Starting the Meal: Affettati Misti

A Salame (plural salami, while cold cuts in general are called salumi -- note the u) is a cured sausage generally made by grinding lean pork with pork fat to make a paste, and stuffing the paste into a casing, generally pig's intestine. The salame is then aged in a cool dark, well ventilated place until it's ready. Like prosciutto, Italian salami is raw, with the meat being cured by the salt in the spice mix.

The concept sounds simple and is, but within the category there are tremendous variations, both in the grind of the meat and the fat, which result in different textures, and in the spicing mixes used to season the meat.

Because of this, almost every town in Italy has a local salame, and if the town isn't known for its pork it may be made from another kind of meat, for example asino (ass) or oca (goose -- Friuli Venezia Giulia is known for its goose salami and prosciutto, both of which are made under Rabbinical supervision and thus Kosher).

General notes on Italian cold cuts
Making Salame Toscano