# Friuli food: San Daniele ham, cured in one comune

> Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP, registered in 1996, can only be made inside one comune of 35 square kilometers and is cured for at least 400 days.

URL: https://myitalia.it/food/in-friuli-venezia-giulia
Last updated: 2026-09-11

Friuli Venezia Giulia's flagship protected food is Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP, in the EU register since June 21, 1996, and it can only be made inside the 35 square kilometers of one comune, San Daniele del Friuli.

## One comune, 35 square kilometers, 252 meters up

The production zone of Prosciutto di San Daniele is the comune of San Daniele del Friuli alone, in the province of Udine: 35 square kilometers at 252 meters above sea level.

The pigs come from much further. They may be raised and slaughtered in ten regions: Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Tuscany, Marche, Abruzzo and Lazio.

So the name protects a place of curing, not a place of farming, and that is the single most useful thing to know when you read the label.

## Two ingredients, 400 days

The specification allows Italian pork legs and sea salt, nothing else, and a minimum cure of 400 days. No additives are permitted.

Each ham keeps its trotter, which gives the guitar shape it's known by, and weighs 12.5 to 17.5 kg. In countries that ban the trotter it's sold without, at 12 to 17 kg.

The consortium was founded in 1961, decades before the DOP. It doesn't publish the specification's parameters in HTML, so these come from the Qualigeo portal, and the number of producers and the yearly output haven't been verified, so neither is given here.

## Sauris, Montasio, Pitina

The ministry's list gives the region three more food names: Montasio DOP, Prosciutto di Sauris IGP, registered in 2010, and Pitina IGP, registered in 2018.

Sauris is a second ham from the same region, which makes the San Daniele rule easier to read: what the DOP fixes is the town where the ham is cured.

## Wine: four DOCG, one shared

Friuli Venezia Giulia holds four DOCG wines on the 2026 ministry count. One of them, Lison, straddles the border with Veneto and is counted in both regions, which is why the regional totals add up to 80 against a national 79.

The names of the other three aren't among the figures verified for this site.

## Going to San Daniele

San Daniele del Friuli is the one place where every Prosciutto di San Daniele is made, so a visit there is a visit to the whole production zone.

Which curing houses take visitors, and on which days, isn't something we've verified. Ask the consortium before driving up.

For the rest of the region see [Friuli Venezia Giulia](/regions/friuli-venezia-giulia), [Palmanova](/attractions/palmanova) and [UNESCO in Friuli Venezia Giulia](/unesco/in-friuli-venezia-giulia); for the labels, [DOP and IGP](/themes/dop-igp).

## FAQ

### Can San Daniele ham be made outside San Daniele?

No. Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP can only be produced inside the comune of San Daniele del Friuli, 35 square kilometers in the province of Udine. The pigs may come from ten regions, from Friuli Venezia Giulia to Lazio and Abruzzo, but the curing happens in one place.

### How long is Prosciutto di San Daniele cured?

At least 400 days, using only Italian pork legs and sea salt, with no additives. A finished ham weighs 12.5 to 17.5 kg with the trotter on, or 12 to 17 kg in countries that ban the trotter.

### When was San Daniele ham protected?

In 1996. Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP entered the EU register on June 21, 1996, and the producers' consortium dates back to 1961. The agriculture ministry lists it as Friuli Venezia Giulia's flagship product.

### What other protected foods come from Friuli Venezia Giulia?

Three more food names besides San Daniele: Montasio DOP, Prosciutto di Sauris IGP, registered in 2010, and Pitina IGP, registered in 2018. The region also holds four DOCG wines, one of which, Lison, it shares with Veneto.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Il Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP, prodotto nel comune omonimo in provincia di Udine, e registrato nel registro UE dal 21 giugno 1996. | [MASAF - Elenco DOP e IGP prodotti agricoli (PDF, agg. 11/06/2026)](https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/1%252Fa%252F2%252FD.e7bdb4ebe6d458c7925a/P/BLOB%3AID%3D15453/E/pdf?mode=download); [Commissione europea - DG AGRI, registro eAmbrosia](https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/eambrosia/geographical-indications-register/) | high | 2099-12-31 |
| Il Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP, riconosciuto nel 1996, si puo' produrre solo dentro i 35 chilometri quadrati del comune di San Daniele del Friuli, contiene esclusivamente cosce di suino italiano e sale marino, stagiona almeno 400 giorni e mantiene lo zampino, da cui la caratteristica forma a chitarra | [Qualigeo - Fondazione Qualivita](https://www.qualigeo.eu/prodotti-qualigeo/prosciutto-di-san-daniele-dop/); [Consorzio del Prosciutto di San Daniele](https://www.prosciuttosandaniele.it/il-consorzio/) | medium | 2029-12-31 |
| Il Piemonte e la regione con piu vini DOCG (19), seguito dal Veneto (14) e dalla Toscana (11); queste tre regioni da sole valgono oltre la meta dei 79 DOCG italiani (2026). | [MASAF - Elenco alfabetico Vini DOP (PDF, agg. 27/03/2026)](https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/1%252Fd%252F5%252FD.fd1629819dea12c20cf4/P/BLOB%3AID%3D4625/E/pdf?mode=download) | medium | 2027-06-30 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/region.friuli-venezia-giulia.1600.jpg
Author: Marco Del Torchio 95. License: CC0 (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chiesa_di_San_Martino_a_Socchieve_-_facciata_e_portico_-_agosto_2026.jpg

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