Salumeria Taormina, Monreale, Italy

i love salumerias - in case you don’t know: some of them retail but some of them also produce salumi (italian meat products like sausages, cold cuts and other pork stuff). some salumerias also produce beef-based products, such as bresaola (a salted beef product) and purvey other food products such as pasta, cheese, preserved foods, anchovies, salt cod, wines, bread and cooked meats.
the salumerias date back to the middle ages and they selected products from local purveyors which worked in a guild system. purveyors for salumeria products included the salaroli, which controlled the salt industry, who salted the pork, which was then shipped to the lardaioli, a guild that sold the pork. the lardaioli also produced soap and candles from the pork lard they would receive. a funny fact is, that this guild system was eliminated by napoléon bonaparte around the time of the turn of the 19th century.
but whatever he did... i'm grateful that the salumerias still exist...Read more