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Welcome to Rome, Italy, where it is not uncommon to see wild boars rummaging through garbage bins. Yes that’s right, wild hairy pigs have invaded the Eternal City. ~23,000 boars are estimated to live in or around Rome, many of which are now seen roaming the streets.

Posting wild boar videos on social media has become quite the local sport. Wild boar are distinguishable by their long snout, protruding tusks and thick bristly coat. They are feral Eurasian wild pigs, and they are an invasive species. They are also a symbol of urban decay. As uncollected trash festers in the Mediterranean heat, it acts as a magnet for these scavengers. The wild boar story is an allegory of late stage capitalist decline; the story of a civilization losing its war on waste.

Which brings us to the “King of Waste”: a man known as the Lord of Trash, 86-year-old Manilo Cerroni. Cerroni has built a global empire and a personal fortune on trash: in Italy, organized crime groups control lucrative government waste-management contracts, dumping rubbish from all over the country and other parts of Europe in unauthorized fields or landfills. All of this adds to the wild boar problem.

Late last year, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni eased hunting rules to allow the capture and culling of wild boar in urban areas. Licensed private hunters can now kill and eat wild boar in and around the city.

Europeans have hunted wild boars for tens of thousands of years. Is wild boar hunting about to undergo a renaissance? Environmentalists argue the animals should be protected, but the thrill of the hunt beckons anew…

Wild boar hunting is a dangerous sport. The ferociousness, destructiveness and strength of the boar make it a formidable opponent. Even Greek mythology warns us about that. Odysseus was wounded by a boar while hunting with his grandfather on Mount Parnassus. Then there is Adonis, lover of the goddess Aphrodite, who was killed by a boar. He bleeds to death in Aphrodite’s arms after being gored by the pig’s tusks.

There are an estimated 2 million wild boars in Italy. The country’s main agricultural lobby, Coldiretti, warns that their increasing numbers are causing damage to crops. But animal rights activists are on the side of the boars. Italy’s International Organization for the Protection of Animals condemns the new hunting legislation as “something out of the Wild West.”

Maurizio Gubiotti, President of the RomaNatura Reserve, takes a more compromising approach. He suggests there is a middle way between the culling of wild boars and the maintenance of biodiversity. I guess you could say people like Maurizio just want to avoid another Boar War. Oops. No, wait. I don’t mean that kind of Boer War. Sorry, sorry. Wrong boars!

Now, where were we…ah, yes. Civilizational decline. Existential ennui. The Eternal City invaded not by Vandals and Visigoths, but by wild hairy pigs. In a society headed towards decline if not collapse, will wild animals return to our cities, or will we return to wild animals for food? Only time will tell.

In the meantime may I tempt you with a recipe for wild boar ragù?

Wild Boar Ragù Recipe

Wild boar meat must be marinated in red wine with herbs and vegetables for 12–24 hours before cooking. Keep this in mind when you want to prepare this dish. Once the meat is marinated, wild boar ragù is easy to make. This recipe serves four.

Ingredients

500g wild boar (1.1lbs)
400g pappardelle pasta (14oz)

Marinade

1 onion peeled and halved
1 carrot washed and cut into large pieces
1 celery stalk washed and cut into large pieces
2–3 bay leaves
2 tsp juniper berries
2 cloves of garlic peeled
1 sprig rosemary
1 liter red wine (4–5 cups)
ground black pepper

Sauce

500g tomato passata or peeled tomatoes (1.1lbs)
1 onion peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot washed and finely chopped
1 celery stalk washed and finely chopped
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves peeled
3–4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 glass red wine
salt for pasta and to taste
black pepper to taste

Preparation

Wash the wild boar meat, cut it into chunks and put it in a large bowl.

Add the onion (peeled and cut in half) and the carrot and the celery in large pieces, the 2 peeled cloves of garlic, the bay leaves, the juniper berries, the rosemary and some black pepper.
Cover with red wine and mix.
Cover the container with plastic wrap or a lid and allow to stand in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours.
Once the necessary time has passed, drain the meat and eliminate the vegetables and herbs. You can cut the meat into smaller pieces if preferred.

Instructions

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large frying pan or skillet and fry the garlic, carrot, celery and onion slightly. Add the bay leaves.
Add the wild boar meat and brown it on all sides.
Add the red wine and let the alcohol evaporate.
Lower the flame and cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the tomato pulp/peeled tomatoes and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook with the flame reduced to a minimum for about 1.5–2 hours (depending on the size of the pieces of wild boar and how old they are). Stir occasionally and add some beef stock or water if the sauce seems dry.
While the ragù is cooking, put a pot of water onto boil for the pappardelle pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring to the boil again. When you are ready to serve your wild boar ragù, cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packet. Once ready, save a cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta.
If you are reheating the ragù and it seems dry, add some of the pasta cooking water. Remove the bay leaves and garlic cloves and add the pasta to the ragù and mix together carefully. You don’t want to break the pasta ribbons.
Serve immediately. (Italians don’t normally add grated cheese to this dish or chopped parsley)

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Buon appetito!

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Wild Boars Have Invaded Rome, Italy