Giancarlo Russo

Giancarlo designed and leads our Courses with Artisans Advanced Salumi Course. He was Marketing Director for Mars-Nivea and American Express until he bailed out to adopt a slower, more personally rewarding way of life. Since then he has gained a wide range of qualifications and experience in the field of artisanal food:

• Co-author of Slow Food Guide Salumi d'Italia
• October 2009 — Designed and taught Master of Food Salumi for Slow Food Versilia, a 4-part course covering meaning of terms, history, diffusion of pig, how to taste, cuts of pork, classification of products, pig breeds, influence of system of rearing on quality, the skins (natural and synthetic), how pig is prepared, how cuts are made into final products, function of salt and spices, techniques of ageing and conserving, techniques for dealing with less used animals (goose, horse, etc.), description of the principal cured pork products, purchase and conserving salumi at home, how to slice various types of salumi, salumi and wine, salumi in cooking, tasting of quality Italian salumi.
• Lecturer at Universita' Gastronomica di Pollenzo (Slow Food)
• Master Cheese Taster (ONAF-National Organization of Cheese Tasters)
• Levoni Salumi – 25 focused training sessions for groceries related to tasting techniques for cured meat and identification of defects
• Since 2000 Stagionatori d'Arno (Reggello, FI) – Partner and President of the Board. Start-up activity for selection, ageing, refining and selling of high-quality Tuscan artisanal salumi and cheeses
• Leader of Slow Food Casentino