybody as it could be reared in the wild state for its resistance to bad weather. In the past times, for the slow growing up of this breed (slaughtered after 12 months from its birth), quicker growing up breeds were privileged. Following the trend of the most recent times towards a re-discovery of ancient values and tastes, the Cinta Senese is now breeded again.
This breed differs from other swine genders for a large white band covering chest, withers, shoulders and front legs. The rest of the thin and short-bristled coat is black or slate-brown coloured; the snout is sharp, nearly pointed, the small ears are falling over the eyes, the rump is inclined and bones are strong; it has got a scented meat, particularly tasty, excellent to be used both for cooking and for classic Tuscan salami: hams, shoulders of ham, sausages, bacon-fat and coppa. The cinta senese today is a bit different by that one painted by Lorenzetti, due to the contaminations and crossbreeds which this breed has been subjected to for Man’s will or indipendently from it (i.e. those with “macchiaiola” or “maremmana” breed and with boars). The production and treatment area of the Cinta Senese pork meat is represented by the administrative territory of Tuscan Region.

THE MEAT
The Cinta Senese meat is homogeneously veined of fat, while in the other breeds the fat side and the lean side are sharply separated. For that reason the cinta senese meat is extraordinarily scented and tasty. As per an old cliché, “of a pork, you never throw anything away”; so many different salami products can be prepared: bacon-fat, bacon, hog’s jowls, ham, sausages, coppa and many others. All that is well accompanied by the classic Tuscan saltless bread and by the Tuscan red wines (both tannic and structured).
Nowadays the production area includes the whole Tuscan Region.