“I am a romantic”, Gerard Martí tells me. Probably because I am too, I have enjoyed his proposal so much. Gerard is a young chef, butcher, and whatever else is needed. His family runs the Casanovas butcher shop, at Carrer Calàbria, 113, in Barcelona. It is the fourth generation dedicated to it. They are aware that these are difficult times for the trade. Many artisan butchers are closing and there is no succession. The Martí family, however, have found a way to make the business profitable: combining the butcher shop with a restaurant. And the restaurant in question has turned out to be very surprising and recommendable.

Rome's delicatessens are like Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. Full, colorful, tightly packed, with intense smells and long lines to get in. The comparison, Stefano Paciotti of the salumeria Paciotti, while he cuts me porchetta (pork cooked in the oven with aromatic herbs) to make me a sandwich. salumeria Paciotti isn't far from Vatican City, and he's got the comparative phrase down pat. He's probably said it many times. In fact, he makes me look up at the ceiling to check out the wonders hanging there: hams, lungo salami (similar to longanizas but made with mixtures of pork and beef, and seasoned with garlic). And all around, shelves filled with more salami, of other varieties. Also cheeses and cakes, such as crostata (jam cake) or sponge cake (shade to the formation). The Paciotti, like all the salumerias Italian sandwiches with a thousand and one types of bread that the staff explain to you. Of all of them, I choose the focacciaThe sandwich, a good size, cost me €8.50.