Culatello and Masalén Museum
The museum itinerary presents, one after the other, the protagonists of the Culatello story. The first is the territory: the environment, the poplar groves, the Po are the protagonists of a narrative that leads to the room focused on the figure of the pig, domesticated by man in ancient times, with insights into the black pig typical of Parma and its recovery, the symbolism and the image of a creature so linked to man that he was chosen to evoke the vices and virtues.
A space in the museum also offers an in-depth examination of the figure of Saint Anthony Abbot, hermit of the desert, always represented in the company of a piglet. The next room is dedicated to the history of the Spigaroli family, originally sharecroppers of Giuseppe Verdi, who were able to move along the banks of the Po and then reinvent themselves as restaurateurs: it is in this section that we begin to talk about the Masalén, the butchers who handed down the art of correct pig slaughtering.
A collection of objects related to the activity accompanies the return outside, before diving into a large underground space that introduces us to the secret world of Culatello. In the room there are themes such as the characteristics of pork, salt, pepper and the main cold cuts of the Bassa Parmense.
We then move on to the history of Culatello, to the iconography and quotations of famous people, from Giuseppe Verdi to Gabriele D’Annunzio to Giovannino Guareschi and many others, with a precise account of the phases that lead from the pig’s thigh to a product also characterized by a precise tasting ritual. The route also allows you to observe the fascinating gallery of culatelli, which season in the damp and half-light, a museum of itself, before going back up to the room of the Hostaria del Maiale and Culatello, where the tasting closes the route dedicated to the King of Salumi.
