Mortadella is a finely hashed/ground pork sausage with lard pieces. It is made mainly in Italy, especially in Bologna.

It's also very popular in Brazil (where it is called "Mortadela", without the extra 'l'), thanks to the large number of Italian colonists established in the country on early 20th century, mainly in the southern states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

Mortadella gets its name from the way the ancient Romans made their sausages. They called them farcimen mirtatum, because they used myrtle (mirto in Latin) as flavouring in place of pepper.