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LevoniIl Secolo

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n the beginning was salami. Levoni’s hundred-year journey begins with a Hungarian one: a round, even slice, with a fine

texture, that gently rocks to and fro on a chopping board. A soft flavour, intensified by smoking, slightly sweet. A cornucopia for the senses, and a gold medal winner that won over the most de-manding of palates and the hard-to-please English judges. We are back in 1913, when this speciality was presented for the first time at the London International Exhibition by a young Ezechiello Levoni, the founding father of the four generations that would make the company successful as time went by.

The motivation and mutual ambition that fathers, sons and grandsons have always had to make Levoni cured meats a success is still the common denominator in this ever larger family today: a family that includes the skilled and precise work of the butchers who remove the bone, the experts in charge of curing, smoking or spicing the meat, and the inspectors who examine the casings, who day in day out offer their commitment and dedication to the company that is now celebrating its hundredth anniversary.

Many of them have been a part of the history of that slice of salami for their whole lives, thereby becoming part of the tradi-tion of Castellucchio: they are people who have made their own work and the wellbeing of the company their mission and have a real sense of pride about them. Some are newcomers, but the all-embracing sense of pride and loyalty they feel when they utter the words “I work for Levoni” can also be seen in the faces of those who, like the agents and the drivers, develop and strengthen their

ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY, ONE SOURCE OF PRIDE

EDITORIAL

affection for the company off the premises. Others are no longer with us, but they have left their own clear, precise mark on the way, teaching those who worked with them and who would follow them the real way to do things well. The passion everyone feels is natural. Slice after slice, mouthful after mouthful, you find yourself wanting to try another slice, and realise that where this slice comes from must be inter-preted and understood. Its roundness, textures, flavours, subtle-ties; a profuse range of the most appealing nuances. This same assortment of more than two hundred types of cured meats that currently makes its way round most of the world, winning the ap-proval of all it meets, with all its shapes, textures and new flavours that are always mindful of tradition, is just one of the treasures Levoni offers its customers, who are increasingly demanding and who are ever closer and more loyal to the brand with the winged piglet. And he can fly – in spite of those who didn’t believe that Ezechiello’s Hungarian salami could win, a salami that heightens the senses of those who have been tasting mouthful after mouthful for a hundred years. A hundred is a round, full number that stands for an objective and target that have been reached. It doesn’t really seem that the clock has gone round so fast. Yet here we are, proud to start another one hundred year journey with that prize-winning slice of salami from a hundred years ago taking us into the future. Perhaps at the time, it may have seemed that Ezechiello’s dream would not have come true so conclusively. But dreams are real.

All you have to do is taste them.

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A CENTURY OF VALUES Levoni’s ABC I Pina Foglia .......................................................................................................................................... 6

THE FIRST GENERATION: THE FOUNDER

Ezechiello’s big challenge I Monica Galassi ......................................................................................... 10

THE CRAFT OF CURED MEAT PRODUCTION

The human touch I Roberto Catania .............................................................................................................. 16

THE SECOND GENERATION The post war years with Lino, Aldo and Leandro I Monica Rossi ................................ 20

GENUINE PRODUCTS

A craftsman’s attention to detail and industrial quality I Roberto Catania ........... 26

CASTELLUCCHIO

A town and company ............................................................................................................................................. 29

THE FLAVOURS OF THE PENINSULA Italy and its cured meats I Fabrizio Capecelatro ................................................................................ 30

DISTRIBUTION, VARIETY AND THE COUNTRY Delicatessens and regional specialities I Monica Scialfa ........................................................ 34

TRAINING The Silver Piglet ............................................................................................................................................................ 37

LEVONI AND ART A portrait of salami I Monica Galassi ........................................................................................................... 38

THE THIRD GENERATIONFrom the ’70s to today with Paolo, Zechi and Mario I Monica Scialfa ....................... 40

PECK, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Now one of the firm’s biggest customers I Monica Galassi ................................................ 47

03 EDITORIAL 100 years of history, one source of pride

44 A PERSONAL TALE The customer is always right Andrea Vitali

24 LEVONI AND THE LAND A passion for pigs Stefano Scansani

74 LEVONI’S PRIDE See you at he bicentenary! Nicola Levoni

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CONTENTS

SALES NETWORK & LOGISTICS “One of our strengths from the start”Federica Giovannini ......................................................................................... 48

THE FOURTH GENERATIONA new century of LevonisRiccardo Cervelli ................................................................................................ 50

LEVONI ABROADA hundred years of quality around the world Federica Giovannini ........................................................................................... 54

MEC CARNI More than just a butcher’s!Roberto Catania ................................................................................................. 58

NON HAN MAI FATTO MALE Communicating with taste Roberto Catania ................................................................................................. 60

TRADITION AND TASTE Levoni in the kitchen with the great chefsFederica Giovannini ............................................................................................62

WINE & CURED MEATS A match made in heaven Maurizio Bertera ................................................................................................. 66

THE RIGHT BREAD ............................................................... 67

CARTOON The very best qualityClaudio Mazzoli .................................................................................................. 68

devised by Francesco Moneta - The Round TableCOORDINATING EDITOR: Marella Levoni

PRODUCED BY: Newspaper MilanoGRAPHIC DESIGN: Silvio Assi EDITOR: Lorenzo Di Palma

THE TEAM

Maurizio Bertera, Emanuela Bottoni, Fabrizio Capecelatro, Roberto Catania, Francesca Cherubini, Riccardo Cervelli, Matteo Cusumano,

Sergio Fanti, Pina Foglia, Monica Galassi, Federica Giovannini, Claudio Mazzoli, Elisabetta Reicher, Monica Rossi, Stefano Scansani, Marcello Severino, Monica Scialfa, Alfredo Trentavizi, Andrea Vitali

LevoniIl Secolo

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CONTENTS


IS FORCASTELLUCCHIOOnce upon a time there was a small cured meat producer in a small village in the countryside between the rivers Oglio and Mincio, just outside Mantua, the uncontested heart of pig farming in Lombardy. Castellucchio is the place where Levoni‘s success took off and from where 8,000 tons of cured meats a year set off around the world

A IS FORACQUOLINAAcquolina is used to describe something mouth-watering. No one knows how but your mouth waters when you see or smell something irresistibly appetising. Your imagination alone is enough to make it happen. Just think of something tasty, perhaps sweet, smoked or spicy. The perfect word to start this ABC

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IS FOR BUONO Buono (“good”) may seem too generic an adjective but Levoni cured meats use the word with

pride as it symbolises them to a T: when Levoni says

“good” it means unique quality

IS FOR DEGUSTAZIONETasting (“degustazione”) a wine is the moment when pleasure begins. As you swirl it round in the glass, be it a delicate prosecco or unforgettable red, it should always be accompanied by the right food – flavoursome mortadella or a slice of salami. The combination has to be just right

LEVONI’S ABC A CENTURY OF VALUES

PINA FOGLIA

EIS FOR EZECHIELLOAround a hundred years ago a great adventure began for a certain man. He was very young, but full of great ideas. One above all: never compromise on quality. He loved his work and was loved by the people who worked for him. If a plant grows big and healthy, it’s thanks to the root. Thank you Ezechiello!

FIS FOR FAMIGLIA The passion for the craft of making cured meats and the control of the company

are passed down from generation to generation – through the family (“famiglia”)

GIIS FOR

GONZAGAThe Gonzaga family liked good food and wine at their Renaissance banquets: melons, pumpkin-filled tortelli, boiled meats, game risottos, tongue, sharp wines, Mantuan “sbrisolona” cake, and obviously, cured meats. Levoni is proud to be part of the same local tradition

IS FOR ITALIAThe link with Italy’s culinary heritage and the land is deep-

rooted: the country’s many different landscapes are reflected in the variety of flavours and smells. Of course the raw

ingredients are Italian too, as is Levoni’s history – the perfect example of Italian quality

IS FOR MANIIf you feel a salami with your hands (“mani”) you can tell how mature it is. Even the most

advanced technology is not as subtle as human touch, and hands are essential in

many processes such as tying

IS FOR LAVOROWork (“lavoro”): nothing should be improvised when a job’s to be done. Every step in the process of producing cured meat, from smoking to curing, requires great experience, knowledge, observation, attention and patience

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NIS FOR NATALEWhat would an Italian Christmas (“Natale”) be without cured meat? From the classic mixed cold meat platter to the eternal cotechino sausage and stuffed pig’s trotter with lentils to see in the New Year. They add flavour to filled ravioli and cappelletti, to tagliatelle with meat sauce, as well as stuffings for chicken and game. And what better gift could there be than a hamper with an assortment of cured meats, or the surprise of a whole Felino salami – a metre and a half long!

IS FORORGOGLIOPride (“orgoglio”) is an essential ingredient for a company that over time transformed from a small country cured meat producer into an international business – not to mention the commitment and the dedication of subsequent generations

IS FOR RICETTERecipes (“ricette”) are infinite – from the classic Parma ham with melon or figs, to sophisticated dishes with shellfish, or with forest fruit compote, and all the other possible combinations as shown by great chefs like Jamie Oliver and Paul Bocuse, both great admirers of Levoni cured meats

IS FOR QUALITÀQuality - the secret has been the same for a hundred years: select ingredients, the meat above all, exclusively from Italian farms, natural spices and flavourings, an exclusive mix of mountain woods for smoking, and long curing times

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IS FOR PROFUMO Smell (“profumo”)

– sweet, strong, full, fresh, aromatic,

spiced, hints of smoke, hot. Real connoisseurs can

recognise meats by their fragrance, and

undoubtedly use their sense of smell

when picking out the best ones

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IS FOR SPEZIE

Spices (“spezie”) and herbs. Muntok white pepper, Indian black pepper, chilli from Malawi, not to mention coriander, fennel seeds, paprika, nutmeg, white garlic from Polesine: the whole world offers flavours to make meats even tastier. Besides helping preserve the meat they make the flavour unforgettable

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IS FOR TAVOLAThe table (“tavola”) is where people get together to have a snack, a full lunch or just a few drinks. What fun would it be to have company without bread, salami (or ham) and a glass of good wine?

IS FOR UNGHERESELevoni’s “Hungarian” (“ungherese”) salami is not from Budapest or some village by Lake Balaton. This salami, Ezechiello’s first great success, was totally Italian. His interpretation of it won him the Gold Medal at the Modern Arts and Industry Exhibition in London in 1913. What a great start!

IS FOR VINOWe mentioned tasting wine before, and here it is again – cured meat and wine is a marriage made in heaven. The important thing is to choose the right balance without letting one overcome the other in terms of flavour and sensations. Even better when both the wine and the meat are of the highest quality

IS FOR ZAMPONELevoni still makes its “zampone” (stuffed pig’s trotter) just as they did in the 16th century at the court of the

Duchy of Mirandola, the same place cotechino sausage has its origins. It is made from a mix of lean and fatty

pork meat combined with finely chopped pork rind and flavoured with herbs. The result is a sweet, slightly spicy,

meat with a soft and delicate consistency


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L E V O N IN U M E R O Z E R O I 2 0 1 1 A N N O 1 0 0

he Levoni history and the century-long story of “the Good Ones” all started on 27 November 1880 when founding father Ezechiello

was born in Castelnuovo Rangone, a small village in the Italian province of Modena whose economy was based on the work of the many pork butchers.

It was nothing out of the ordinary then, when Ezechiello was sent to Milan to serve an apprenticeship under the well-known charcutier from Prague Francesco Peck; when this was complete, Ezechiello teamed up with a partner to sell lard then in 1911, leased premises in Precotto (precooked in English so not just a name, but also an omen) near Milan that Peck himself had once occupied.

1913 was the year that changed everything, thanks to the unexpected and vociferous victory («pigs will fly before you ever win», his rivals had taunted him before the announcement), in the international Modern arts and industry exhibition in London; Ezechiello won the gold medal with his personal inter-pretation of a Hungarian salami.

Ezechiello’s ambition was fuelled by this recognition and his plans multi-plied; the onset of World War II however put a temporary stop to his enterpris-ing spirit. From 1915 to 1918 he was enlisted and his wife, Maria Magnaghi (married in 1904 and originally from Binasco) was forced to sell his equipment to feed their five children. On his return, he was faced with the prospect of hav-ing to start over: he built another even bigger business in Cerese.

Ezechiello’s big challenge

THE FIRST GENERATION: THE FOUNDER

A man of incredible imagination, enterprise, intuition, courage and generosity, gave it its trademark from the earliest days: never compromise on quality.

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IN THE YEAR...Ezechiello Levoni (second on the left)

and his wife Maria (second on the right)

MONICA GALASSI


With the support of a financial backer, in 1922 he started butchering pigs and selling fresh pork. Cerese, albeit the birth-place of the famous Latin poet Virgil, proved to be lacking in solid transport links with the rest of the world and in 1928, Ezechiello relocated his business to Castellucchio, which was only slightly more populated but had an all-important train station. His friend Villani owned industrial premises right there, and he was more than happy to sell.

This was the first time Ezechiello had ever really gone it alone and he decided that it was time to put down some solid and perma-nent roots. So it was that he opened a factory in Castellucchio, and with his trademark resolve and refusal to compromise on the quality of the raw materials and care with which they are proces-sed, Ezechiello started producing salamis, mortadella, lard, cured ham (originally cured on site) and cooked ham (including the Prague variety which was added to the catalogue in 1920 in re-sponse to the incessant requests Ezechiello had been receiving from the Tyrol and Tre Venezie regions, at the time considered

THE 1913 EXHIBITION To fully appreciate the importance of the

Gold Medal that Ezechiello won in London in 1913, you have to consider how important

these Great Exhibitions were in the roaring early 1900s: a Great Exhibition was one of

the very few truly international occasions that thousands of businesses had to pit their

products against each other. Globalization emerged from these very events. The original 1913 award diploma from the Exhibition is proudly on display at the

company offices

IN THE YEAR...Traditional dinners and celebrations with employees, friends

and suppliers are a tradition that lives on in Castellucchio


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priority markets as they were momentarily “uncontaminated” by rival producers).

