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These mosaics depict practices relating to the slaughtering of pigs in December. We have to wait until the fourteenth century to find evidence of the trading of preserved meats in the province of Piacenza, which comes in the form of historical city statutes. These documents show that the sale of preserved meat was solely reserved for members of the guild of cheese makers. The increase in the consumption of processed pork meat subsequently lead to the formation of a specific category of sellers: the “lardaroli”.
They soon joined the guild of cheese makers, creating the “Paratico dei formaggiai e lardaroli” (Association of cheese makers and lardaroli), later shortened to that of the “Shopkeepers”. At the end of the eighteenth century, one hundred and eighty six people were enrolled.
The pork meats processed in this province were highly regarded by shopkeepers in Milan and Lombardy, who used to differentiate them by calling them “roba de Piasenza” (things from Piacenza).
Skill in slaughtering and processing meat gradually became a respected trade in Piacenza, carried out by expert butchers, known as “massalein” in the local dialect.
In the winter months, these men would come down from the mountain areas and go to the homes of their clients to slaughter the pigs and process the meat. It was in the early decades of the eighteenth century that the reputation of their cold meats reached the courts of France and Spain, thanks to a talented diplomat from Piacenza, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, who used cured meats and cheese produced in Piacenza to win the favour of influential people, and succeeded in earning himself the post of prime minister to the Spanish Court.
In the letters exchanged between Alberoni and the new sovereign of Spain, Elisabeth Farnese, the queen was in the habit of asking him for supplies of Piacenza cold meats, a particular favourite of hers. Finally, in the early twentieth century, the local processing of salted meats and sausages began to grow and take on semi-industrial connotations, which continued to increase over the years until finally becoming the industry it is today, represented by numerous companies located throughout the region.