Ristorante Vespasia

Norcia, Italy

Fine dining inside Palazzo Seneca, a 16th-century palace in Norcia's old town. Chef takes Umbrian ingredients and refines them without losing their origin. Mazzafegato appears as a starter, deconstructed with a smear of liver mousse, candied orange, and toasted pine nuts on house-made bread. Castelluccio lentils and black truffle round out the Umbrian menu. Vaulted stone ceilings. A serious wine cellar focused on Sagrantino and Montefalco Rosso.

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Sausages served here

Mazzafegato

Marche & Umbria, Italy

Mazzafegato is central Italy's pork liver sausage, born from the winter pig slaughter in the Marche and Umbria regions. The name comes from 'ammazzare il fegato' (to kill the liver), a blunt label for a blunt sausage. Two versions exist: dolce, with orange zest, pine nuts, and raisins; and piccante, spiked with chili. The sweet version is an oddity in Italian charcuterie, a technique traceable to ancient Roman preservation methods. This is a salume povero, a poor man's sausage that turns liver and scraps into something worth seeking out.

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