As time went by, his turnover increased and the next genera-tion became restless to come onboard: after countless attempts to emerge in their own right, Ezechiello handed over the reins of the Levoni company (which had progressed from a sole partner to a limited partnership in the meantime) to his sons (Aldo, Lino and Leandro) in 1934. This was to be the beginning of a tradition whereby fathers and uncles, on reaching a certain age, step away from the business all on the same day, leaving it in the hands of sons, nieces and nephews.

There are so many anecdotes about this quite distinctive man, who will be forever remembered with a Tuscan cigar sitting at the side of his mouth.

One in particular has to do with the habit he had of treating his entire work force to a special meal every 27 November (his birth-day). The most entertaining of these is the time when, in spite of the advice of his doctors who had forbidden Ezechiello from eating fish or fish-related dishes, his daughter-in-law Rita put together an exquisite fish-based menu: obviously, there was no actual real fish in the dishes she made her father-in-law, they only looked like fish, but he was so annoyed he stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

He reappeared blissfully content two days later, claiming that he had been beset by an overwhelming urge to visit his daughter Elena who had moved to Palermo.

Now to be honest, Ezechiello wasn’t an easy man, but neverthe-less, no one in the Levoni family has a bad word to say about him, not even those who were just youngsters in Ezechiello’s day (Paolo, Zechi and Mario) who every now and then would feel the back of his hand for some silly stunt they’d pulled (such as crushing the hay playing football) or a short, sharp early-morning wake-up call after one too many lie-ins. Everyone loved him, workers and agents included, because he was a man of astounding creativity, enterpris-ing spirit, intuition, courage and generosity.

DISCOVERING AMERICAIn 1933, Levoni cured meats were flown to America for the first time ever, to be served at a gourmet banquet in New York. A cousin with the surname Nannini and general in the Italian Air Force, took part in the transatlantic flight organized to celebrate ten years of Fascism: this event was commemorated in a poem written in the local Modena dialect and signed with thanks by Italo Balbo and all those who were part of the adventure and present at the lunch afterwards.

EZECHIELLO LEVONIBorn in 1880 in Castelnuovo Rangone (in the Italian province of Modena), Ezechiello Levoni made his energy his trademark. At age 10, he went to Milan (where Peck’s shop became like a school for him); from here, his ambition took him to London (where he took everyone by surprise by submitting a gold-medal salami), after which his

instincts told him to carve out a niche market for himself in Trento, Trieste and Bolzano. An enlightened businessman, when he realized that he’d made a success of the business, at just 55 years of age and with no second thoughts, he handed over the reins of the company to his sons and gave up his business career (except for producing

cheese, growing fruit trees and fishing). This enterprising and intuitive man was also cantankerous and passionate: he was completely besotted with Maria (whom he married in 1904) and had an obvious soft spot for his youngest granddaughter Elisabetta.


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The human touchTHE CRAFT OF CURED MEAT PRODUCTION

Workers are the company’s greatest resource: the secret of the goodness of Levoni’s products lies in their skill and precisionROBERTO CATANIA

The quality of the company’s output relies to this day

on the skill of its employees, with a little help from state-of-the-art technology. This principle goes back a very long way and is one of the Levoni family’s guiding values. The company’s founder, Ezechiello Levoni, is the prime example: at the beginning of the 20th century he travelled to Dalmatia to learn the art and secrets of smoking meat in the Austro-Hungarian empire. He understood the importance of the choice of wood, and when he return-ed to Italy he devised his own perso-nal method of using a special mix of mountain woods.

This very same method is still used today for all smoked meats that carry the “silver piglet” mark. This is also why the plant at Ca-stellucchio has preserved a whole

range of craft skills that have been handed down from generation to generation.

Entering the world of Levoni is like taking a step back in time: there are people who bone thighs with a knife like a surgeon with a scalpel, those who tie the salamis and pig’s trotters, those who examine the innards, those who prepare the fires for smoking, and those who com-bine the pork fat with the hams.

The figurehead of this precise network of skills from days gone by is Marco Brancolini: Levoni’s “curer”. He’s the man who checks the degree of curing of the salamis. He may have a range of tools to mo-nitor the temperature, humidity and all the critical process parameters, but much of his work is done with his sense of smell and touch. This is what tells him that a salami is ready


to be served at the table as it is firm and compact, and that it is matured enough to release the inviting, heady aromas that make your mouth water.

The manual element in produc-tion processes becomes even more important in Levoni’s specialities.

Hams cooked on the bone, for example, are salted by hand, leg by leg: salt is added via the femoral ar-tery and therefore spreads through-out the leg from the inside.

The human factor is just as important in choosing top quality raw ham – such as the San Daniele Riserva della Contessa and the Don Romeo Sigillo Nero. These products

are selected in a very similar way to another typical ingredient from Mantua: Grana Padano cheese. Da-ria Levoni explains, “Just as with wheels of Grana Padano, every sin-gle ham has its own life story. Hams are selected one at a time, according to strict quality standards, up to tho-se that reach the highest standards of excellence.”

But how does one become a Levoni specialist? Professional figures rise from within the Levoni ranks. The people who cure, bone and add fat to the meats have lear-ned their trade within the company, explain the company’s managers;

perhaps the only issue is deciding which of the young employees have a certain kind of talent or predispo-sition for these jobs, as well as for teamwork. Of course today good qualifications are also required, especially for those destined to be-come department heads. But the rest of their training will consist of being scrupulously supported and assisted. That’s exactly how it was for Marco Brancolini, who says he is a pupil of Paolo Levoni: “He was the one who taught me all the tricks of the trade, and who showed me the patience and dedication that this job requires.”

SPECIALISTSClockwise from above: tying the salami by hand; adding fat to raw hams and labelling Napoli sausage

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hey worked together just long enough to see the first transatlan-tic flight of the firm’s salamis before their father very quickly took

his leave in 1934, making it time for Lino, Aldo and Leandro to take over. On receiving the reins of the family business, the three brothers shared out the responsibilities: Aldo was given administration and sales, Lino produc-tion and Leandro shipping and sales. They put a number of new items into production, such as speck and Paisanella, Lino’s successful invention, and they stepped up exports, after France, Switzerland, United Kingdom adding Somalia, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Venezuela and then USA.

Attending specialist trade shows they printed appealing cards, leaflets, calen-dars and brochures. In 1943 Aldo and Lino joined the army as volunteers and in 1941, Leandro, the youngest of the three, was forced to close the factory and lease the premises to the Italian Armed Forces who converted the building into food supplies warehouses then turned it over to the Wehrmacht.

The post war years with Lino, Aldo and Leandro

THE SECOND GENERATION

Innovation and internationalization. The product range and number of exports grew rapidly under the management of Ezechiello’s three sons

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MONICA ROSSI

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After the war, in 1946, the former employees joined together to form a cooperative and started the original business back up. Given the situation, Aldo tried his luck in Johannesburg: he found the right premises, had the machinery shipped out with his trust-ed companion Guido Beduschi and set about finding some meat to process.

Both businesses were destined to fail: the cooperative in Castellucchio due to the employees’ lack of financial experience, and the plant in Johannesburg due to obstructionism from local lobby groups who expected control of the company in exchange for the meat provided (distributed in quotas). The situation sorted itself out when the former employees appealed to Aldo who then returned to Castellucchio. The accounts were squared and the cooperative was by necessity replaced by Levoni family control.

By then it was 1947. In the years that followed, the Levoni brothers remained faith-

ful to the successful business format that combined industrial out-put with the principles of craft production. In 1962, the curing of raw hams was transferred to Volta Mantovana, an area originally picked for its favourable climate (benefiting from the nearby Lake Garda). It was there that the exclusive San Giorgio, San Marco and San Martino varieties were created.

For the cooked hams that were delicate to preserve, sales were limited to the short term; only when really necessary (for trade shows for example) they were transported in tin boxes sealed on all sides and made airtight with the use of a lead tube in an attempt to create a vacuum. Products were shipped on three of the firm’s own vehicles, as well as by Marco, the donkey, whose cart provided the transport link between the company and the train station. On Saturday afternoons he would saunter around town with future heirs Paolo, Zechi and Mario. Are there any in-

teresting tales to tell about this second generation? There’s the very fortuitous creation of one of Levoni’s flagship products:

the Paisanella. In a tribute to the local custom in Mantua of rolling pancetta together with the salami to stop the lat-ter from very quickly turning sour, Lino decided to mix cubes of pancetta right through the raw meat mixture of the salami: this resulted in a speciality that was not well received in the Mantua area (people questioned where the original recipe had come from) but absolutely adored in other regions, such as Sicily, where it resembled the

local S. Angelo salami.

PAISANELLAPancetta with salami is a

traditional delicacy in the Mantua area, although Lino’s version

which mixes cubes of pancetta through the raw meat mixture of

the salami is a firm favourite in other regions, Sicily in particular

LINO LEVONI

LEANDRO LEVONI

ALDO LEVONI

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he land around Castellucchio, which extends around Mantua, slipping gently down from the Garda hills with a glance to the Po River before it reaches across to the Apennines, is blessed

with an abundance of pigs. There are signs here, there and everywhere. In time and space and since the world began, the province of Mantua has always had a sixth sense when it comes to pigs and pork, almost as if it was bequeathed an inborn skill for pig-farming. The Levoni family couldn’t have been in a better place for the adventure they were about to undertake: a place that was perfect for pigs and for the people working with pork. Having said this, you never actually see the animals themselves. Although the area in and around Mantua holds the world record: one and a half million animals reared every year over an area of 2,339 km² and populated by 400,000 people, you never see the pigs because they live in the thousands of pig farms dotted around the countryside. Now while there may be no visible signs, you can certainly sense their presence from the distinctive countryside smell - far better than industrial smog - and the gentle fragrances from the many charcuteries. Pigs and their meat pervade the delica-tessens, are part of the land’s traditions and make their presence felt on the economy. Here, there and everywhere, since time began in other words. In the Mantua area, man has been living alongside pigs (an animal from which absolutely nothing is wasted) since Neolithic times. It’s a shared existence that started some six thousand years ago. Archaeological studies confirm that pigs, which in those days were wild and very different from the pink pigs we’ve come to know over the past two centuries, were tamed and enjoyed by the semi-nomadic peoples who were starting to do less hunting and gathering and more farming and animal husbandry. The land is spattered with pig bones, they are unearthed in excavations and are present at each point in the history of prehistoric man. The vocation for pig-farming in this part of the Po Valley is practised today with the same passion as it was then. The province of Mantua is a gateway of land and water and a connection with Etruscan and Celtic cultures, covered by

a blanket of oak forests. These close ties with Etruscan and Po Valley culture are

confirmed by the town’s most famous laureate, Publius Vergilius Maro. Mantua was the southern-most ramification of ancient Italic civilisation. Felsina, Mutina, Mantua... The breeding of pigs and the processing and sale of their meat was a flourishing trade as early as the 4th and 5th centuries. In actual fact, it was pro-bably the most profitable trade of them all. While Pericles was founding the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, the Po Valley Etruscans in the Forcello settlement (on the river Mincio, south-east of where Mantua currently stands) were exporting cured prosciutto ham to Greece. These inhabitants of the marshlands, used to mosquitoes, seasonal fogs and beautiful fat, were already master charcutiers. The origins of their craft were ancient, and by

A PASSION FOR PIGS

LEVONI AND THE LAND

STEFANO SCANSANI*

MANTUA SKYLINEThe province has the world’s

highest concentration of pigs: one and a half million

are bred in the area

THE AUTHOR*journalist for Gazzetta di Mantova, and author of Fenomenologia del Maiale (Tre Lune Editore, 2006)

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a quirk of fate, Forcello is similar to one of the Italian words for pig. Evidence of the export trade can be found in the deposits of animal bones that have been found around the Etruscan archaeological site. The wild pig may have ruled supreme, but with one defect though. There were no femur bones in the mass of skeletons unearthed.... which could mean that the rear legs ended up elsewhere. Where? It doesn’t take long to work it out when you see the imports that came and the exports that went out via the Adriatic, and the Po and Mincio Rivers. The legs of cured ham went to Greece whilst amphorae of wine and oil arrived from Greece and the Aegean Islands, coloured glass from Egypt not to mention lead and copper bartered with the Celts. Pigs therefore held much power, as a currency, product and vehicle of culture. There was no better place than the Italian Po Valley to breed the best pigs. The oak forests that covered the Po river basin, the deeper, thicker and darker the better, assured an abun-dant supply of food from above. Acorns from heaven in other words. Over the centuries, the area continued to be heaven on earth for pigs, throughout the spread of the Roman Empire and even afterwards, into the low Middle Ages and the Barbarians, right through to the 1800s when pigs were introduced to pigpens, piggeries, farms, intensive breeding and disappearing forests.

Like so, the wild pig disappeared too, along with wolves, both destined to exist only in fairy tales from then on. It vanished as the large Benedictine monasteries flourished, having industrialized cattle and pig breeding, cheese-making, and the production of Grana cheese around the Po River. It disappeared as the noble class expanded their landholdings. But all the time, humans never forgot the importance of pigs. It would have been impossible to, because by then the animal had become intrinsic to the area.

Now, instead of “animale” in Italian it should be “‘nimale” because, both alive or as a cured delicacy, pigs are the fusion of everything that is good and bad “male”, of everything that is considered sin and all that is considered virtue. The pig is a contradictory beast that continues to shape the collective imagination, inhabiting the furthest reaches of the subconscious, and producing the most basic of foods. This is what makes the pig such a figurative creature, a vessel filled with an abundance of things. A salami is both metaphysical and terrestrial, attributes that exist side by side in the same casing. Take some time to reflect on this, as if you really think about it, it could almost be reincarnation: salami is the chopped meat of a pig packed into the pig’s own intes-tine, so digested by itself. I’ll stop now, lest I churn up any more emotions about the live or dead animal. This ‘nimale has had such a profound effect on the fortunes of mankind and the cohabitation of the two, that it has even influenced human language and relationships. You just have to look at the province of Mantua to see that even contemporary topography reveals signs of the ancient relationships between nature and pigs, with the help of man. In the local town of Sermide, in the easternmost part of the province right on the border with Ferrara, there are two ancient villages, so close they are almost on top of each other: one is called Roversella (oak, producer of acorns) and the other Porcara, a place that used to be home to who knows how many pigs.

