Norcia: Finding a True Norcineria

In the Middle Ages, the disparaging term “Il norcino” (literally meaning, “from Norcia”) grouped together a variety of improvisational impersonators of i chirurghi (‘surgeons”): il cerusico (“barber/surgeon), il cava-denti (tooth-extractor), and il concia-osse (“bonesetter), who wandered from village-to-village offering their rudimentary surgical skills at prezzi popolari. In ancient Rome, i norcini had been known above all for their skill in the castration of pigs (necessary in order to attenuate the strong gamey flavor of the meat of the male) and the transformation of the pig’s meat into temptations for the palate. The norcino pig-butchering skills lead easily to surgical interventions on humans: the setting of broken bones, tooth extractions, excision of tumors, cataract and hernia operations – and even to the castration of young boys, transforming their voices into mellifluous voci bianche
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