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Dario Cecchini

butcher from Panzano-in-Chianti

 

Dario Cecchini is an internationally known butcher from Panzano-in-Chianti, in the Tuscan region of Italy.  

Cecchini was born in 1955 in the village of Panzano where his father was the butcher, eighth generation of Cecchini butchers. He studied veterinary science at the university in Pisa but in 1976, three years into his six-year course, had to take over the family business from his dying father. He has been described as "... a personality, a celebrity, and a butcher extraordinaire. A theatrical host, a show-stopper, and an artist".

Cecchini, on a mission to protect and promote the traditional local butcher from the rise of industrially raised meat, and supermarkets, explains that he believes butchery is an ancient art that involves a respect for the animal, seeing his role as that of teacher and educator. 

According to Cecchini, there are no "premium" and "lower" cuts of meat, but rather all the parts of the animal are useful if butchered and cooked in an appropriate way. He puts his philosophy to work in his butcher shop, and two restaurants, all located within 15 meters of the room where he

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“My Name is Dario Cecchini and my family have been butchers for eight generations, father to son. I try to maintain the high values of my work and my family’s traditions. I always say that a man is like a tree: he must have his feet, his roots, planted firmly in the earth, traditions; and his head, the crown of the tree, must be in the sky, in the contemporary world. Having respect of the animal, of its life, of its death, and using everything to the very last tendon with conscience is what I have been doing every day for the past 40 years. I am a butcher from head to tail.”