There wasn’t a home, in other words a farm in these parts, that didn’t have a salami room where the sausages were placed to dry and cure, hung up like aromatic stalactites on canes and ropes draped across the ceiling. The salami room was seen as such a prestigious and alchemic place on account of the chemical and physical transformation of the meat and fat making them supremely sliceable, that it was often the bedroom of the head of the household and his good wife, the “rasdóra”, who looked after the family. It is quite a powerful symbol: salami hanging over the marriage bed. Symbolism abounds, including the metaphorical representa-tion of fertility, of Maia, the ancient and bountiful goddess of spring where the name of all names came from: maiale (pig in Italian). There’s no doubt the ancient public sacrifice of a pig (no longer practised probably because contemporary society is no longer as tolerant as it used to be) was a pagan, political and gastronomic celebration. It goes without saying that slicing a salami conjures up the ancient ritual of sharing: one salami becomes a succession of slices, and everyone gets an equal-sized piece. Pigs are democratic animals. In and around the Po Valley, every family bred one pig a year: last year’s would be hanging from the salami room ceiling in casings to dry and cure whilst this year’s would be growing in the courtyard, eating the same broth and receiving the same attentions as the rest of the family. A pig was a precious family asset and part of the cycle of life. This kind of organisation, tradition and diet in the province of Mantua, just like the rest of the Po Valley, had a strong influence on culture and cultivation, drawing boundaries- between the peninsular world of sheep-farming or olive growing on the one hand, and the world of meat and lard that was pig-farming on the other. At this stage, our history and geography, condensed in this way, can be passed on for more philosophical reflection. Just think that here, around the Po, maybe even in Castellucchio, it all started from an acorn.

PERFECT HABITATSINCE NEOLITHIC TIMES

In the province of Mantua, men and pigs have lived together for more than six thousand years. Every family in the Po Valley used to breed at least one pig a year.

L E V O N I


A craftsman’s attention to detail and industrial quality

GENUINE PRODUCTS

Just why is all Levoni salami so good? A long production chain, advanced genetic studies, ancient recipes and meticulously selected ingredients, as well as natural “rhythms”ROBERTO CATANIA

One of the cornerstones of the Levoni philosophy is respect for raw ma-

terials. This is an aim that the company achieves by using mostly natural production processes.

Daria Levoni, in charge of the company’s rese-arch and development, explains: “Our challenge is to combine the guarantees and safety standards of indu-strial systems with the accuracy and attention to pro-duct detail of a typically handmade process. For many this may seem like a utopian ideal, given that the two aspects are worlds apart, but our results show that this type of convergence is possible.”

Levoni’s main objective here is safeguarding the raw material. “This is a factor that is sometimes not with-in our control,” comments Daria, who explains: “Processing pork meat is just the last link in a long production chain that begins with looking into the best breed. There is the risk in a chain like this of a cheaper meat but one that doesn’t have the inherent characte-ristics to be able to process it. Many farmers want an animal that grows quickly and that therefore can be replaced with another as swiftly as possible. We, on the other hand, are interested in quality.”

To find the best solution Levoni has worked on two fronts: on the one hand building a network of “partner”

suppliers who share the same company philosophy, and on the other creating in-house, whenever possible, all the necessary systems to integrate and improve the level of the raw material.

More than 50 years ago the company and its part-ner Sereni set up a centre to study pig farming and gene-tics and it is perhaps the best example of the com-pany’s aim: at this centre of excellence the animals’ genetics are studied to guarantee the quality of breed animals and piglets, as well as studying feeding and the animals’ growth environment.

The attention to detail almost borders on the pa-thological. “Besides the production regulations for Parma and San Daniele hams, the benchmark for raw ham production, there is the know-how involved in farming,” explains Daria Levoni. “We try to see to everything that has to do with the pig’s wellbeing: we ensure it is kept in a healthy, wholesome environment so that as little medi-cine as possible is required, we are also very demand-ing about what they are fed, the quality of transport, and all those details that may af-fect the animal’s quality of life and therefore its meat.”

No less important is the slaughtering stage, which Levoni entrusts to its butcher, Mec Carni, one of the most modern centres in this sector. Every week almost


RESEARCHTo the side, smoking. Below, the Castellucchio Analysis Laboratory, and one of the keepers of the Levoni cured meat recipes

10,000 units pass through it, 30% of which will arrive at Levoni - rigorously respecting the strictest stan-dards in the field.

Another feather in Levoni’s cap is the attention paid to selecting and measuring the ingredients used. This is the classic detail that makes all the difference: the company has specifically decided to pare recipes down to the barest minimum to enhance the flavour of the meat. But most importantly it has decided to add only natural - in the strictest sense of the term - flavourings, as specified also by the new EU regu-

lations. Daria Levoni points out: “Levoni never com-promises, not even in this case: we use only herbs, spices or their natural extracts. In the latter case they are extracted following historic Levoni recipes, in the former the company employs a team of spe-cialist staff who travel the world looking for the best spices”.

All consignments of flavourings are strictly con-trolled internally: each sample is inspected in the quality department for its visual, microbiological and organoleptic characteristics. It must also be

L E V O N I


RESEARCHTo the side, smoking. Below, the Castellucchio Analysis Laboratory, and one of the keepers of the Levoni cured meat recipes

stressed that both spices and herbs are milled or processed on company premises just before being added to the mixture so that they do not lose any of their aromatic properties.

The best quality results obviously go hand in hand with time limitations. The long curing of raw ham (always more than the minimum for the PDO ham) is just the tip of the iceberg as regards how production processes follow the rhythms of nature.

Every Levoni product must respect tight dead-lines, in terms of cooking, smoking and curing.

So for example cooked hams must be steamed in the oven slowly, while the Ungherese salami – one of Levoni’s most renowned and famous spe-cialities – after being naturally smoked, requires longer times for drying and curing.

E

veryone who lives in Castelluc-chio has heard of the Levoni brand. Of course in a town of just over 5,000 inhabitants a company of this size is something very special. Today about one in ten of the townspeople is emplo-yed by Levoni, and anyone who doesn’t work there has a friend or relative who does. And the mayor, Romano Moni-celli, is no exception: “Castellucchio is a small town characterised by the area’s farms, but has a broader outlook than the surrounding towns. Being clo-se to Mantua helps, but it is especially the presence of a lar-ge company like Levoni that has changed the townspeople’s productive mentality.” In this part of the world, pigs are im-portant for many people’s jobs, and not just directly thanks to Levoni’s business.

“The volume of animals that enter the company is quite high and it is a process that involves local farms, milk produ-cing consortiums, and farming partners. All this means the per capita income of the town is higher than the local avera-ge, as well as offering greater social independence: the life of people from Castellucchio almost entirely revolves around the town”. Consideration must also be made of Levoni’s in-fluence in less evident factors from a macroeconomic point of view, but that are plainly felt locally. The mayor explains, “To realise this, all you have to do is take a walk along the road that leads to the plants and stop in at the bar or in the local delicatessen, all busy thanks to the many Levoni wor-kers who pass by.

Or count all the former employees who have continued to be interested in the slaughtering sector and other fields involving pigs.” It is understandable that in a context like this urban planning is also affected. It must be pointed out that there are no environmental consequences. The mayor assures, “For its type and size, the impact of Levoni on the surroundings is not disruptive. On the contrary, the town-speople can be grateful to the company given that the mana-gement has agreed to cooperate with the local council on a number of its urban green projects.”

CASTELLUCCHIO A TOWN AND COMPANY

THE WORDS OF THE MAJOR, ROMANO MONICELLI

THE TOWN AND THE CASTLE

The name of the town comes from its small “castle”. All that remains today of the ancient building is a tower and battlements. It fell under possession of the noble Gonzaga family in 1328. For many centuries it was a very productive farm and home to well-to-do families of power-ful landowners, whose importance is reflected in the presence of several historical villas and other old buildings.


ITALY AND ITS CURED MEATSTHE FLAVOURS OF THE PENINSULA

FABRIZIO CAPECELATRO

SALAME MANTOVANO DEL PO

SALAME MANTOVANO

VECCHIA OSTERIA

LARDO DI CASTELLUCCHIO

SALSICCIA SALAMELLA

MANTOVANA

SALAME MILANO

CICCIOLIMANTOVANI

BRESAOLA DELLA VALTELLINA I.G.P.

LOMBARDIA

Milano salami dates back to the Renaissance and was made by farmers in the Brianza area. Today it is the best-selling salami in Italy and the most famous around the world. Its particularity is its “rice grain” grinding which Levoni carries out using the most traditional methods. It is soft ruby red in colour with a strong aroma and sweet and delicate flavour.

SOPRESSA VENETA

SALAME VERONA

VENETO

Traditionally linked with Friuli, where

since the times of the ancient Celts salt was used to preserve

meat, San Daniele Ham is characterised

by the presence of the “trotter”. Levoni selects the best legs for its “Riserva della

Contessa”.

Sopressa is a typical salami from the Veneto region, with a soft but strongly flavoured mixture that is especially aromatic. Levoni, while respecting the traditional recipe, uses a leaner mixture but nonetheless in the classic “bean” shape.

Italy has many regions, cultures and traditions that are the result of centuries of different histories. This multiplicity of traditions can also be seen in the kitchen; this is not, however, a sign of separation but of great richness and an excellent chance for cultural exchanges. This is why Levoni produces and markets the cured meats that are typical of all of Italy’s different regions, allowing, for example, a person from Milan to taste Tuscan Finocchiona and someone from Naples Sopressa from the Veneto region.

L E V O N I


PROSCIUTTO COTTO

CORONA PRAGA CON OSSO

PROSCIUTTO CRUDO

SAN DANIELE DOP

FRIULI

EMILIA ROMAGNA

COPPA DI PARMA

SALSICCIA SECCA

ROMAGNOLA

SALAME FELINO MORTADELLA BOLOGNA I.G.P. ORO

CULATELLO

PANCETTA STECCATA

CONTADINA

ZAMPONE MODENA I.G.P.

TRENTINOALTO ADIGE

CARRÉ AFFUMICATO

PANCETTA STUFATA

WÜRSTEL

SALAME UNGHERESE

CASTELSPECK

PROSCIUTTO CRUDO

DI PARMA DOP

COTECHINO MODENA I.G.P.

TOSCANA

SALAME TOSCANO

SALAME FINOCCHIONA

L E V O N I


PROSCIUTTO COTTO

CORONA PRAGA CON OSSO

PROSCIUTTO CRUDO

SAN DANIELE DOP

FRIULI

EMILIA ROMAGNA

COPPA DI PARMA

SALSICCIA SECCA

ROMAGNOLA

SALAME FELINO MORTADELLA BOLOGNA I.G.P. ORO

CUALTELLO

PANCETTA STECCATA

CONTADINA

ZAMPONE MODENA I.G.P.

TRENTINOALTO ADIGE

CARRÉ AFFUMICATO

PANCETTA STUFATA

WÜRSTEL

Legato per tradizione al Trentino Alto Adige, dove viene prodotto fin dal 1300, lo Speck è ottenuto da cosce particolarmente magre, salate e aromatizzate con aglio, pepe, bacche di ginepro e noce moscata. L’esclusiva ricetta Levoni nasce negli anni ’50.

SALAME UNGHERESE

CASTELSPECK

PROSCIUTTO CRUDO

DI PARMA DOP

COTECHINO MODENA I.G.P.

TOSCANA

SALAME TOSCANO

SALAME FINOCCHIONA

Una tradizione per la città di Parma sin dal III secolo a.C.: il Prosciutto di Parma Dop si caratterizza per il gusto dolce e delicato. Levoni segue le rigide regole della tradizione; le cosce provengono solo da suini pesanti allevati nel nord e nel centro Italia e seleziona i migliori prosciutti per la “Riserva Don Romeo”, stagionati almeno 16 mesi.

Nato dall’antica arte salumiera di Siena,

il Salame Toscano è caratterizzato dalla presenza di lardelli bianchi e compatti

nel rosso della carne magra. Il suo gusto è deciso, leggermente

agliato e pepato, con un aroma

davvero intenso. La Finocchiona è invece

un prodotto tipico della tradizione del Chianti fiorentino,

che Levoni si impegna a realizzare

secondo la ricetta più tradizionale.

L’impasto è morbido, il gusto è fortemente

caratterizzato dai semi di finocchio.

Speck is a tradition of Trentino-Alto Adige, where it has been produced since 1300. It is taken from legs with particularly lean meat, salted and flavoured with garlic, pepper, juniper berries and nutmeg. The exclusive Levoni recipe dates back to the 1950s.

Using Siena’s ancient traditions of cured meat production, Toscano Salami is

characterised by the presence of white

lard in the lean red meat. Its strong flavour, slightly

garlicky and peppery, is accompanied

by a truly intense aroma. Finocchiona

on the other hand is a typical product of the Chianti area

near Florence, which Levoni is committed to making following the most traditional

recipe. The mixture is soft and the flavour

strongly characterised by fennel seeds.

Traditional of the town of Parma since the third century B.C.: Parma Ham PDO is characterised by its sweet and delicate flavour. Levoni follows strict traditional rules; the legs only come from heavy pigs raised in northern and central Italy, and the very best hams are chosen for its “Riserva Don Romeo”, which is cured for at least 16 months.

CULATELLO


LAZIO

SCHIACCIATA ROMANA

Schiacciata Romana is a typical product of central Italy, with its home in Lazio. Its main characteristics are that it is slightly flattened, hence the name “schiacciata”, with a typically sweet flavour, thanks to the addition of lard to the very fine mixture.

SALAME CORALLINA

UMBRIA

Lombetto cured pork is Umbria’s typical salami. It is encased in natural stomach lining and still hand tied to this day. Lombetto is flavoured with wine and natural spices that give a sweet and slightly spiced flavour, as well as a soft consistency.

LOMBETTO

PUGLIA

Puglian in origin, dried Canosa sausage

is characterised by its traditional “U” shape and its lean

meat with a compact consistency. The

fennel seeds add a touch of sweetness.

SALSICCIA SECCA

CANOSA

SALAME MUGNANO

CAPOCOLLO NAPOLETANONapoli Sausage is the

typical salami of the territory around Vesuvius. Made with

a coarse grain mixture, it is encased in natural stomach

lining. Levoni uses traditional methods and lightly smokes

it. It is available in sweet and spicy versions, the latter

contains plenty of chilli pepper and paprika.

