Lardo di Colonnata is strips of fatback marinated in rosemary and other spices and cured in marble vats in the marble mountain town of Colonnata in Tuscany. You may encounter other forms of lardo, like Vallée d’Aoste Lard d’Arnad produced in the commune of Arnad in lower Aosta Valley.
Lardo was designed to be a food for hard-working marble quarry workers, who needed the calories.
The best way to enjoy lardo is to simply lay a sliver over bread toasted over a fire. Lardo is also used to wrap meats that lack fat of their own, like quail or pork tenderloin before cooking them in the oven.
We do not allow the impossibly hypocritical, “oh my god, it’s fat! Fat!” when mentioned in the same breath as, “why don’t italians serve butter with the bread?” To each his own and lardo wins.