The Porchetta of Ariccia

When you think of Ariccia, you think of porchetta and viceversa.   In fact, that's exactly what crossed my mind when I thought of visiting the town.  Porchetta is the iconic traditional pork specialty of central Italy, especially the towns of Ariccia of the region of Lazio and Norcia of the Umbrian region.  It's a savoury roasted whole pork, deboned, and stuffed with an abundance of salt, aromatic herbs, garlic & pepper.  It can be eaten as a main dish or served in a panino or sandwich.  All over central Italy, you can find white food vans selling porchetta.  

I love porchetta when there are cracklings, some fat around the meat & a shameless amount of cholesterol in it.  I can't help it because try as I might, I can't eat the lean part.  It tastes too dry.  I eat it like a main dish, slightly warm & sometimes drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  Or I eat it in a panino.  Either way, it is divine.  

Ariccia is a nice, quiet town that's just about 30 kilometers from Rome.  It is located in the Alban Hills and is among the towns of Castelli Romani.  It had a strong significance to the Ancient Roman history particularly because of its ties with the goddess Diana.  The earliest findings prove that the city had existed in 8th to 9th century B.C.