SALAME NAPOLI

SALSICCIA NAPOLI

CAMPANIA


CALABRIA

SCHIACCIATA PICCANTE

SALSICCIA MEDITERRANEA

PICCANTE

Hot Mediterranean sausage comes from Calabria, where the mixture is made from lean meats with a rather coarse texture, enlivened with chilli pepper and strong paprika, making it very spicy. It also makes the perfect topping for pizzas.

SALAME VENTRICINA

ABRUZZO

SALAME ABRUZZESE

Abruzzese Salami is typical of the ancient Abruzzo tradition, with a fine texture and seasoned with plenty of black peppercorns. Levoni offers the strong salami in three versions: classic, flattened and “gentle”, which is unusually broader at the base.

SICILIA

SALAME SICILIANO

Paisanella is a salami invented by Levoni in the 1950s for Sicilian customers, who have adopted it as the island’s traditional salami. It has a coarse texture when sliced by knife, with a sweet and delicate flavour and a soft consistency.

SALAME PAISANELLA


ivided into three cate-gories of aromas (swe-

et, hot and smoked), there are more than 50 different types - a number that the average consumer is unlikely to know or even guess: the cured meat par excellence, the favourite one that is the best example of the gastrono-mic culture of the different regions of Italy, is undoubtedly salami. «Unghe-rese, Milano, Napoli and Mantovano salami are our best-selling products,» confirms Roberto Pagliari, Levoni’s marketing director.

Why all this hard work to reproduce all the “culinary dia-lects” of the Italian peninsula?

«It’s an inevitable choice for us, one that goes hand in hand with the choice to use small businesses as our preferential distribution chan-nel. If I want to work with the delica-tessen owners in all the important areas I have to be able to meet their local needs. It is a meticulous, ca-

Delicatessens and regional specialities

DISTRIBUTION, VARIETY AND THE COUNTRY

Levoni’s marketing director tells the story of a decision carried forward for a hundred yearsMONICA SCIALFA

pillary job and one that is hard to maintain, but it is one that repays itself in how far Levoni is from the homologised, industrialised compa-nies.»

What do you mean when you say it’s hard?

«Because reproducing dozens of local recipes convincingly is dif-ficult, and we do it by using only top quality ingredients and with the help of technological instruments. Secondly, the variety is a challenge: some of our products are only consu-med in small geographical areas and so are niche products that aren’t sold in large quantities.

The choice may seem unecono-mic, but if you look carefully this approach allows Levoni to improve its bond with delicatessen owners, who, thanks to our logistics, are ne-ver let down in terms of stock. En-joying the trust of the delicatessen owners, gastronomes and butchers

like this means we will reach many more potential end customers. Ano-ther aspect to consider is that it is reckoned that per capita Italians consume 19 kilos of cured meats each year, some of us may only eat the same variety all the time, perhaps a local kind, but it is ano-ther kettle of fish if we can mana-ge to encourage customers to vary their tastes sometimes. This is why we encourage delicatessens to pro-mote themed weeks, with tastings of new products that may be comple-tely different from their traditional ones. By so doing the palates of the most demanding people who travel to try new cuisine are also satisfied.»

Besides salami, flicking through the catalogue I see that you also “cover” Friuli (with Prague ham), Trentino-Alto Adi-ge (with speck), Bologna (morta-della), Valtellina (bresaola), Mo-dena (cotechino and zampone):

D

ROBERTO PAGLIARILevoni S.p.A. Marketing Director


which regions are missing?

«Only Sardi-nia, but you never know!».

Tradition is an often used word in Levoni, but in your product list are there exam-ples of “moderni-ty”?

«Yes, for exam-ple the «salame dello Scudetto» (Championship sa-lami), made with lean ham meats, which with its lower 11% fat content reflects the general trend for incre-asingly lower-fat and lower-salt pro-ducts.

We actually always try to com-pensate for this train of thought by making it our priority to preserve traditional flavour. We won’t sacri-fice flavour, rather we encourage knowledgeable consumption. I'm sure you will have heard that a few slices of salami never hurt anyone! Pre-sliced meats and «takeaway» cured meats, in other words quan-tities of less than a kilo, satisfy the consumer’s practical needs.»

Levoni is not particularly present in large-scale retail: why and how was this choice made?

«From the ’80s onwards super-market chains forced producers to make a choice: if you wanted to play their game you had to meet their deadlines; which is why some com-panies tried to streamline costs, and confident of increased sales volumes, they standardised their recipes.

What’s more the illusion of fast sales (which by the way is incompa-tible with the structure of our plant, the work of which is still rooted in the manual craftsmanship of our

workmen) has never convinced the Levoni family.

If you look at the company’s history, it’s easy to see that over the years there has been continuous consistent growth, with no peaks or

GROWTH AND CONSTANT QUALITY

«If you look at the company’s history, it’s easy to see that over the years there has been continuous consistent growth...»

troughs. After years of falling retail tra-

de, small shops are having a second wind, and those who spurned this channel are now being penalised.

As we are coherent we have


T he Silver Piglet course is the result of Levoni’s passion for top quality ga-stronomes, delicatessen owners and butchers: the aim to take a leading role in safeguarding, communicating and enriching the heritage of its own skills

spurred the company to establish a training and refresher course for its best clients.In 2008 the programme devised by Giorgio Levoni got underway. He is the cousin who now manages a sweet-making business in Tuscany. Many

authoritative teachers (such as Cristina Bertazzoni, Levoni’s training project con-sultant) alternated on the five-module course, which in three years has seen the participation of a thousand delicatessen owners from 50 Italian towns.

The lessons, which include both theory and practice, have proven to be fer-tile terrain for exchanging ideas, impressions and useful recommendations, so the desire arose to set down the experience on paper by creating the manual Gestire un negozio alimentare (Managing a food store) published by Franco Angeli. The subjects dealt with to turn delicatessen owners into real gastronomic consultants-educators have been: cured meat tasting techniques (to improve analysis and evaluation skills for products through the senses), how to best display items in a store (by taking into consideration economic and aesthetic factors as well as the customer’s psychological aspect), communicating with consumers (to make each stage in the sales trans-action more efficient: welcoming, diagnosing the custo-mer’s needs, presenting the product, overcoming objections, concluding the sale), economic management of a store, (tools and strategies to improve profitability of the store, constantly checking the relationship between costs and takings, and identifying critical points that can be improved), marketing and promotion (with the aim of enhancing the outward appearance of the store while spending the mi-nimum amount of money).

At the end of the first round of lessons, more than 500 participants received their Maestro Salumiere diploma, which certifies their professionalism in no un-certain terms. The end result was extremely gratifying for the course promoters: this highly specialised and extremely distinctive training is Levoni’s effective re-sponse to the pervasive uniformity of the large-scale retail trade.

THE SILVERPIGLET

THE COURSE FOR MASTER DELICATESSEN OWNERS

been far-sighted and today, ta-king into account both historical and new stores, we have no less than nine thousand clients».

What’s the perfect delica-tessen owner like?

«A good owner will apprecia-te good food, he will be motivated to recommend the best quality to the extent that he is always lear-ning, studying and testing.

Today’s consumers are increa-singly knowledgeable and like to experiment and check the quality of what they are purchasing.

The delicatessen owner of the future won’t improvise, he’ll be an expert in his field, and will de-monstrate his knowledge of the goods he offers, and will be able to advise on what products make perfect accompaniments.

This is why he can’t be trying to save time just to make a quick buck: there must be time to dis-cuss, to consult, to compare and to taste and he will be repaid with the customer’s trust. Besides this as a good businessman he must have the right stock, be careful with how he communicates, and be inventive when it comes to promotion.

And how does he learn to do all this? The current problem is precisely this: unlike other Euro-pean countries, such as, I believe, France, where there are top level training courses for butchers and delicatessen owners (for exam-ple the French maître boucher), in Italy there are no specific courses. We receive emails every day from young people asking for indications and directions, which is why we have created the «Ma-ialino d’argento» (Silver Piglet) course, and the subsequent ma-nual.»

L E V O N I


POLAROIDBorn in Como

in 1956, Galimberti started out

using traditional analogue

film before his passion/

obsession for Polaroid took

hold in 1983; he made the switch

because he couldn’t stand the wait to see

how the photos turned out, and

also because he had always been afraid of the dark in the

darkroom.

aurizio Galimberti is a world famous photographer. His Polaroid mosaics are collectors items, celebri-ties commission his portraits, his works (including a collection of books on big cities the likes of New York, Venice, Berlin and - soon to be published - Milan) are collected, catalogued and conserved in a

specially created archive (Archivio NordEst); students at the Domus Academy and Istituto Italiano di fotografia (Italian Institute of Photography) flock to his seminars, whilst specialists and photo buffs alike never miss his creative photography workshops. In 2002, during one of these courses, Galimberti shot a series of photos of Levoni cured meats: mortadella, “Napoli” and “Romagnola” sausage, and Levonetto, Hungarian and fennel salami all featured in a collage that was later published as a calendar. On a set in Calabria, the artist described how the project came about, telling how shortly after meeting Marella and Nicola they invited him to do a workshop in Foiano della Chiana, Arezzo; thinking that it would be interesting to work together, he asked them to sponsor the event. His instincts were right: they accepted eagerly and had a hamper full of goodies sent to him along with carte blanche on what to do with them. «It had been more than 10 years since my last still life, but they had such an intelligent and unimposing approach that I began to think I could make an exception». Galimberti had in fact started out in the ‘90s doing still life for Vogue but the many constraints of the fashion industry made him decide to move away from this field. «I’m a realist, I thrive on spontaneity: I found it really hard to work on predefined sets that had been drawn up beforehand, with troops of make-up artists, hairdressers, reams of project files and such painstaking preparations. I can’t photograph a preconception; my photos come from a gut feeling, based on how I’m feeling at a certain time. That’s how I manifest the way I am, how I want to get inside the salami in that exact moment, for example».

So the meats are not “air-brushed” by Home Economist the way they normally are for advertising?«Oh, definitely not: they were ripe and wholesome, and at the end of the course we literally demolished them.

It wasn’t an easy task (making them look mouth-watering and moreish in just one shot) but we managed by focus-ing on the fun aspect.” Galimberti’s unique technique is the product of a variety of influences, from Futurism to

Dadaism, Surrealism and Cubism. “We managed to inject rhythm and movement into objects that are by nature immobile».

Didn’t you alter them just a tiny bit?«For me there is no post-production; computers distort the orig-

inal inspiration of the photographer and destroy the fantasy of the observer. An image must ask questions and give no answers; other-wise it is lifeless and uninspiring, incapable of making an impression: on our eyes and on our memories. That’s why I’ve never tried digital photography and always stuck with Polaroid: every photo has to be just right with an instant film, just like a penalty kick in injury time».

How was the workshop at Foiano organized?«In the morning I would set the scene then create a mosaic right

away; immediately after, the students would start taking photos to cre-ate their own personal interpretation of the selected subject». The end result was twelve jigsaw pictures made up of scores of mini-images (Galimberti has used up to 300 instant photos in other more complex works); the mosaics reproduced selected objects, from sausages to salami or mortadella: watching them I saw, for the first time, that the joy of what they were seeing was more than the anticipation of what they could be tasting.

A PORTRAIT OF SALAMILEVONI AND THE WORKS OF MAURIZIO GALIMBERTI

MONICA GALASSI

M


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L E V O N I


he third generation took over in 1969: the Levonis at the helm are now Paolo, Ezechiello, known as Zechi (Aldo’s sons) and Mario

(Lino’s son), with respective roles in farming and production, sales and com-munication management, deliveries and raw hams.

The three set to work by devising some new recipes: in the ’70s they make traditional mortadella more delicate and digestible. They set up the new butcher’s Mec Carni in 1976 in Marcaria (Mantua), in 1991 they open the ham-producing plant in Lesignano de’ Bagni for the production of the famous Prosciutto Crudo di Parma DOP (Parma ham PDO), in 1995 they open the ham-producing plant in San Daniele del Friuli for the production of the PDO ham of the same name and finally in 2001 the company Suisì (in Mezzago, Monza Brianza) that specialises in fresh meat and offers service of the highest quality.

From the ’70s to today with Paolo, Zechi and Mario

THE THIRD GENERATION

Aldo and Lino’s sons take over, bringing innovation, increasing business and launching some famous advertsMONICA SCIALFA

T

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NON HAN MAI FATTO MALE...

In 1995 Levoni appears on TV with its first adverts. The jingle continued with “...Levoni manda al mare la moda alimen-tare!” (“Levoni has no time for food fads”).

They promote advertising with the historic “Fame da lupi” (which could be translated as “Hungry as a Wolf”) billboard cam-paign. In 1995 the first TV advert airs with the ever popular Lino Banfi, specifically chosen as the face of the campaign due to his Pu-glian origins as a tribute to the close relationship between the com-pany and the southern regions, and Puglia in particular. In 1998 the jingle went on air that everyone still associates with Levoni: “Non han mai fatto male tre fette di salame…”, which roughly translates as “A few slices of salami never hurt anyone”.

Thanks to these kind of initiatives the third generation helped make the brand famous with a wider public, as well as increasing business to heights just below current levels: 170 products, 230 em-ployees, 5,000 delicatessens in its portfolio, 90 agents in Italy, ex-ports to 18 foreign countries (including Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, The Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, USA, Venezuela).

Paolo, in the company canteen, lists the “misunderstood” ideas of the past with amused satisfaction: pure beef salami, designed for those who can’t eat pork products for religious reasons, eventually only in production for ten years; “mirtadella”, seasoned as it was originally with myrtle berries and with an intense flavour; würstel (frankfurters), launched on the market well before competitor bran-ds, and the Fido brand of dog food (subsequently sold) launched when people didn’t yet pay too much attention to their pets’ diet when shopping. In 2011 the fourth generation arrived: Daria (the first woman in the family at the helm), Nicola (the youngest, Chai-rman since 2008), Aldo (who looks after the butcher’s, Mec Carni, and the fresh meat company), Marella (coincidentally born on the same date as her great-grandfather Ezechiello, on 27 November) and Alceo Zanotti (the husband of Paolo’s youngest daughter, the

first person from outside the Levoni family on the board of di-rectors).

