Cheese is without a shadow of a doubt the best-loved and most exported Italian product. Italy is in fact one of the world’s largest producers in the dairy sector.
From Parmigiano Reggiano to Pecorino Sardo, our cheeses stand out for their unique, inimitable flavour as well as for their great nutritional value.
Many countries, including European ones, produce only a “limited” range of 3–4 cheeses. Italy, on the other hand, together with France, has a huge number of different types of cheese – something that sets the two countries apart on the world market.
Among the best-loved varieties are hard, semi-hard, stretched-curd (pasta filata), aged and smoked cheeses, and finally our exceptional fresh dairy products, the envy of the whole world. We are talking about mozzarella, the most prized variety of which is Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO.
Cheese-making in Italy has very distant origins, with roots in antiquity. As early as the time of the ancient Romans, top-quality cheese was being produced, a prized food of the Mediterranean diet.
The Romans loved to make and eat “conciato romano”, a soft, yellowish cheese with a spicy aftertaste, similar to “formaggio di fossa”. Coagulants were already in use, at the time exclusively of plant origin. Conciato romano was treated with olive oil, vinegar and chilli, then left to mature in clay amphorae.
It can be said to be the oldest cheese in Italy. From then on, the “culture” of cheese took off, giving rise to numerous variants and different types.
Cheeses are a true symbol of made in Italy, with both PDO and PGI designations. The most famous of all is certainly Parmigiano Reggiano, but there is a long list of other types that are just as well known and loved, namely:
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