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“Stiaccini” is a last name that is an institution in the Castellina in Chianti food sector.

From the family tree of Giovanni and Giuseppe Stiaccini, the lineage of their butcher shop as well as their restaurant, the Antica Trattoria La Torre, can be traced from the 1930s.

The Stiaccini Butcher shop, run today by Riccardo (grandson of Giovanni and son of Francesco) with the help of Mama Silvana and Martina, celebrated its 80th birthday from a food counter that is imprinted on the memory of Castellina residence and the many tourists who have passed through.

Nonno Giovanni began the activity in via Ferruccio in a Castellina which was still mostly farmland and considered periphery as compared to the main centers of provincial and regional development.

The photographic archive of the shop demonstrates a fascinating historic testimony which tell the story. For example, there is the blessing of the oxen in front of the church of San Salvadore, which was part of the Easter ritual in the 1950s and 60s: there are the photographs of the “hanging” calves, then like today; they show changes in the butcher shop and the work instruments that illustrate the passage of time.

These are images that illustrate a world where there was a rapport of faith between the seller and the buyer on one side and the genuineness of the food products on the other.

It was a common everyday practice that the Stiaccini shop was able to maintain over the years, even through changes in social conditions and eating habits.

The quality and freshness of their meats, the traceability of zero kilometer breeding, and the processes of butchering and transformation are solid practices of management that were passed on from generation to generation.

The winning ticket has been the ability to conjugate tradition, experience and continuity of the family run business together with the capacity to keep the business up to date, without losing sight of its own identity.

Next to the butcher shop, a delicatessen section dedicated to coldcuts and sausages (theirs, in the classic or black truffle version, are legendary) and the preparation of sandwiches, answers the demands ot the constant tourist flux that passes through Castellina.

A complementary and parallel activity has been active since 2014: “Di cotte e di crude”…a rich assortment of food to take out or eat in, cooked to order: from the classic Florentine steak, to lampredotto and tripe; fried chicken and rabbit; fegatelli, stew and peposo, raw meat, boiled beef…to mention a few.

These are specialties which are not often cooked at home. Riccardo offers them, “convinced of the value of the quality of food, the right of everybody to eat healthy and well and the strong motivation to hold on to tradition and culture, tied to food”.

This is certainly an innovative proposal in the best Tuscan tradition. It is tied to “ciccia” (meat), of course, but able to satisfy the most particular food tastes.

Riccardo works with careful attention to detail. You can find this in the choice of furnishings as well: paintings, prints and other objects, all rigorously tied to animals and meat, worthy of a modern art gallery.

Among the photos is that of dad Francesco and uncle Tono, the maestros who created the path of a beautiful family story.

Cosimo Ciampoli

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