Villani

Villani is an Italian maker of cured meats from Castelnuovo Rangone, in the province of Modena. The legal entity is Villani S.p.A., which describes itself as a family business. Its cured range covers raw hams, speck, salami, bresaola, coppa and pancetta, along with culatello.

The company dates its start to 1886, when Costante Villani and Ernesta Cavazzuti bought a small building in the town centre and began seasoning cured meats. In the 1920s the second generation, Giuseppe Villani, installed an overhead rail for moving meat. In 2013 the company opened MuSa, a museum of cold cuts, at the historic seat in Castelnuovo Rangone. Later plants were set up in traditional places, among them San Daniele del Friuli and Pastorello di Langhirano.

By the names on its own pages, the range includes: Prosciutto di Parma and Prosciutto di San Daniele, the house ham Crudo Costante, Speck Alto Adige, salami including Salamini italiani alla cacciatora and Finocchiona, the craft line Antica Ardenga with Culatello di Zibello, Bresaola della Valtellina, Coppa Piacentina and pancetta. Mortadella and cooked ham are also made but they are cooked products.

Ham, salami, bresaola and coppa all come from one house here, and by its own account the company counts five generations of one family. That breadth, not a single signature product, defines Villani.

Pack forms are trays of sliced meat (the Classics line among them), whole hams with the bone or deboned, and salami in hand-tied natural casing. Shoppers meet the name Villani at delicatessens and well-stocked supermarket counters.