These descendants have the same passion for their work as their predecessors, to whom they turn to for advice and opinions, or simply just to hear interesting stories about the family.

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MARIO LEVONI PAOLO LEVONI EZECHIELLO LEVONI


hopkeeper Gasperino Salvini just didn’t care anymore. He was, by now, a sa-tisfied man ...Thirty-five years behind the meat counter. Three houses built: one for his wife and himself, and one for each of his sons (a surveyor and an accountant). Both paid in cash on the nail, every penny, no mortgage.

He had a healthy bank account, so healthy that if he’d ever decided to move it the bank manager would have been pained to see it go. He’d been the first fa-mily in town to have a colour television...and not just one but two: one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Last but not least, totting up some figures with the accountant at the beginning of this year, he’d had a lovely surprise: both he and his wife (his “old dear”) could retire. It was just peanuts, a shopkeeper’s pension was nothing to write home about. All the same, he liked the idea that he could have one, just like any other honest worker: it was like a seal of approval, a diploma, a promotion, a medal for valour even. In all honesty, he thought, his good lady and he really deserved a medal for having opened up at 7am and shut up shop at 8pm day and night for thirty five years, for having put up with demands for cooked this and cured that, for silently cursing them all but never, ever letting it show.

So the customer is always right? According to whom? Whoever said it,

Salvini the shopkeeper used to think, had never done this job, and knew absolutely nothing about it. But then he didn’t real-

THE CUSTOMERIS ALWAYS RIGHT

A PERSONAL TALE

ANDREA VITALI*

THE AUTHOR*Born in 1956

in Belluno where he currently

works as a GP. His last book is “La zia Antonia

sapeva di menta”

ly care anymore. He’d hung up a nice big sign on the door: “Business for Sale”. And what a business it was! There was going to be no negotiating on the price, take it or leave it, his shop was a gold mine...and he could see a windfall coming his way. He and his old dear were going to enjoy that money, take a trip, maybe even a cruise. And let’s be clear about it, he’d told her, the children were to get their eyes off it. They wouldn’t even be getting a sniff of it. Even if they had to force themselves to become holiday-makers, he and his wife were going to spend whatever they made from the sale.

“As long as the Good Lord gives us the time to enjoy the fruits of a hard-working life,” he used to say every other day to whoever was in the shop. But you could tell from his tone, the real trouper that he was, there was no doubt in his mind that the Good Lord would give him all the time he needed. The good Salvini enjoyed spending it like that, from behind the counter of his shop. He would while away the time daydreaming about the fu-ture, counting the days until the end of the year, when one day a certain Adelma Cor-seri came into the shop, one of the many holidaymakers who flocked to the lake in the summer.

Oh my goodness, Madam Corseri! If all his customers had been like her,

Salvini would’ve had to work for another thirty five years. What did she buy? A mi-serly 2oz of coppa, prosciutto, mortadella or bresaola. She’d go to town sometimes

on a Saturday and splurge on 2oz of one salami and 2oz of another. You knew she had guests every now and then, but they certainly didn’t eat much. Those 2oz sales were important nevertheless. If you take care of the pennies, then the pounds take care of themselves. And before you know it you could even become a millionaire. They might have had a giggle about those 2oz orders afterwards, Salvini and his wife. That is, if the good lady Corseri hadn’t also hastened to add (from her first time in the shop) that, being from Mantua, the rest of the year she shopped at Spaccarelli, prize delicatessen and pride of the city. Salvini had seen it. Or rather, he’d once had a peep from outside on a hot Sunday at the start of the summer, after he’d been round the Palazzo Te and visited the historical city centre. He was there on a coach trip with his blood donor group, a social ex-change organized with the Mantua group. To tell the truth, his sole reason for going was to see this much-lauded delicatessen. Otherwise, he actually preferred to rest on a Sunday, spend some time at home, en-joy his garden, snoring like a foghorn in front of either of his two colour televisions. It was a fine shop, he had to admit, a real swanky place. Legs of ham hanging from the ceiling, mustard in tubs, all shiny and tidy. There had to be at least four or five people working there. All ready to spring into action! What he didn’t understand though, was how their salamis could taste better than his, what divine intervention was involved?

S

L E V O N I


Because right from her first time she stepped into his shop, five or six years ago, Madam Corseri had made a point of pas-sing judgement. Even if there were other customers in the shop, she made it sound like he was selling second class goods. She used to speak in such categorical to-nes, and with such a glowering expression that she would really get on his good la-dy’s nerves.

But he kept quiet, head down, accep-ting everything, the customer is always right after all. More than once, his wife asked if she could get rid of the loud-mouth, tell her that she was welcome to go back to Mantua to do her shopping! But Salvini urged her to keep calm, as the right time would come along sooner or later. He was sure.

So it went, summer after summer, she just kept picking fault with Salvini’s sala-mis. There wasn’t one she didn’t have a bad word to say about. If he’d been more of a literary type, Salvini the “salumiere” would have had enough material to put together a critical anthology. He’d never done it. He could have dictated it though, because the signora from Mantua’s com-ments had become imprinted on his mind.

His cured ham was the first victim. Before she bought any, 2oz and not a jot more, Madam Corseri wanted to smell it. Not just once, but twice, three times even. Then the judgement would come: the Mantua one was more fragrant, conjec-turing that it was probably because their slices were finer, like silk, so fine they just melted in your mouth. When Madam Cor-seri finally left the shop, leaving behind her an array of bewildered faces, even Salvini himself had a sniff. The problem with the cooked ham was the consistency. According to Madam Corseri, the Mantua one didn’t fray, when you opened the par-cel, each slice came away easily, no trou-ble at all, one after the other. It was like flicking through a book with pages made of rice paper, do you know that Salvini? The butcher turned a deaf ear, he didn’t know anything about books and he didn’t care for rice. The bresaola was a genuine mystery. There was no explaining how on earth the Mantua one could be tastier, especially as it was anything but a specia-lity from the valley. But nevertheless, bet-ter it was, you just had to taste it. What’s more, the one from down there deepened in colour much more slowly.

The difference in the mortadella was all about personality: the Mantua one didn’t attack the palate, perhaps because it contained less spices. You could eat a cou-ple of slices quite easily without ruining the taste of the dishes that followed. Last but not least, the salami cotto (cooked or smoked) was ever so close to being jud-ged equal. So close, but so far though. The Mantua salami won on points of course, as the slices were so royally sliced, every one identical and perfectly proportionate. For some obscure reason, this just made it smell superior. Perhaps, Salvini thought, it’s all in the presentation.

With her nose in the air as she was accustomed to entering, Madam Corse-ri didn’t notice the ‘for sale’ sign. As she came in without even closing the door, Sal-vini felt his wife glaring at him. It was like daggers pouring out pure, open hostility. He turned to look at her. His old wife was already flushed in the face, and it was no-thing to do with the menopause. He gave her a reassuring wink, he’d understood, he wasn’t stupid after all. But with a sha-ke of the head, he gestured to her to stay calm. It was his turn. As if to affirm that the long-awaited moment had come, he level-led a finger quite firmly at his own chest. “Me!” Salvini, the avenger.

He greeted Madam Corseri. With the same enthusiasm as ever, as if it was just another day and another welcoming smile for all and sundry, no matter what, the cu-stomer is always right! Well, he’d show her this time! He didn’t care anymore, he had three houses, a healthy bank account and two colour televisions! They didn’t need her 2oz portions anymore!

He just had to decide what he was going to do. Should he give Madam Corseri the time to order her usual two ounces, slice it, wrap it and hand it over as if it was such an honour to serve her, then announce at the till that he was going to give it to her for nothing, he didn’t need her charity, or...or should he be plain bad-mannered and order her to leave, to get


I VITALI The pictures published on these pages are the work of painter Giancarlo Vitali. Previous page: Macellai. Above: Preoccupato per il futuro, Maiali and L’Onestà.

out of his face and find somewhere else to shop and never to come back.

All the while, his wife was bubbling with rage. He could sense it, he could feel the electricity prickling and the anxiety growing for that long-awaited moment. There was fear too, fear that he would change his mind and back out of kicking her out. The queue was building up in the meantime. Courteous and dignified, Ma-dam Corseri was eyeing up the cold cuts display.

When he came face to face with her, Salvini hesitated for a second. It could have been fatal, as his old wife tried to use it to her advantage, pouncing with angry words ready to come tumbling out. If he hadn’t been so quick, she would’ve succe-eded. But he managed to halt her outburst with a firm: “I’ll serve the Signora.”

Salvini, the avenger.“Can I help you?” he said, adding

“What would you like today?” deciding there and then on the noble gesture to dismiss any thought of ill-manners. Anything but, he would let her have an extra slice if push came to shove.

His old wife was gritting her teeth and ringing her hands, ready to sprint to the meat to be sliced, just as soon as Madam Corseri issued her order.

“Half a pound of ravioli.”Salvini leaned forward, dum-

bfounded, as if he had misheard, a wary look on his face.

Two bubbles of saliva burst at the cor-ners of his old wife’s mouth.

“Half a pound…” she murmured, glancing at her husband.

Half a pound of ravioli, that’s some or-der. Well, when all was said and done, the summer had just started, there was still plenty time to get revenge.

And so it was that the butcher and his good wife bid a joint “Goodbye, see you soon” to Madam Corseri as she left the shop with her packet tucked neatly under her arm.

L E V O N I


S

crolling through the list of Levoni’s premier customer

accounts, one address in particular will catch your eye, one that most people would have no trouble recognizing: Via Spadari 9, Milan. The Peck emporium... in a flash, the mind fills with images of spectacular window displays, dressed up with Christmas or Easter scenes sculpted in cheese, butter or chocolate, elegant labels striking an elegant pose on the shelves, multicoloured tins of traditional teas, a plethora of preserves

Peck, where it all began

NOW ONE OF THE FIRM’S BIGGEST CUSTOMERS

It was the founder of Milan’s legendary gourmet food and wine emporium who taught Ezechiello the trade and gave him the chance to start up a food business of his own.

and jams, a cornucopia of seafood deli-cacies, cheeses from all corners of the country and, needless to say, salamis in prime position. I can almost smell the amazing aromas inviting me in and savour the welcoming silence, courte-ous service and sophisticated interior: a haven of peace and tranquillity in the heart of the city.

The name Peck also reminds me of snatches of a story that Mario and Paolo once heard. The story goes back to 1890 when forefather Eze-

MONICA GALASSI

chiello was just ten years old and was sent from Castelnuovo Rangone near Modena to perfect the art of salami making in Milan. The story goes that it was here that he ran into one of the most accomplished salami makers of those times, Francesco Peck from Prague, who was the first to introduce a speciality from his home country to Italy – Prague ham. Later he even ob-tained the royal seal of the Italian Royal Family. The young Ezechiello became an apprentice in Francesco’s workshop and one of the many things he learned was smoking techniques. Later, this was to become a distinctive feature of his salamis, in particular his Hungar-ian salami that won a gold medal at the Great London Exhibition in 1913.

In 1911, his mentor offered him the classic golden opportunity, deciding to abandon his premises in Precotto (prob-ably near the villa that is still called Peck) and lease them to Ezechiello: the Levoni adventure was about to commence! A century later, the master charcutier’s name graces the list of customers of the company founded by his pupil: they had practically come full circle.

TASTE AND TRADITION Peck is spread out over three

floors: the wine cellar in the

basement, the delicatessen

on the ground floor and café

on the first floor


hundred years of Le-voni means history,

devotion and continuity. It means de-dication and passion for one’s job and highlights the company vocation for the all-important, crucial objective: quality. «From our raw and cooked hams, from mortadella to the most unusual salamis,” Alceo Zanotti says with pride, “our clients know that they can rely on us for all their stock.

«One of our strengths from the start»

SALES NETWORK AND LOGISTICS

When your clients are the best delicatessens and butchers in Italy, sales agents and capillary distribution are crucial to successFEDERICA GIOVANNINI

With our specialities and huge range of highly diversified salamis, we co-ver the regional demands of almost the whole of Italy, with products that reflect the utmost in craftsmanship, processed with care and using the strictest industrial checks and safety procedures, and produced with the same concern as in days gone by.»

When you discover that mountain wood is still used today from Val di

AFassa and Val di Fiemme, using the ancient method of natural smoking handed down by Ezechiello, you be-gin to understand how in large com-panies what is history becomes tra-dition and a guarantee for the future.

The history of Levoni is its pe-ople, who instil the affection and profound respect for the company that they have in the product they shape, package and finally distribute all around Italy: when the production process is over, a sales team of 150 multi-firm agents coordinated by their area managers work with pas-sion and professionalism every day and in every Italian region, so that Levoni products are guaranteed and served as requested. For a producer

L E V O N I


that is proud of its uncompromising quality and wide-ranging product list, a highly specialised sales team is essential.

«Our agents are the ones respon-sible for Levoni’s success around Italy. They are exceptional, highly professional people, many of whom have been with us from the begin-ning of their careers, and very of-ten people with fathers who did the same job: people who identify so much with Levoni that they consider it “their” company, and who congra-tulate us on a new product, calling it “ours” or who call the company at the end of the day to find out the daily totals in terms of tons consig-ned and sold.»

This affection and sense of be-longing that every agent shows to-wards Levoni endures and becomes stronger year after year, and shows that the sales network is like a large family that lives in every corner of Italy. Zanotti emphasises that «this is a sign of the strong bond and har-mony that the whole salesforce feels and that spreads through the emplo-yees too, and is testimony to the pri-de that Levoni quality inspires in the people that work there.»

In a hundred years, the faith and confidence the company and the sales network have in each other has also spread to the clients them-selves, who have such a close con-nection with their representatives

SALESFORCEIn the top left photo, the

Pitturi family, who have been with Levoni for three

generations, the Cupelli family and our agent Lavini

from Macerata. In the picture above, Area Manager

Massimo Cenni and agents from Lazio and Sardinia. On

the previous page agents from Puglia

that they call them “the Levonis”, as agents will talk about the company wherever they go, bringing Levoni products to the best charcuteries and delicatessens in Italy. Tradition and innovation continue to meet and cross paths in the history of the “pi-glet with wings”. Decade after deca-de, at the same time as the growth and capillarisation of the sales sy-stem, the company has been able to rely on logistics processes being im-plemented with its own vehicles and drivers so that distribution to clients is ever more punctual and efficient. There’s nowhere Levoni can’t reach, and quality is the secret that for a hundred years has made the com-pany successful.


