Made in Italy cheeses

The most renowned cow’s milk products are:

• Mozzarella, also from buffalo milk.
• Caciocavallo, typical of southern Italy (Basilicata, Puglia and Silano).
• Parmigiano Reggiano, the most popular cheese in the world and probably also the most famous and copied. To buy this cheese, in fact, one must pay attention to its origin, as often, especially abroad, but more rarely in Italy, there are products of poor quality and completely different from the original.
• Grana Padano, similar to Parmigiano Reggiano, although deriving from milk from different areas of the Po Valley and not specifically from the Reggio area.
• Fontina Valdostana from Piedmont from Valtellina and the Alps in Northern Italy.

Pecorino, on the other hand, is the cheese that is produced from sheep’s milk. They can also be found mixed with cow’s milk or goat’s milk (goat’s).

In Italy there is a great tradition of Pecorino and each region or area produces a specific type, including:

• Pecorino sardo is the most famous and there are various qualities.
• Pecorino Romano, coming from the Rome area, sometimes also made with Sardinian milk.
• Tuscan Pecorino, such as Pecorino di Pienza, Maremma and others. The Tuscan Pecorino was imported by Sardinian shepherds who settled mainly in the Sienese, Maremma and in the area bordering Lazio.
• The Sicilian Pecorino, one of the most renowned.
• Pecorino from Basilicata, the best known of which is Pecorino di Moliterno.

Caciocavallo 

Caciocavallo is a typical cheese from southern Italy; in fact, caciocavallo is mainly produced along the central-southern Apennine belt Caciocavallo Lucano and Silano from Calabria are renowned, but those from Campania and Pugliesi are also known. The classic Caciocavallo is aged from 3 to 4 months up to 1 year, and has a sweet or spicy flavor depending on the rennet used in the production phase and its final aging. But it is also sold fresh and semi-seasoned which have a maturation of less than 3 months. In some cases it can also be smoked One of the most famous is the Caciocavallo Lucano, with also the podonica variant, it is a stretched curd produced exclusively with cow’s milk. Straw yellow in color with a thin and smooth rind, it is soft inside and its compactness depends on aging. The name caciocavallo has various hypotheses but the most accused derives from the period in which the transhumance was carried out and from the custom of southern shepherds to curdle the milked milk directly in the mountains and to hang the so-called caciocavalli, in pairs, on the back of horses to take them to country or farm.