Lardo is a type of salume (Italian charcuterie) made by curing

Curing (food preservation)

Curing refers to various food preservation and flavoring processes, especially of meat or fish, by the addition of a combination of salt, nitrates, nitrite or sugar. Many curing processes also involve smoking, the process of flavoring, or cooking...

 strips of fatback

Fatback

Fatback is a cut of meat from a domestic pig. It consists of the layer of adipose tissue under the skin of the back, with or without the skin...

 with rosemary

Rosemary

Rosemary, , is a woody, perennial herb with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae, which includes many other herbs, and is one of two species in the genus Rosmarinus...

 and other herbs and spices.

The most famous lardo is from the Tuscan

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 hamlet of Colonnata, where lardo has been made since Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times. Colonnata is a frazione

Frazione

A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...

 of the larger city of Carrara

Carrara

Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....

, which is famous for its marble; Colonnata is itself a site where Carrara marble is mined and, traditionally, lardo is cured for months in basins made of this local marble. Lardo di Colonnata is now included in the Ark of Taste

Ark of Taste

The Ark of Taste is an international catalogue of heritage foods in danger of extinction which is maintained by the global Slow Food movement. The Ark is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste, and part of a distinct ecoregion...

 catalogue of heritage foods as well as enjoying IGP (Protected Geographical Indication)

Protected Geographical Status

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

 status.

Another prized form of lardo is the Valle d'Aosta Lard d'Arnad

Valle d'Aosta Lard d'Arnad

Vallée d’Aoste Lard d’Arnad is a cured pork product—specifically a species of lardo—produced exclusively within the municipal boundaries of the commune of Arnad in Aosta Valley, Italy...

, a PDO

Protected designation of origin

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

 product from the area of Arnad

Arnad

Arnad is a town and comune in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy....

 in Aosta Valley. Both superior types of lardo may be served very thinly sliced as an antipasto.