In a remote area in the heart of the Apennines, in the Umbria region, an art was developed for centuries: cutting. From Norcia, southwest of Perugia, came the Norcini, whose sophisticated meat-cutting technique made them first experienced butchers and later surgeons recognized in European courts.
The Norcini were butchers and master butchers since the time of ancient Rome: they slaughtered pigs and preserved their meat in different ways. According to historian Ignazio Pappalardo in Litotomi e oculisti preciani e norcini (1963), the Norcini “acquired a special skill in cutting, gutting and dissecting animals and their anatomical knowledge was perfect.” To improve and soften the pork, they castrated the animals also at a young age.”
Thus, during the period when the slaughter traditionally took place, the Norcini traveled in pairs between San Andrés (November 30th) and San Antonio Abad (January 17th), both throughout Umbria and later throughout the country. “The Norcini had limited room for maneuver and tended not to compete with each other, which is why they created their territorial monopolies,” explains Alberto Grandi in Denominazione di origine inventata (Mondadori, 2018).
This skill with a knife soon led her to treating human ailments. Giovanni Trecanni's encyclopedia states: “Thanks to their knowledge, it was not uncommon for people to turn to them for simple surgical procedures, as it was cheaper than the surgeon.” “They treated tumors, hernias and cataracts and were very much in demand for the castration of children who would pursue a musical career as white voices.”
Italian sausages from Umbria.Michelle Lee (Michelle R. Lee)
The truth is that the evolution of some Norcini butchers into doctors coincides with a historical fact that positions them as perfect candidates: in 1215, at the Fourth Lateran Council, the Catholic Church banned religious people from practicing surgery under pain of excommunication. The idea, solidified a century earlier in various councils such as Reims and Tours, was that priests and monks should only concern themselves with the salvation of souls and not bodies. The medical knowledge that came from the ancient Greeks and Romans and was largely lost between the 4th and 10th centuries was in the hands of monasteries such as that of Monte Cassino (Lazio), which was precisely founded by Saint Benedict of Norcia in It was founded in 529 BC (to which legend attributes the miraculous power to cure kidney stones and whose rules include the famous ora et labora, but also the responsibility for caring for the sick).
At this time, some of these skilled butchers adopted the surgical practices of the Benedictine monks. “Today in Italy, norcini just means butcher, which ironically is the profession that gave rise to an entire medical dynasty,” says historian Fiona Davidson. They were the only specialists able to operate on kidney stones, cataracts and hernias, developing precise instruments and innovative techniques to combat infection, bleeding and pain. “The decisive factor that contributed to the creation of the prestigious Preci Nephrological School (in Norcia) was the empirical study of surgery on animals, mainly pigs,” explains Mario Timio of the Foligno Hospital.
The relationship between the two professions is not incomprehensible, nor is their success, “due to their skill with cutting,” says Paolo Savoia in “Knowing Nature by Its Surface: Butchers, Barbers, Surgeons, Gardeners, and Physicians in Early Modern Italy.” (Centaurus). Journal of the European Society for the History of Science, 64, 2, 2022). They are a perfect example of what anthropologists and historians call trading zones, that is, the bidirectional exchange between different professionals and experts. In this case, between men of practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge, whose knowledge transcended the species.
In this way, Vicenzo Cervio, author of the Ragionamento sopra l'officio del trinciante, described as early as 1581 that barbers and butchers were “professional food cutters” and could give a name to each part of the meat served on the table. . “Chefs, butchers, food cutters, and surgeons share cognitive models that include an intellectual approach that gives relevance to the surface of the body and a practical attitude to manipulating the various layers of the body, which they repair, dismember, or assemble into edible matter.” .,” adds Paolo Savoia.
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