Siena and its sorroundings offer to their visitors not only a vast variety of olive oils, wines and grappas but also high quality cheeses, such as the pecorino and the marzolino, today worldwide known. In the siena region, cheese is the symbol of both a lyfestyle and a model of sustainability.
In the italian cuisine the pecorino is the cheese italian usually use for grating on pasta together with parmisan. The more well known recipies are the carbonara, the amatricinana the the cacio e pepe. Our photographic tour aims to introduce you to the production cicle behind this delicious cheese you’ll encouter during your sienese journeys. The masters of some of the best pecorini produced around Siena are Ernello Armellini and Claudio Cavazzoni, who conducted us across their lands and flocks.
Ernello’s farm (San Polo) is 3 km from Pienza on the road to S. Quirico d’Orcia. Claudio’s farm (Campriano) is intead closer to Siena nearby Sovicille. Both farms are family-run and follow the slow rithym of the seasons which determines low production rates but a very high quality of their products, today recognized both in Italy and abroad.
A view of Senese countryside.
Podere Campriano, the farmhouse of Claudio Cavazzoni in Siena. Sheep farm.
A glimpse of the farmhouse.
Sheep milking.
Sheep feeding during milk production.
After milking production the sheep come back to the shed.
The sheepdog, the guardian of flock of sheep.
Sheep-grazing.
Sheep-grazing in late afternoon.
Sheep at the farmhouse.
Making ricotta.
Whey is heated and curds are removed to make ricotta.
Whey filtering.
Ricotta begins to come to the surface.
Fresh cheese put into “fuscelle”
Fresh ricotta packed into “fuscelle”.
Fresh organic Pecorino (sheep milk cheese).
Claudio shows a seasoned cheese wheel.
Cell for cheese conservation.
Detail of a cheese wheel.
Rochefort cheese wheels.
Podere Campriano, the farmhouse of Claudio Cavazzoni in Siena. Family portrait.
Landscape with hay sheafs in Siena countryside.
Pienza, 18 months seasoned Pecorino cheese wheels displayed in a small shop in the historic centre.
Val d’Orcia hills in Pienza surroundings.
San Polo farmhouse in Trequanda in province of Siena. A worker is turning upside down the cheese wheels on long wood planks.
Worker gowns lying in the sun.
A stand with some cheeses produced by the farm: semi-seasoned Pecorino, seasoned Pecorino, seasoned Pecorino with walnut leafs, fresh Pecorino.
Two cyclists admire the landscape of Val d’Orcia hills.
View of Crete Senesi in spring.