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L E V O N I


s children, at a time when all the current regulations on safe-ty in factories were not yet in force, they would play outdoors

and do their homework and then often take a look around the plant. One of the representatives of the fourth generation of the Castellucchio business, Aldo Levoni, recalls: «For us the family and the company were more or less the same thing. This meant we got to know all the people well, whether they were business partners or employees.»

The members of the fourth generation that are now at the helm of Le-voni have breathed the company since the day they were born. On the one hand this has led them to come to love the business founded by their great-grandfather Ezechiello and on the other to take up their current working role in the company: one of the Levonis’ fundamental choices was that the family should directly deal with company operations. Today the three members of

A new century of Levonis

THE FOURTH GENERATION

The roles have been expertly allocated and follow the family traditionRICCARDO CERVELLI

A

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the board, Aldo and Nicola Levoni and their brother-in-law Alceo Zanotti work together on and deal with many various aspects. For example Nicola and Aldo play an active role in the main category associations: Nicola is currently the chairman of the Institute for the Promotion of Italian Cured Meats and is a board member of the Prosciutto di San Daniele Consortium; while Aldo is a board member of the Prosciutto di Parma Consortium.

There is also much collaboration on the Italian and internation-al sales front: Alceo and Nicola head all the company’s commercial activities, with the former in particular overseeing Italian clients, and the latter developing foreign ones.

Besides the three members of the board, another two family members have managerial roles: Daria manages the Research and Development sector, while Marella deals with all communications, external relations and press office activities.

Thanks to their different talents and the very different fields they studied, all five help broaden the company’s horizons. Just as crucial is the contribution of managers from different parts of the country, from historic ones like Diego Paoli, to those taken on more recently, and the contribution of everyone who works enthu-siastically for the company by giving it their all.

NICOLA LEVONISon of Mario, 40 years old, he is chairman of the board of directors of Levoni Spa. He joined the company after graduating in Law at the University of Bologna, and immediately began dealing with foreign markets, managing to combine his passion for travel with the ambition of taking Levoni quality to the rest of the world.

ALDO LEVONIThe son of Ezechiello, (his father had the same name as Levoni’s founder), 42 years old. Graduating in Management Engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan has provided him with the technical and economic skills needed for his daily work.


ALCEO ZANOTTIPaolo’s son-in-law, born on 25 January 1966. He has always worked in the commercial sector, and is now the owner of food companies in Eastern Europe.

DARIA LEVONIPaolo’s daughter, 46 years old, and the first woman to have a management role with the company, after graduating in Agriculture. She deals with research and development, and the ham-producing plants.

MARELLA LEVONINicola’s sister, 44 years old, she is the only who did not work with the family company straightaway. After completing her Arts degree she worked for the press office of two publishers before arriving at the Castellucchio offices, where she deals with communications and external relations.

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A hundred years of quality around the world

LEVONI ABROAD

A journey through time and local cultures, discovering the philosophy of Italian cured meats in foreign landsFEDERICA GIOVANNINI

L evoni’s centenary is just a tick of the clock away. The past century is destined to bring an even

more prosperous future as the seeds sown at the beginning of the 20th century come to fruition at the beginning of the 21st thanks to new ideas and outlooks in the food sector, while at the same time the values of days gone by are upheld. This era, when Levoni opened Italy’s and the world’s doors revealing its top quality cured meats is not so far away from today: the triumph of Levoni’s Hungarian salami at the Inter-national Modern Arts and Industry Exhibition in London where a very young Ezechiello emerged victorious against all the local gentlemen’s predictions, was justification for the great passion and commitment that the at that time small cured meat producers out in the sticks had shown in produc-ing a salami that was so good it made pigs fly. This image, which has accompanied the entire Levoni adventure, carry-ing it on the wings of success today as back then, has re-mained inextricably associated with the company’s label, re-minding and communicating to the world that wherever the piglet goes flying on products to far-off lands, that tradition is what connects the company to its past. This is like the cured meats of today, as the brand wings its way around the globe and determinedly pushes ever further, with its impeccable safety records and perfect sanitary, institutional and busi-ness guarantees, collecting ever more miles on the way be-fore arriving at its destination where it will respect the tradi-tions and the alimentary demands of the cultures it faces. Every single item in fact, checked and literally grown by staff, who in the production stages ensure they receive all the necessary care and attention, ends its journey in the same top quality condition it set off in. This is how Levoni prod-ucts, from the cycle that begins with the farming stage and terminates with the delivery of the end product, can meet the extremely varied demands of their clients, who receive a per-

fectly preserved product. Handwritten files discovered in the company archives tell how even back in 1934 a batch of cured meats heading for the United States travelled im-mersed in lard, which preserved the softness and flavour, and were transported in wooden crates with an outer metal layer. Time, which has never been as profitable or providen-tial as it has throughout Levoni’s history, combined with the constant interaction with new cultures, has naturally brought new methods of preserving cured meats with new systems of refrigeration that meant products arrived in perfect condi-tion as well as being able to present them with cuts and tex-tures that satisfied local needs. Each country has its own cultural baggage. Each culture has its own inherent taste that Levoni fully respects and cares for, sometimes making it the ideal point of departure for innovation, an opportunity: therefore, interpreting the demands of the senses of smell, taste and even touch of Northern European consumers, who were important importers even at the beginning of the last century, an experiment was made to lower the temperature of the meat to obtain a “rice grain” grind, a feature of Milano salami. Was that perhaps where it came from? This is how a simple piece of information, communicated by the capillary network of agents, distributors and importers around the globe, who take Levoni excellence from border to border, reaches the production site of Castellucchio. Here every item is processed without the use of chemical additives, or lactose or gluten, of which the company is rightly proud in the whole of Europe: it is no surprise that in Austria, which is particularly loyal to Levoni, its cured meats are given to nurs-ery children, as it meets the alimentary needs of adults and children alike. Levoni is taking this same philosophy that tends to make clients one big family even further afield, where the “sandwich program” is taking off as a food style in Canada. This is how bread and cured meat, a classic par ex-


cellence that can be tried in numerous versions, becomes the ideal lunch: simple, genuine and innovative. New experi-ments, the search for a particular flavour, and the design of new packaging occupy and honour the hundreds of souls who, day in day out, dedicate themselves to keeping and im-proving Levoni’s strong heart that is proud of its hundred years in business without abandoning its principles. All you have to do is taste it to understand the passion that goes into every single stage of Levoni’s cured meats, and to realise why products of such a high quality have managed to reach the furthest corners of the globe. Levoni has even arrived in what might seem the hardest cultures to reach, with a genu-ine product and the desire to reveal the flavours and textures of a historical tradition. Just think of countries like Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Indonesia: in these places

the products from Castellucchio have reached the pinnacles of luxury and appear on the table of the most luxurious chains of hotels, inspiring passion and pleasure for Italy in countries that may seem quite exotic and culturally distant. One big family, that Levoni has seen grow of its own accord, as it embraces and wins over ever more countries around the world, united by a unique value. A family that has spread like wildfire, taking its rightful place in delicatessens, restaurants and luxury hotels thanks to the role of intermediaries, friend-ships, and Italian and international chefs, who share ideas, interests and novelties with others as they wander from country to country. Levoni has pitched its flag everywhere, a sign of the quality and experience that a century of making quality cured meats consists of, and is appreciated and en-joyed even where fashion would dictate an entirely different

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kind of food being served at the ta-ble. In beautiful Paris where cli-ents are friends, even before they are owners of charcuter-ies, they can taste the prod-uct and appreciate all its vari-ous subtleties, until the flavour truly wins over the most demanding of palates. Here where trends are set in the five-star hotels, the top qual-ity butchers and the recherché delicatessens, the sales network be-comes more compact, creating a chess-board network of contacts, distribution and deliv-eries that stretches from the Côte d’Azur to Normandy. Even across the English Channel in Great Britain where super-markets reign in distribution terms, Levoni stands out by winning over, sometimes thanks to serendipitous encoun-ters, the prestigious and ever-busy Harrods and Partridges. Other encounters may occur at sector trade fairs, where in-formation circulates without formality: one sits at a table, tastes some San Daniele ham sipping on a glass of wine in a setting that is warm and welcoming and where human inter-action is the mission. The hospitality at the stand makes you feel at home. Sharing hellos as you taste the products is part of the warmth that has taken Levoni to foreign fields, in more than fifty countries that have adopted it as a symbol of Italian flavour and excellent cuisine. Cold countries such as Russia and Poland have been refining their taste in cured meats for twenty years now, frenetically offering them in the best res-taurant chains, large department stores and on airlines or opening small delicatessens where salamis and sausages hang from the ceiling as they would in Italy. It’s never too late to recreate the intimacy of a delicatessen of times gone by, where the human touch is central and owners chat with cus-tomers as their flavoursome meats are being wrapped, some-times together with some cheese form the store a little fur-ther along, directly from the hands of the person who slices

the meats with painstaking care, as their training has taught

them, wearing a Levoni apron that takes minds back to times past. Just at

that moment, as the clock’s hands stop for a moment in the fifties, Parma ham, Napoli and

Milano salami, and Mortadella began to arrive in Venezuela and Uruguay in the best gourmet shops and hotels, on the crest of the wave of beach tourism. Today the New Continent is a challenge that Levoni accepts with its usual determina-tion, with the ambition of conquering a South America that is rediscovering itself and looks forward to seeing that product that already appears on many American tables and that arouses the interest of expert charcutiers, confirmed gour-mets and connoisseurs of the good life, of good food and Ita-ly: salami. The product has always been the brand’s “flag-ship”, reinterpreted in numerous different versions seasoned with spices and natural flavourings, and lends itself perfectly to the chopping boards of the best restaurants in the world, where Michelin-starred chefs become ambassadors for a slice of Italy. From the monumental hotels of Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai and Thailand, it returns to the stores closer to home and in typical German butchers shops, from high class Italian restaurants in Australia it takes a step back in time to small, characteristic Flemish delicatessens: the most diverse clients increasingly choose Levoni products, because every cured meat is a piece of craft history; because it is certified and checked in every phase of curing and right up to when it is delivered; because tradition is experience and the future is quality. All over the world.

GLOBETROTTERWherever in the world it

may be, if Italian cured meats can be imported

there, there will be at least one of Levoni’s 200 specialities. To the left is

an unused draft for the brand that dates back to

the 1940s


o better understand Le-voni’s one hundred years

of history we have to look at all those small and large changes that are part of its past; such as changes in the role of slaughtering, the real feather in the cap today of the “Sil-ver Piglet” brand. The course of his-tory has turned a process that was mainly a craft trade at the beginning of the last century carried out by individual producers or butchers, into a highly structured process, initially within the company plant itself, then, since 1976, in its special centre located seven kilometres

More than just a butcher’s!MEC CARNI

Aldo Levoni tells the story of how and where its meat is produced

fromCastellucchio: Mec Carni. Aldo Levoni, a member of the

board of directors of the company and manager of the subsidiary Mec Carni, explains: «Once upon a time all the stages in the pork pro-duction process were carried out at the same site where the cured meats were produced: on Monday the animals were slaughtered, and the following day the meat process-ing began. This involved all Levoni employees taking part in both ac-tivities and having to adapt to the different roles this entailed. Then, thirty five years ago, it all changed

-as the business grew the company needed to find a new site, partly for environmental reasons as the transit of animals through the town centre was beginning to cause prob-lems and required adequate clean-ing up after».

This is why it was decided to create a centre of excellence out-side the town – excellence in terms of volumes as well as in terms of processing methods and hygiene and sanitary standards. A few num-bers will help show the extent of the work of Mec Carni today: 250 employees work to bring around

TROBERTO CATANIA

<DIDA

L E V O N I


14,000 units onto the market each week, with a volume of meat that doesn’t just satisfy Levoni’s produc-tion needs (around 30% of the total) but also other important brands in the cured meat world.

Levoni however holds the ma-jority of the stocks and this obvi-ously has an effect on processing standards, such as genetics, farm-ing and quality control, as well as in terms of slaughtering, where production control means that the company can obtain the best pos-sible meat before beginning to pro-cess it. This is why the work that Mec Carni carries out runs to a strict schedule.

Aldo Levoni explains: «The most critical stage is in the slaugh-tering line, where the animals are divided into sides of pork, cleaned and sliced depending on the cut re-

quired, first ham, then neck, loin, shoulder, lard and so on: the aim is to get the meat chilled as soon as possible to ensure that its charac-teristics remain unchanged. In fact we are able to have all the cuts in cold storage within the space of an hour», the manager is keen to point out.

This stage also involves the se-lection of the most prestigious cuts. This is where the experience and the eye of the employee comes into play: they must be able to identify all the visual factors (such as the colour of the meat and the thick-ness of the fat) that make the differ-ence when top quality cured meats are to be produced. The end result depends largely on the inherent quality of the meat. The selection of the suppliers is therefore the most important aspect of the process that

precedes processing. This is why all the animals that arrive at Mec Carni are analysed for both their quality, as well as their economic return, and are then classified according to the suppliers’ evaluation tables: the ones that receive the highest points stay on, the “worst” ones are replaced.

At the same time Levoni works with farms managed by Mec Carni where all factors that may influence the quality and quantity of the meat can be checked: the genetics types of pigs are studied, for example, as well as their food and the farmer’s “hand”. «It is precisely the combi-nation of these factors that deter-mines the quality of the raw mate-rial», Aldo Levoni points out. «This is why we have chosen the route of company-owned farms, an invest-ment that also improves relations with our suppliers. Comparing own-bred animals with those that arrive from the outside allows us to give precious advice to farmers. If some-one sends a pig that is too thin, for example, we can offer the right sug-gestions to remedy the problem».

There is a further point to con-sider: how animals are treated before they are slaughtered. This doesn’t just concern animal rights groups, but also the regulation policies of all those countries, espe-cially in the European Union, where the wellbeing of animals used in the food chain is monitored. «This is a subject we have paid great atten-tion to for many years», comments Aldo Levoni, «partly also because of the quality of the raw material. An animal in good health means better quality meat, which is why we pro-hibit the use of growth-enhancing drugs and we guarantee that ani-mals are not mistreated, including during transportation».

