Dario Cecchini

Dario Cecchini (born 1955) is an eighth generation Italian butcher from Panzano in the Chianti region of Italy.[1]

Beautiful Panzano in Chianti, high above the Tuscan hills.

Biography

Cecchini was born in 1955 in the Tuscan village of Panzano. He studied veterinary science at the university of Pisa but left halfway through his studies in 1976 to take over the family business established in 1780, Antica Macelleria Cecchini,[2] from his dying father. Dario is an eighth generation butcher.[1][3]

Cecchini gained international renown in 2001 when the EU banned the sale of all beef on the bone, from cows that are more than one year old and he staged a widely publicized mock funeral for Bistecca

Plaque outside Antica Macelleria Cecchini commemorating the 2001 mock "funeral" for Bistecca alla Fiorentina, as a result of an EU ban of bone-on steak.
Dario with a glass of Chianti.

He presented at the MAD Symposium in August 2013 in Copenhagen, to 500 chefs from around the world. He closed his presentation with a recitation of a passage from Dante Alighieri's Inferno.[4]

In March 2014, Cecchini was featured in BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme. In the interview, Cecchini described butchery as an ancient art that involved a respect for the animal, and he likened his work to poetry.[5]

He and his wife operate not only the historic butcher shop, and three restaurants[6] attached to the shop: Panzanese (grilled Panzanese steak), Solociccia (braising, boiling, grilling, generally using lesser-known cuts) and Officina della Bistecca.

References
  1. "Embracing an Unchosen Path in Italy". The New York Times. October 5, 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
  2. Antica Macelleria Cecchini. "www.dariocecchini.com". Antica Macelleria Cecchini (in Italian and English). Retrieved 2023-09-26.
  3. "Dario Cecchini – The Dante-reciting, Rock-star Butcher of Italy". Crunchybottoms.wordpress.com. 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  4. "MAD | Dario Cecchini". Madfood.co. 2013-08-25. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  5. "BBC Radio 4 – Food Programme, A Renaissance for Butchers?". Bbc.co.uk. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2014-03-03.
  6. Cecchini, Restaurants in Panzano. "Solociccia, Panzanese, and Officina". Dario Cecchini (in Italian and English). Retrieved 2023-09-27.
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