Cinta Senese
A pig of a kind

The Cinta Senese is a special breed of pigs. With its robust build (110 – 180 kg) and its black and white coat, this pig doesn't resemble the European breed at all. The Cinta Senese is older than its North-European cousin. These pigs originate from the wooded areas in Montemaggio and Chianti and from there, they were spread out over the whole of Tuscany.

In the twelfth century, the Cinta Senese was domesticated. But these animals can not be kept in stables, or they will develop too much fat too fast and hold too much fluid in their tissue. It is very expensive for the breeder to let the pigs roam free. The temperamental animals are happiest living free in the woods or on the meadows. This is what gives them that typical strong taste of wild.

In the seventies and eighties of the previous century, this breed of pigs became extinct. Thanks to the work of a few farmers and the formation of the Associozione Senese Allevatori, the breed could survive. Today, more than 80 businesses in Tuscany breed these pigs. The re-establishing of a genetical book and the control of the DOP preserve the breed and by doing so, preserve a very important Tuscan product.

The Cinta Senese provides the costumer with typical Tuscan products like prosciutto, spalle, salami, capocollo, sopressata, goto of gotini en finocchiona.

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- This site was realised thanks to the co-operation between the town council and the inhabitants of Torrita di Siena and ten graduated students 2004 from the “Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen”, Belgium, department communication science, campus De Ham. - © Torrita di Siena