PDO HAMS

To produce Parma and

San Daniele hams strict rules must

be followed concerning

the animals’ weight,

genetics and age

L E V O N I


Communicating with tasteNON HAN MAI FATTO MALE...

It’s not easy to get across the message of the art and flavour of good cured meats. Here’s how Levoni gave its marketing and advertising a very unusual flavourROBERTO CATANIA

«Non han mai fatto male tre fette di salame…» (“A few slices of salami

never hurt anyone”). All Italians will remember the very first Levoni adverts. Part of the hundred-year history of the brand with the Silver Piglet also consists of the many successful advertising campaigns that began under the guidance of the third generation of Levonis. Television, radio, press, billboards: all-encompassing advertising, with the invaluable aid of some exceptional names (from Lino Banfi to Renato Pozzetto), that took Levoni into every Ital-ian home.

Marella Levoni, today communications head of the family company, points out: «In all our campaigns we have attempted to get across the pleasure of eating a good cured meat, and reminding people of the best delicatessens that are the core of our distribution. This is particularly evident in the billboard campaigns, which guide customers, poten-tial ones included, towards our points of sale».

Everyone knows that Levoni cured meats are “Quelli Buoni” (the Good Ones), a slogan that the company has consistently used. But new channels are needed to express the Levoni message of taste and a passion for quality. «The value of our production processes, which is also what differ-entiates us from our competitors, encourages us to look for new outlets for our message to explain the values concealed within our products», emphasises Marella Levoni. She con-tinues, «Anyone who tries our meats knows the difference».

This is why the decision was made to offer tastings at events, shows and festivals, as if to show that the best way

to get the message across is through the product itself. From exhibitions at the Triennale and Palazzo Reale in Mi-lan to the Literature Festival of Mantua, the company has brought its products to settings where people can taste its products, perhaps as they sip on a glass of top quality wine.

And while on the subject of cured meats and wines, in 2012 Levoni will be partner of the wine guide, Vinibuoni d’Italia, which will feature a section dedicated to the com-pany with suggestions for which cured meats go best with which Italian wines. There are also initiatives for its “small-er” public: Segni d’Infanzia, the international art and the-atre festival for children which Levoni has sponsored since its inception, will also feature tastings for children where the Levoni philosophy will be explained to the children: the passion for genuine flavours, knowledge of the prod-uct, and the culture of combining its products with other foods. «Children today are used to eating lots of things, often totally unaware of what they’re eating», explains Marella Levoni, «which is why we need to encourage them to choose high quality products». Mention must also be made of the work supporting points of sales, together with, in recent times, promoting the concept of sustainability. From the “Good Ones” to the “Eco-friendly Good Ones” it is just a short step: some of the most important products that delicatessens use– from the paper to wrap sliced meats to shopping bags and biros – are produced with a nod to-wards responsible consumption: recycled or sustainable materials (e.g. from FSC forests), black and white printing and water-based inks.


Levoni in the kitchen with the great chefs

TRADITION AND TASTE

When the quality is as high as Levoni’s, good flavours proudly find their way onto tables around the world, perhaps prepared by some of the most creative Michelin-starred chefs

hundred years of his-tory handed down

through four generations: a ball of thread consisting of tastes, flavours and textures that unwinds over

time, binding father to son, tying quality and guarantees in an ever tighter knot. This is how Levoni has grown from its humble beginnings to become an international business,

through the passage of changing times, changing faces and improve-ments in terms of texture and flavour. Throughout all this what remains, and has never been lost sight of, is

AFEDERICA GIOVANNINI


L E V O N I


za mai perdersi lungo il cammino, è l’amore per il gusto e per il buon mangiare, quello stesso orgoglio che il Paese tiene alto da sempre e che i salumi Levoni hanno accompa-gnato sulle tavole degli italiani.

Non stupisce come proprio in occasioni di ritrovi in famiglia, viag-gi di piacere e degustazioni si siano venute a ricamare quelle trame che hanno permesso all’eccellenza Le-voni di tessere una rete di contatti che oggi si estende fino agli antipodi d’Italia. Un viaggio che ha condotto chef ed estimatori dei salumi “quelli buoni” in Australia, nella giovane ed evoluta Sidney, in locali quali il Ven-tuno, in cui lo chef Roberto Taffuri confeziona sformati di riso freddo in cartoccio di Prosciutto di San Danie-le, o nella pluripremiata Trattoria Si-gnorelli, che della gastronomia ha letteralmente fatto «uno studio della relazione tra cultura e cibo».

Si tratta di grandi estimatori del-la cucina nostrana che hanno porta-to la buona tavola lontano, nei menu e nel design di ristoranti ed enote-che che emergono, per la loro italia-nità nei sapori e nell’atmosfera, tra i colori e le architetture locali. A “pochi passi” dal teatro dell’Opera, risalendo verso l’Equatore, si var-cano i confini asiatici, dove la pre-dilezione per riso e spezie è ormai affiancata dagli accordi pieni e de-

licati della Mortadella Bologna con Pistacchio e dalla morbidezza del Cotto Corona: è il caso dei risto-ranti aperti a Singapore e dei nomi che li rappresentano, inequivocabil-mente italiani, come Osvaldo Forli-no, chef stellato Michelin e proprie-tario del recentissimo ristorante No Menu, che da gennaio ad oggi ha or-mai visto la prenotazione diventare un must per poter assaggiare le raf-finatezze d’importazione, e Valenti-no Valtulina, nel cui omonimo locale

una selezione di salumi Levoni va ad insaporire la lunga lista di antipasti e pizze che la casa propone.

Srotolando il gomitolo che lega la tradizione castellucchiese a ormai più di cinquanta paesi al mondo, il filo conduttore del sapore conduce presto ad Hong Kong, dove i salumi Levoni arrivano da più di dieci anni, insaporendo le tavole di alcuni tra i più lussuosi ristoranti locali, quali il panoramico Isola, in cui è nata l’ami-cizia con Gianni Caprioli, travel chef

TESTIMONIAL Gennaro Contaldo del ristorante “Passione”. In alto: Jamie Olivier con Nicola Levoni

NOUVELLE CUISINE

Paul Bocuse, uno dei più grandi chef

d’Oltralpe è un grande

fan della mortadella

Levoni

SUPPORTERSGennaro Contaldo from the restaurant “Passione”. Above: Jamie Oliver with Nicola Levoni

a passion for flavour and eating well, a truly Italian source of pride since time immemorial – the same passion that Levoni has brought to the tables of the Italian people.

It’s no surprise that when families get together or people go on trips or participate in food and wine tastings, the ball of thread that represents Levoni quality has woven a web of contacts that stretches as far as the antipodes of Italy. The same journey leads chefs and connoisseurs to hunt for good cured meats in Australia, in lively, modern Sydney, in restau-rants like Ventuno, where chef Ro-berto Taffuri makes cold rice cakes wrapped in San Daniele Ham, or the multi award-winning Trattoria Signo-relli, where cuisine has literally been turned into a “study of the relation-ship between culture and food”.

These are great connoisseurs of Italian cuisine who have taken the art of eating well to far-off shores, and applied it to their menus and the design of their restaurants and wine bars, which stand out from the local colours and architecture for their purely Italian flavours and moods. Heading back towards the equator, just a short hop from the Opera House, we arrive in Asia, where a taste for rice and spices is now joined by a taste for the perfect complement in the full and delicate

shape of Bologna Mortadella with Pistachio and soft Corona cooked ham, such as in restaurants opened in Singapore by recognisably Ital-ian names like Osvaldo Forlino, the Michelin-starred chef and owner of the recently opened restaurant No Menu, where since January book-ing has become essential to sample true Italian sophistication, and Val-entino Valtulina, whose restaurant of the same name proposes a selection of Levoni meats to complement the

large menu of antipasti and pizzas. Unravelling the thread that ties

the Castellucchio tradition to more than fifty countries around the world, we arrive in Hong Kong, where Le-voni cured meats appeared on the tables of the most sophisticated lo-cal restaurants more than ten years ago, such as at the panoramic Isola, where the friendship with Gianni Caprioli began, travel chef to person-alities such as Gianni Agnelli, Execu-tive Chef and consultant in the field

NOUVELLE CUISINE

Paul Bocuse, one of

France’s greatest chefs

is a big fan of Levoni

mortadella



di personalità come Gianni Agnel-li, Executive Chef e consulente nel campo della ristorazione.

Spicca, inoltre, nel panorama asiatico, Michele Gulizzi, palermita-no d’origine, già chef al Buco Restau-rant, al Sette Moma e al Giovanni’s Atrium di New York, ora approdato all’Opera Restaurant del Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel, imponente cinque stelle vietnamita che reinterpreta, nelle sue cucine, il gusto locale per il Prosciutto di Parma e per i salami

norama orientale i salumi Levoni li serve e interpreta al ristorante Ron-da Locatelli, nell’imperiale Atlantis The Palm di Dubai.

Nomi importanti, di fama mon-diale, molti dei quali emigrati per portare all’estero quel pizzico di ita-lianità che in pochi anni si è trasfor-mato nella colonna portante del-le strutture per cui hanno lavorato, cuochi per passione e viaggiatori per mestiere, o viceversa.

Caso esemplare quello di Leo-

SALUMI DA CHEFGiorgio Locatelli del “Ronda Locatelli” ristorante dell’hotel “Atlantis The Palm” di Dubai, con Nicola Levoni. Nella pagina successiva con lo chef Norbert Kostner

Levoni, dal classico Milano alla pic-cante Salciccia Napoli Forte, accom-pagnandoli con raffinati vini toscani, umbri e naturalmente siciliani.

E ancora non mancano di stupi-re l’indiano Hemant Oberoi, cuoco personale di reali e capi di stato lo-cali, nonché Executive Grand Chef del Taj Mahal Palace & Towers a Bombay, per il quale ha selezionato personalmente i prodotti da impor-tare, o il più nostrano Giorgio Loca-telli, varesino di nascita, che nel pa-

MAIALE DI CINTA…Non soltanto gli chef, ma anche gli altri allevatori riconoscono la grandezza e l’attenzione che la famiglia Levoni mette nella produzione dei suoi salumi. Paolo Parisi, per esempio, l’artefice del recupero e del salvataggio del maiale di Cinta Senese, non macella i propri suini nei laboratori pseudo-artigianali di cui la Toscana è rifornitissima, ma, a questi, preferisce il macello di Mantova e gli stabilimenti

della storica Levoni. Qui, nonostante l’industrializzazione e le dimensioni raggiunte dalla produzione, c’è ancora chi ama a tal punto questo mestiere da bloccare il macello di migliaia di maiali al giorno, per macellare i 200 maiali di Parisi. I salumi prodotti da Paolo Parisi stagionano, inoltre, a Mantova in vecchie celle di stagionatura cariche di storia.


DA SIENA A CASTELLUCCHIO Paolo Parisi, che ha scelto di continuare la tradizione dell’allevamento del Maiale di Cinta Senese

nardo Concezzi, che dalle campagne umbre ha varcato le soglie di ogni continente, portando di paese in pa-ese lo stile italiano da Miami a Mel-bourne, da Dubai a Damasco, fino ad approdare come direttore dei lavori al St.Regis di Bangkok, perla dell’ho-tellerie in Thailandia, dove pure non mancano di arrivare i prodotti Levo-ni, nelle fattispecie, tra le altre, della Mortadella, del Prosciutto di Parma e del Salame Verona.

In fondo, anche il mondo della

ristorazione è fatto di percorsi, iti-nerari, talvolta vere e proprie coin-cidenze: basta un pranzo con un amico, un suggerimento, un passa-parola, ed ecco che in batter d’oc-chio Sirio Maccioni, ristoratore e pilastro storico dell’esclusivo risto-rante Le Cirque di New York, ritro-vo dell’intero jet set americano, si appassiona ai salumi della pianura Padana e decide di farne piatto for-te delle proprie proposte gastrono-miche, fino a instaurare con Levoni un vero e proprio rapporto di amici-zia grazie al tramite di Miriam Leo-nardi, padrona di casa alla Trattoria La Buca di Zibello.

Dalla Grande Mela al Vecchio Continente, per tirare le fila di un te-laio che ricopre gran parte del pla-nisfero, la fibra del sapore condu-ce presto alla cucina d’oltremanica, in una tradizione che dall’amalfita-no Gennaro Contaldo, titolare del ri-storante Passione di Londra ed uno tra i più rinomati chef della capita-le, si estende alle interpretazioni cu-linarie di Jamie Oliver, cresciuto tra i fornelli del pub di famiglia, fede-le seguace dei suoi maestri italiani e presto proprietario dei numerosi Jamie’s Italian, dove la ricercatezza della qualità si sposa con la Schiac-ciata piccante e la Finocchiona Levo-ni, serviti di rito con il più noto Pro-sciutto di San Daniele.

Non ultime, nel panorama euro-peo, Germania e Francia vedono ec-cellere le prelibatezze di Cornelia Poletto, che sostiene con orgoglio la creatività femminile in cucina, e le idee di Paul Bocuse, che dell’inno-vazione ha fatto uno stile, dando ori-gine alla Nouvelle Cuisine: la ricer-ca della materia prima direttamente al banco del mercato, finalizzata a riscoprire il gusto nella sua essen-zialità, ha contagiato proprio quegli

adepti come Jamie Oliver, che del nuovo stile ha fatto un programma televisivo, The Naked Chef, a tutela della cucina senza fronzoli.

Allo chef francese la stessa Le-voni è legata da un curioso aneddo-to: pare infatti che proprio Bocuse, che dei più grandi al mondo è sta-to il maestro, abbia ricevuto in rega-lo una mortadella Levoni da Antonio e Nadia Santini, titolari del rinoma-to ristorante Dal Pescatore e che in occasione di una trasmissione per la Tv francese La Cinq l’avesse “sfog-giata”, affettata e assaggiata insieme ai suoi commensali, diffondendone l’immagine e la bontà.

