Sopressa, porchetta and luganega are the three cured meats that more than any other tell the story of the Treviso area: sopressa is a soft, long-cured sausage, Treviso porchetta is actually a whole roasted pork leg (not the Lazio-style roll), and luganega is the fresh grilling sausage that has accompanied polenta and risottos for generations. Knowing about them before sitting down to a board helps you understand what you are really tasting — and why in this province cured meats are not just a side dish, but a chapter in their own right of peasant cuisine.
The sopressa is perhaps the most defining cured meat of the area: a soft sausage, made from coarsely minced fatty and lean pork, which matures for months before it is ready. The first documented traces of this processing date back to the nineteenth century, when the sausages were hung in kitchens above a brazier specially lit to dry the fresh product — a domestic smoking technique that has endured through the centuries. The menu of the first edition of the Treviso Cuisine Festival in 1959 already listed “Sopressa Trevisana” on the card: a sign of how much it was a defining dish even back then, and not a recent rediscovery.
There is also a more sophisticated variant, the sopressa investida, with an entire pork fillet inserted in the centre of the mixture — to be sought out in local artisan cured meat shops, not in major supermarkets.
Unlike the porchetta from Lazio or Umbria, which is rolled and boned, the porchetta from Treviso is a whole-roasted one-year-old pig's thigh with its crispy skin. The recipe as we know it today was created in 1919, when Ermete Beltrame baptised it in his beer hall beneath the Palazzo dei Trecento in Treviso: from there, its success grew rapidly throughout the region. In the post-war period, porchetta, sopressa, bread and local wine became the triumvirate that characterised the offering of osterie and frasche throughout the Marca — the same convivial spirit that can still be breathed today in the village eateries near Miane.
Trevigiana luganega is the classic fresh sausage for grilling, but there is also a lesser-known variant outside the region: luganega da riso, designed specifically to be crumbled into a risotto rather than grilled whole — a typical use in peasant kitchens, where nothing was wasted and every cut had a precise purpose.
The Dish: Hand-cut Treviso sopressa, served with fresh bread.
The Pairing: Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut. The Brut dosage (0-12 g/l) has the acidity and structure needed to cleanse the palate of the fatty component of the cured meat, without the residual sweetness that would mask the spicy notes of the ageing process: it is the classic pairing for a village fair, just as much as for an elegant charcuterie board.
The Dish: Freshly sliced Treviso-style porchetta, crispy skin and juicy meat.
The Pairing: Prosecco Superiore DOCG Extra Brut. The near-zero dosage (0-6 g/l) provides a sharp acidity that cuts through the bite of roast pork with every sip, while the fine perlage cleanses the palate of the greasier component of the roasted skin — a sharp contrast that enhances the savoury flavour of the meat without weighing it down.
The Dish: Grilled Treviso luganega sausage, served with polenta.
The Pairing: Verdiso. Fresh, easy-drinking native white wine, with a lively acidity that accompanies without overpowering the rustic character of the grilled sausage: its aromatic simplicity makes way for the smoky flavour of the grill, exactly in keeping with the peasant tradition of those who have always produced it in the same area.
At La Corte di Marga, the board of local cold cuts and cheeses (served with bread) is available as an on-request service, perfect for a pre-dinner aperitif on the terrace or to accompany a glass of Wine Shop inside the structure. It is the same convivial spirit described in the story of the our swimming pool and the self-service barbecuesa board of local cured meats, a glass of Prosecco, and the evening is sorted.
For those wanting to go beyond the aperitif, many artisanal cured-meat producers in the area (Valdobbiadene, Vittorio Veneto, the foothills) sell locally made sopressa and porchetta directly — a great souvenir idea to take back home, much more authentic than any supermarket charcuterie.
Yes, substantially so: the Treviso version is a whole one-year-old pig's thigh roasted with the skin on, not a roll of boneless meat as in the Lazio/Umbria tradition. The recipe originated in 1919 in Treviso.
It is a variation of the classic Treviso sopressa with a whole pork fillet inserted in the centre of the mixture: a more refined preparation, typical of artisan cured meat producers.
Yes, the cold cuts/cheese/bread board is an on-request service (€15/person) — perfect paired with a glass of wine from our Wine Shop, perhaps by the pool or on the terrace.
Book your stay a The Court of Marga and order the board of local cured meats for your aperitif on the terrace.