🐖 Forgotten Cured Meats: The Susianella of Viterbo

Offal, memory, and wild fennel in a flavor that doesn’t ask for forgiveness

Not all cured meats are meant to please everyone.Some exist to tell a harsher, more rural story, born of survival, creativity, and ancient wisdom.The Susianella, a traditional sausage from Viterbo with medieval roots, is one of the boldest examples.Obscure to most, fiercely loved by those who try it, today it is recognized as a Slow Food Presidia, safeguarding an identity on the edge of disappearance.

🥩 What is Susianella?

Susianella is a cured sausage made with pork offal (heart, liver, spleen, and other "less noble" parts), blended with meat, salt, pepper, wild fennel, and a touch of chili pepper.It’s stuffed in natural casing and left to dry slowly, in ventilated but protected spaces. The result is a salume with a strong, intense aroma, aromatic, slightly spicy, and with a distinct mineral aftertaste, evoking blood and earth.

It’s a divisive product, but full of character.For those who seek authenticity, it's a revelation.

🧄 A tradition rooted in time

Already mentioned in documents from the 15th century, Susianella was once the butcher’s salume, made with what couldn’t be sold and eaten in-house with bread, red wine, and ancestral knowledge.

It represents a cuisine of necessity, but also of intelligence—turning every part of the animal into nourishment.

Today, as chefs and food lovers rediscover non-industrial, local identity products, Susianella has begun a new life, gaining a niche among gourmets and traditionalists alike.

🛒 Where to find it

Because it’s a limited production, you won’t find Susianella in supermarkets.You’ll need a bit of curiosity and a taste for the authentic.

📍 In and around Viterbo:

• Look for artisan butchers and charcuterie shops that process local meat and handle their own curing

• A reliable source is the Zootecnica Viterbese cooperative (Via Mantova), which supports and promotes local quality meat products, including rare specialties

📦 At food events and festivals:

• During farmers’ markets, Slow Food fairs, and traditional Tuscia festivals, you may find Susianella available for tasting or for direct sale from small producers

🍷 How to enjoy it

• Raw, sliced thin, with a bold local red wine (like Cesanese, dry Aleatico, or a good Vignanello DOC)

• Grilled, served with rustic bread and sautéed wild greens

• Or as a flavorful base in soups and traditional sauces, lending depth and richness

🕯️ A taste you’ll never forget

Susianella doesn’t try to be universally liked.It’s a flavor that stings, seduces, divides, and conquers.It’s a story to be tasted, a memory preserved in salt, released with every slice.

Those who taste it, don’t forget it.Those who seek it, rediscover a true piece of authentic Tuscia.