Saint-Marcel is a small village in the lower mountains of Aosta Valley. In this area there are valuable particularities such as: very pure water, fresh and healthy air and also the extremely rare mineral “Violano” (a violet mineral), which was extracted from an old mine and which is now subject of research from scientists all over the world. 

The first visible traces of the presence of the ham in our Region are dated the XV and XVI century. We can easily find them in some of the many frescoes present in Aosta Valley. At that time, the only way of processing the Ham was for the bear's thigh and was reserved to the high aristocracy.
In Saint-Marcel, like in other villages in the Alps, the families used to raise the pig for their personal use. Each family produced a lot of different types of cold cuts: blood sausages, capicolas, sausages and salamis. In order to ensure a food supply to face difficult periods, the “lardo” and other meats were simply treated with food preservation with salt and aromas. In some families, knowing how to proceed, there was also the tradition of producing a “prosciutto crudo” (a dry-cured ham) with mountain herbs, as to obtain a richer and more pleasant taste.

In 1985, “La Valdôtaine” began the production of the “Prosciutto Crudo di Saint-Marcel” using the ancient recipe. This ham keeps the local tradition and, in the meantime, offers to the market a type of ham with mountain herbs of unmistakable taste and unique in the rich Italian panorama.