castradina

And spiced and aged after it is smoked, resulting in a meat with lots of personality. Castradina is traditional in Venice, ever since the great plague of 1630, when the city was cut off, and preserved mutton was one of the few available meats. It appears in late November, for the festival of the Madonna della Salute (the great church designed by Baldassare Longhena to celebrate the end of the pestilence) when the castradina gets made into a stew with verza (Savoy cabbage), onions and potatoes.