E le storie continuano ad intrec-ciarsi in amicizie, incontri e convi-vi rientrando sulla strada di casa, in Alto Adige, lì dove l’Ungherese vie-ne chiamato “il Levoni”, tanto è ra-dicata la fedeltà alla famiglia, che spesso vi soggiorna, all’azienda e ai suoi prodotti, e patria di Norbert Ko-stner, presto divenuto uno tra i più importanti chef in Thailandia.

Vagabondando per paesi, i più svariati, dalle culture gastronomiche differenziate, talvolta contrastanti, è impossibile non trovare un tocco di italianità e altrettanto facile scorgere nel parterre gastronomico dei miglio-ri ristoranti ed alberghi del mondo la proposta Levoni che maggiormente aggrada le esigenze locali. Dal clas-sico al piccante, dal delicato allo spe-ziato, il gomitolo si è avvolto in un ventaglio di sempre nuove idee che ri-portano là, alla fonte, alla radice.

A Castellucchio, dove il nodo si stringe nella legatura di spago di un salume, spingendosi oltreocea-no fino a destinazione e scioglien-dosi di ritorno, lì ricomincia il viag-gio di un nuovo sapore, pronto per un’altra spedizione, un nuovo assag-gio.
























CURED MEATS FIT FOR A CHEFGiorgio Locatelli from the “Ronda Locatelli” restaurant in the Atlantis The Palm hotel in Dubai, with Nicola Levoni. On the following page with the chef Norbert Kostner

of restaurants. Another name of note in the set-

ting of Asia is Michele Gulizzi, origi-nally from Palermo, formerly chef at the Buco Restaurant, Sette Moma and Giovanni’s Atrium in New York, who now works at the Opera Restau-rant of the Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel, an impressive five star Vietnamese hotel, where thanks to his kitchens, the locals have developed a taste for Parma ham and Levoni salamis, from the classic Milano to the hot Strong

Napoli Sausage, accompanied by so-phisticated Tuscan, Umbrian, and of course Sicilian, wines.

And mention must be made too of Indian Hemant Oberoi, personal chef to local royals and heads of state, as well as Executive Grand Chef of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tow-ers in Mumbai, for which he per-sonally selected the products to be imported, or the more Italian sound-ing famous Giorgio Locatelli, from Varese by birth, who in the Asian

world serves and interprets Levoni cured meats at his restaurant Ronda Locatelli, in the imperial Atlantis The Palm Hotel in Dubai.

Important, internationally fa-mous names, many of whom are emigrants bringing a touch of Italy with them that in just a few years has become a cornerstone of the places where they have worked - cooks who love to travel, or travel-lers who love to cook.

A case in point is Leonardo Con-

CINTA SENESE PIGBut it’s not just chefs that appreciate the care and attention that the Levoni family puts into its cured meat production – other farmers do too. Paolo Parisi, for example, famous for bringing back and saving the Cinta Senese pig, doesn’t slaughter his pigs in the faux craft laboratories that populate Tuscany, but in Mantua at the historic Levoni plants.Here, in spite of industrialisation and the high production levels, there are

still those who love this job so much that they would much rather have 200 of Paolo Parisi’s pigs than a thousand of any other pig. The meats produced by Paolo Parisi are also cured in Mantua in old curing rooms that are laden with history.
















































FROM SIENA TO CASTELLUCCHIOPaolo Parisi, who has chosen to continue the tradition of rearing the Cinta Senese pig

cezzi, who from the Umbrian coun-tryside has touched down on every continent, bringing with him Italian style from country to country, from Miami to Melbourne, from Dubai to Damascus, right up to becoming works director of the St. Regis in Bangkok, a gem in Thailand’s ho-tel crown, where of course, Levoni products are to be found, more pre-cisely, among others, Mortadella, Parma Ham and Verona Salami.

The world of restaurants too is

made up of routes, itineraries and sometimes genuine coincidences: just out to lunch with a friend, a passing comment or word of mouth and before you know it you find Sirio Maccioni, restaurateur and historic pillar of the exclusive Le Cirque restaurant in New York, a haunt of the entire American jet set, who is passionate about cured meats from the Po valley, and de-cides to make it the centre piece of his own dishes, and in time becom-ing a friend of Levoni’s thanks to the go-between Miriam Leonardi, owner of the Trattoria La Buca in Zibello.

From the Big Apple to the Old Continent, back to the thread of the tapestry that covers a large part of the world, including across the English Channel to the kitchen of the Amalfi born Gennaro Contaldo, owner of the restaurant Passione in London and one of the capital’s best known chefs, as well as the culinary interpretations of Jamie Oliver, who grew up around the family’s pub oven, a faithful follower of our Ital-ian maestros, and owner of the nu-merous Jamie’s Italian restaurants where sophisticated quality is en-hanced by hot Schiacciata and Le-voni Finocchiona, besides of course the better known San Daniele ham.

Last but not least in the Europe-an scenario, Germany and France with the delicacies of Cornelia Poletto, who proudly defends the creativity of women in the kitchen, and the ideas of Paul Bocuse, who has made a style out of innovation, by creating Nouvelle Cuisine: the search for raw materials straight from the market stalls to rediscover the essence of flavours has inspired chefs like Jamie Oliver, who turned this new style into a television pro-

gramme, The Naked Chef, show-ing people how to cook simply.

Levoni is linked to the French chef via a curious anecdote: it would appear that Bocuse, who has been maestro to the greatest chefs in the world, received Levoni mortadella as a gift from Antonio and Nadia Santini, owners of the famous res-taurant Dal Pescatore and that on a French TV programme on La Cinq showed it off, sliced it and tasted it with his dining companions, help-ing to spread the Levoni image and quality associated with it.

And the stories continue to intertwine with friendships, meet-ings and dinners, on the homeward bound journey, in Alto Adige where the Hungarian salami is simply called “the Levoni”, a sign of the area’s strong connection with the family, who often stays there, and with the company and its products, and the birthplace of Norbert Kost-ner, now one of the most important chefs in all Thailand.

Travelling through the most varied countries, with different, sometimes contrasting, culinary traditions, you will always find a touch of Italy and it is just as like-ly you will find the Levoni product that best complements local de-mands somewhere in the best res-taurants and hotels all around the world. From classic to hot, deli-cate to aromatic and spicy, the ball of thread winds its way round new ideas that hark back to the source and the root. At Castellucchio, where the knot is tied in the thread around cured meat, ready to travel across the ocean to its destination, unravelling on its return to begin a new journey, ready for another con-signment that someone else will be lucky enough to taste.

A match made in heaven

WINE & CURED MEATS

Forever loved, forever fashionable. Here are a few suggestions, both as tradition dictates and traditions just waiting to be discovered

A

salami without wine is like a dance without music. Younger ge-nerations might claim there’s no-thing to beat a good Coca Cola, and teetotallers will obviously not agree in principle, but one thing no one can deny is the absolute gastronomic delight that a good prosciutto or cu-red salami can bring when accompa-nied by a glass of wine.

SWEET...In the array of flavours available,

with such a profusion of variables and nuances, there’s one essential thing they all have in common: the sweet-ness that comes from the fat�

This is what makes it so important to pick a wine with just the right alcohol content to complement the sweetness of the fat to perfection.

If the salami is predominantly sweet with no particularly savoury edge - like cooked products such as cotechino and zampone - regional tradition dictates that the best wine to choose is a young red with a strong carbon dioxide con-tent that helps to clean the mouth, such as a Barbera del Monferrato, Bon-arda dell’Oltrepò, Cesanese del Piglio, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, or Fortana.

�

...AND SPICYThe opposite is true for spicy sala-

mis and cured pork meats – such as the typical Calabrian varieties, sausages from the south of Italy, or pepper-coated salamis – where the wine should not be overly acidic or astringent. A good com-panion for such meats would be a Salen-tino rosé, soft and alcoholic like an Ale-zio or Squinzano or even a Cirò Rosato or wine from Proven-ce, such as Bandol rosé. When it comes to salt-cured meats, the choice of wine is anything but irrele-vant, for prosciutto ham in particular. Salt and wine do not sit per-fectly together, as the one brings out the disa-greeable and metal flavours in the other, ultimately upset-ting the overall balance. Big reds and aromatic or fruity whites of fair-ly high acidity are to be avoided. The best idea is to opt for a delicate red from the Alto Adige region (Lago di Caldaro, Schiava and Santa Madd-alena) which excels when sipped with some speck ham, or a Lagrein Rosato, both of which are also ideal with Parma or San Daniele ham.

Light reds with no jaggy tannins or acidity make a good alternative, such as a Morellino di

Scansano or Rosato di Bolgheri.

LIKE WITH LIKE, BUT NOT ALWAYSIt has to be said that certain cured

meats have such strong links with their land of origin that the pairings have be-

come almost set in stone, although there’s al-ways room for manoeu-vre: Bresaola is often served with a Valtel-lina Rosso although

MAURIZIO BERTERA


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read and salami. Together they make such a quick and tasty pairing that it has become a metaphor for all that is simple, genuine and honest. Bread and cured pork meat may not have the same ring to it, but the substance is the same and, without wishing to get too fana-tical about it, it’s wor-thwhile trying to find the right combination, just as we did with wine. The reason for this is that, when good can be made excellent by choosing the right bread, bearing in mind the cost obviously, a clever gourmet can be an even happier one. The first rule of the game is to pick a bre-ad from the same area as the cured meat because with the passing of the centuries, tradition has gradual-ly moulded local flavours to make them fit perfectly with one another. It’s also worth spending some time considering the intrinsic features of the product, perhaps loosening its ties to the local area in order to tap into previously unleashed potential. There are some hard and fast rules though: a Milan salami should be eaten with a michetta (white bread roll which also originated in Milan, for the record) whilst a Po’ Salami tastes better with a slice of ciabatta (a broad, flattish white bread), and a Felino on what they call francesi-no (baguette) in the north of Italy. Parma and San Daniele hams, both of which are super sweet (if you leave the rind on that is) should ideally be served with a delicately flavoured firm white bread, such as cop-pia ferrarese for example, which is also perfect with culatello. The thin Italian flatbread called piadina is a superlative choice for cured Parma ham, which also makes a tasty filling for Crescentina, known locally in Cremona as torta fritta (fried bread cakes). In Piedmont, the locals swear by Turin-made grissini (bread-sticks) for this pairing, and you have to admit, the experience is definitely a pleasurable one...

The important thing is that the bread should never alter the flavour of the prosciutto. In fact, try to get hold of some traditionally unsalted Tuscan-style bread for the more spicy meats («sciocco» (silly) the lo-cals call it) as it will take the kick off the sausage. Toasted, this kind of bread sets off Finocchiona fennel salami to perfection, although the latter also works surprisingly well with harder, dried pan biscotto. Cured meats from southern Italy, especially the spicy chilli pepper ones from Calabria, work well with the big breads from the South, such as Mangone, Cerchiara or the famous Altamura which is also magnificent with capocollo and Abruzzo salami. In keeping with the “like with like” idea, Sicily’s Paisanella salami should be served with traditional crusty white sesame seed bread. If you’re eating speck or any smoked pork meat, you will inevitably be served black bread with cumin and poppy seeds: give it a try, but make sure it’s well-fired. In the Valtelline valley, they also serve dark brown bread with bresaola: we recommend adding some butter as this meat has no fat. Another suggestion: try putting wholemeal bread with pancetta instead of sticking to the classic white rosette roll. Here’s another handy hint when you want to try some le-gendary salty and herby Lardo di Castellucchio ai sapori: brown bread crostini toasts are ideal although not to be overlooked is some simple sliced and toasted white pan carré, coated with a thin layer of acacia honey. Last but not least, if you can’t resist a bit of cooked ham or mortadella, we recommend a Milanese michetta white bread roll or a French baguette which, national pride aside, we have to admit is much more versatile that the majority of Italian breads. Bon appétit.

THE RIGHT BREAD...A TRUE COMPANION

it can just as easily be savoured with a Garda Bresciano Chiaretto or Val-calepio Rosso, which are all decidedly more delicate. A Chianti Classico goes down well with Tuscan gastronomy. The same goes for Culatello, which the locals pair with a Colli di Parma Malvasia Secco although a very “pure” experien-ce can also be had with a Trentino Mül-ler-Thurgau. Two typical delicacies from Piacenza’s traditional range of cured wild boar and pork meats, Coppa and Pan-cetta, are exquisite not just with wines from the local hills (Bonarda and Pinot Nero respectively) but also with a Mon-tepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo.

For cured meats with a more delica-te flavour, such as the Levonetto Curvo or Umbrian Corallina salami, the ultima-te pairing would be with a Collio Sauvi-gnon, Alto Adige Gewurztraminer or Alsace Grand Cru Riesling.

FINE WITH FIZZThe experts among you will have

noticed the lack of bubbles in our selec-tions: this kind of wine pairs well with al-most every type of cured meat as it will “clean” the mouth without detracting from the flavour of the food. Try popping a mortadella cube in your mouth while sipping Franciacorta and you’ll discov-er just how surprising a combination it is, even better than the classic combina-tion with Lambrusco di Sorbara.


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hen we decided to collect anecdotes, pictures and facts about our first 100 years and put them together in a book, we had no idea what a moving experience it

would be. Before this, we Levonis had never had anything to do with archives, we had never stop-ped to take a look back: we only ever looked forward, with our sleeves rolled up and with the hard-working, positive-thinking approach that is typical of these parts.

Our generation, the fourth at the helm of the company and the one called upon to steer Levoni into its second century, is both a promise of renewal and an assurance of continuity. This is because it will always depend on a meticulous production process, stringent controls, the protection of time-honoured traditions, our friendly, personal and sincere relations, and the genuine spirit of coopera-tion that we all have: put these together and you get the winning formula that has been our driving force for 100 years!

What new things will we be doing? We will be investing more time in activities that promote tra-ditional, time-honoured professions that still have a great future ahead of them, like pork butchers for instance; we will further expand our exports and try to reach the few countries that we haven’t progressed into yet; we will strengthen our relations with high-end delicatessens both in Italy and abroad; and we will continue to make environmental awareness a priority. All of this, without ever losing sight of our original goal, as defined by granddad Ezechiello and as relevant as ever: never compromise on quality.

See you at the bicentenary!

SEE YOU AT THE BICENTENARY!

LEVONI’S PRIDE

WCHAIRMANNicola Levoni has been chairman of the Levoni Board

since 2008


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