- BY ISSIMO
- May 21, 2024
For the Love of Formaggio
Devouring our way through Italy, cheese by cheese.
It’s no secret that we’re utterly cheese-obsessed here at ISSIMO, and if we had to choose what our ‘Last Supper’ would be, it would no doubt be something covered in, stuffed with, or sprinkled in a mountain of formaggio. Or even just a giant ball of Burrata on its own for that matter! From Trentino-Alto Adige’s alpine peaks to Calabria’s wild sun-drenched pastures, read on to discover our guide to Italian cheeses, region by region.
FUN FACTS
The average Italian consumes around 23 kilograms of cheese each year. That’s a healthy serving of formaggio! More than an ingredient at the heart of Italy’s culinary identity, however, the heritage and production of Italian cheeses are an essential part of our culture. Hard, creamy, aged, smoked, blue…there are hundreds of different varieties of cheese across Italy’s 20 regions, each with their own unique characteristics and production processes based on local agricultural traditions.
Northern Italy: Mountain milk and ancient origins
Stelvio is a semi-hard cheese made from cow’s milk from dairies in Trentino-Alto Adige. With production origins dating back to the 13th century, this cheese has intense and slightly spicy taste, and is perfect for melting into fondue, stuffed inside gnocchi, or used in other types of comforting pasta dishes. Fontina, another semi-hard cow’s milk cheese, is produced in the Valle d’Aosta region. It boasts a nutty flavour that gets its depth and richness from a typical 90-day ageing process, and it’s also ideal for any recipe that calls for melty, gooey goodness!
The magic of Asiago cheese from Veneto is not just its blend of sweet and savoury flavours, but its texture also changes over time from smooth to crumbly based on its ageing process. Whether grated on top of pasta, melted into risotto or sliced in a panino, this cow’s milk cheese is also incredibly versatile. As its name suggests, Montasio cheese hails from the mountains of Friuli-Venezia Giulia (originally from the Montasio plateau), with production origins dating back to the early 1200s. This semi-hard cheese has a creamier texture than other mountain cheeses.
Surely one of the more, let’s say, ‘contentious’ Italian cheeses that can even divide a table of connoisseurs, Gorgonzola is the blue cheese traditional to Lombardia. You either love it, or you don’t! Aged, crumbly with a distinctly pungent aroma you can smell across the room, Gorgonzola gets in green-blue veining from a process whereby Penicillium mould is added to the cheese mixture during the production process, which then grows into veins during ageing.
Blue veins not your thing? Castelmagno cheese from the Piemonte has a distinct aroma and sharp, salty taste, and it’s often considered ‘King of the Cheeses’ in Italian gastronomy based on its ancient production history. In contrast, Stracchino cheese from Liguria is soft, mild and rindless, with a creamy texture that’s perfect on spreading on fresh bread or melted into pasta sauces.
Central Italy: Global culinary icons
Don’t be fooled by the many imitations you’ll find around the world, there is only one true Parmigiano Reggiano, the one from Emilia Romagna! One of the most loved varieties of formaggi italiani, this hard cow’s milk cheese with a brittle texture is undoubtedly one of the most popular and widely used cheeses in the world. It can add its salty bite to just about any savoury dish!
With historical production origins dating back to Roman times, Pecorino Toscano has been part of Tuscany’s agricultural legacy for centuries. This semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese can be eaten ‘fresh’ (best paired with white wine) or ‘mature’ (best paired with red wine), with its aromatic flavour deepening over time. Just ask master cheese refiner and Hotel Il Pellicano producer Andrea De’ Magi, who crafts remarkable Tuscan cheeses based on an ‘alchemy’ of flavour, texture and aromatic elements:
“I search for the best pairings…A chemistry is created by combining two components which give a different result in the mouth than what would be obtained by tasting the individual products separately,” says Andrea.
Which Italian cheese received the tick of approval from Michelangelo Buonarroti? Typically produced in Marche, Casciotta d’Urbino is said to have been the Renaissance artist’s most beloved cheese variety, so much so that he rented three of his farms in Urbania which were dedicated to producing it all year round! This tender, sweet cheese is produced from a mixture of sheep and cow’s milk, and is best savoured with a slice of fresh bread and a glass of white wine.
Umbria’s rolling green hills are ideal pastures for happy sheep, which means the perfect conditions for producing Roccaccio cheese, a bold-flavoured variety of pecorino. First produced in the picturesque town of Fossato di Vico in Perugia, this robust cheese is always a star of the cheeseboard.
Speaking of pecorino, is there anything more iconic than a plate of Cacio e pepe with a mound of grated Pecorino Romano on top? This variety from Lazio is saltier than its relatives from Toscana and Sardegna due to a longer maturation period, which can last up to eight months.
Southern Italy: A varied feast of formaggio
With a fine rind and creamy centre, Caciofiore Aquilano is a sheep’s milk cheese typically produced in Abruzzo, taking its name from the wild artichoke extract that is used to bind the cheese in the production process (as it has been done for hundreds of years). Can’t decide between butter and cheese? Have both in Molise! Typically found in the province of Campobasso, Burrino is a short-matured stretched cheese with soft curd and an unsuspecting interior of…butter! This reflects traditional preservation methods when butter was preserved inside the cheese in the absence of refrigerators.
When it comes to fresh white cheeses, Campania gives us the glorious gift of Mozzarella di Bufala, which is made exclusively from Buffalo milk (most commonly in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno). While in Puglia, creamy Burrata is another global cheese icon and one of the region’s most traditional culinary products, a stretched-curd cheese with an outer shell that is filled with a luscious mix of mozzarella and cream.
Reflecting centuries-old cheese-making techniques unique to south Italy, Caciocavallo podolico from Basilicata is a cow’s milk cheese created from twice-cooked curd, with a long maturation period of up to five years. Its heady flavour is often balanced with fruits and honey. In Calabria, sheep graze on a variety of flora and fauna in ‘semi-wild’ farming environments, which gives the region’s Pecorino Crotonese cheese its unmistakable aroma of hay, herbs and smoke.
Let’s round out our epic cheese tour on the islands! Dairies in Sicilia still follow the same ancient recipe for producing Ricotta, which is made with just cow’s whey, sheep’s milk and salt (in the case of Ricotta salata). From Pasta alla Norma to Cannoli and Cassata, Ricotta is a versatile staple of Sicilian cuisine. While in Sardegna, Pecorino Sardo gets its bold, sweet flavour and deep yellow colour from a specific breed of local sheep’s milk.
Speaking of Italian culture, say cheese!
