Lambrusco salamino, whose name refers to the cylindrical shape and the tight cluster that resembles a small salami, is grown in the Modena and Reggio Emilia area (northern Italy) at least since the mid-eighteenth century.

Piergiovanni Paltrinieri, in fact, in the second half of the eighteenth century describes the "Salamina" in the unpublished manuscript “Le uve che si trovano nel Carpigiano oltre le descritte nel Baccanale de’ vini Modenesi” ("Grapes that are located in Carpi well described in the Bacchanal de 'wines Modena"), whose contents are then published by Maini a century later (Maini, 1851).

The words of Paltrinieri describe very well the Lambrusco salamino: "it is Lambrusca grape: it has berries similar to Sabina, but dense and crammed; it has a small cluster, long around one finger, and it is so big in the beginning as in the end. The berry skin is thin, little black color, and the must crystalline".

Bertozzi in 1840 cites this variety with the dialect name "Imbrusca salamèina” in the long list of grape varieties grown in Reggio Emilia area and classifies in the group of  “colored grapes grown in the fields. Grapes choices for the best wines of trade " thus expressing a very positive view.

It is also mentioned by Galloni (1847) and described by Francesco Aggazzotti (1867).

Ramazzini in 1885, deploring the confusion about grapevine varieties, turns his attentions "for the grapes that enjoy the sympathies of winemakers and which are apparently disputing the palm of preference: Lambrusco Sorbara and Lambrusco salamino". He praises of Lambrusco robustness and productivity higher than that of all the varieties of the province, but he sees the only use for a product to be mixed with the must of other cultivars. Ramazzini believes that there is variability inside the variety and distinguishes between three types differing for morphological characters and productivity, sensitivity to powdery mildew and adaptability to different soil and weather: soft, with red leaf and green leaf, the latter characterized by higher productivity and rusticity .