A prestigious food brand from Emilia joined the Italian Historic Companies Association. It is Villani Salumi Spa, a company established in 1886 in Castelnuovo Rangone (MO). Born thanks to the passion and talent of Costante Villani and Ernesta Cavazzuti, the company soon began to show its export orientation and already in the 30 speakers reported the words “New York.”
It was one of eleven children of Constant, Joseph, who took on his father’s project with an innovative spirit. He came back fro a trip to the United States with a suitcase full of tools, and was the first to update the production process by introducing the curing carts, a technique later adopted by all the other cured meat factories.
Survived to the fifth family generation, Villani is the oldest “salumificio” of Emilia-Romagna and one of the oldest in Italy. It never let go of the artisan spirit that animated it since the beginning, and until now it has proved able to constantly revive its strong territorial roots.
Currently there are five manufacturing sites: one in Castelnuovo Rangone (MO), producing salami, cooked ham and Emilian specialties; one in Bentivoglio (BO), making mortadella; one in Castelfranco Emilia (MO), that produces coppa and bacon; one in San Daniele del Friuli (UD) and another one in Pastorello Langhirano (PR), producing the famous “prosciutto crudo” from San Daniele and Parma.
In the exhibition halls of MuSa – the Salumeria Villani Museum, the first permanent exhibition on cured meat products in Italy, the visitor is guided through a multi-sensorial and multimedia tour to discover the history, technology and passion that gave birth to a gastronomic heritage appreciated all over the world. The Salumeria Villani Museum was chosen by the MEF (Enzo Ferrari Museum) as a location for the “Discover Ferrari & Pavarotti’s Land”, a tourist route unveiling the excellences from Modena.
Villani Salumi 1886 is the second historic brand from the Emilia-Romagna to join the Union after the Giuseppe Giusti Balsamic Vinegar Grand Deposit 1605 (Modena). The Union can now boast of representing 46 centenarian brands belonging to 7 different Italian regions (Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily).
