On the Pecorino Toscano’s lands

At 84, Duilio Fiorini proudly looks at his dairy Il Fiorino that was once a small one. It has been created more than half a century ago in Roccalbegna, some hundred-odd kilometres south of Sienna. Eighteen employees enthusiastically work there. His great grand-father, ewes breeder, set up in the area in 1850 two kilometres away from there. His grand-father, born in 1870, used to move to summer pastures in the Arrezo area, east of Tuscany. « He stopped transhumance and settled here” he says “He was producing Pecorino Toscano on a seasonal basis and local merchants came to buy them. »

In the fifties, Duilio understood before others that business was changing due to rural exodus and the coming of the « consumer society ». « Consumers were more and more urban and news channels of food distribution were expecting more homogenous cheeses » he explains. « It was the right time for me. Milk producers encountered some difficulties to sell their cheeses. I then had the idea to collect their milk. First, they didn’t really want to sell it. In Tuscany, people used to transform their own milk. I had to convert them one at a time. One breeder followed me and made more money selling me his milk. His example spread. »

Created in 1957, the company expanded in the sixties, during the « Italian miracle years ». Duilio stopped breeding his own ewes, then, in 1966 because of a brucellosis period, he switched to pasteurized milk. « Ferments had then to be worked on : raw milk doesn’t need to be cultured again. » The patriarch talks about « a real improvement in term of taste: before we had products very different from each other, with many imperfections, impure tastes... » When the Pecorino Toscano Consortium is created in 1985, one of its first measures is to list autochthonous cultures.

The dairy collects milk from 42 breeders and a cooperative within an 80-km radius « almost only from the Grosseta area as well as part of the north of the Latium area », says Fabio Flori, in charge of quality control. When ewes run dry, the dairy then collects cows’ milk for 5 months.

Il Fiorino works 70 to 80 quintal of milk a day (15,400 to 17,600 pounds) transformed into ricotta, Marsolino (triangle shape), Ciccioa mista (cow and ewe’s milk) and Pecorino Toscano of course! There is a particularity to the emblem of Tuscany’s cheeses (the third of ewes milk produced in the entire area is dedicated to it) : the curd is slightly pressed manually, since the AOC specifications only accept mechanical pressure for generic pecorini. At Il Fiorino’s, as well as at the 15 other transformers of the appellation, nimble fingers turn and press cheeses with a knack that can only be acquired with months of practise.

Pecorinis are very popular in Italy. Simple and rustic, close in terms of look and taste, they have their own particularities in almost every area. The Tuscany one comes in the three first one, between the Latium one (« Pecorino Romano ») and the Sardinia one (« Fiore Sardo »). The Pecorino Toscano includes 16 transformers, 2 refiners and 1 cutter. Some 1.25 million 2-kg cheeses are produced each year. The last farm-producer disappeared about 10 years ago. The percentage of raw milk production is « picolissima », very small, Andrea Righini says, the Consortium manager.

Less than a thousand ewe breeders provide milk intended to the production of Pecorino Toscano DOP. The appellation zone includes the entire Tuscany as well as 11 cities bordering on Latium and two cities from Umbria. It’s a hilly zone with a hot climate tempered by west coastal wind. It is hard to meet a herd in the countryside since stalling generalized. Solp Diary which is the second producer of the appellation explains « Here herds contain at least 150 animals, most of them have 1,000 to 1,500 ewes. » Solp diary is situated in the Pienza area and collects 8 million litres of ewe milk yearly from 70 breeders and a few cooperatives.

Honored in « gastronomia »

Solp proposes thirty-odd references of ewe cheeses, mainly uncooked and pressed, with a special attention to the refining: with pepper, tomatoes, tapenade... Its manager, Pascale Putzulu is from Sardinia. She explains « In south Italy, shepherds from Sardinia had the monopoly of ewes. Some of them came up here, among them my father who settled with a herd. » Ewes from Sardinia have the advantage of producing up to 2 litres milk a day compared to 1 litre for black « Massese » ewes.
A very small part of it is transformed raw because of « small demand » Ricardo Pavero explains, the production manager. Same comment at Il Fiorino where « a very small part of the production is made with raw milk and kept for refining for one year » says Fabio Flori.

Solp essentially aims at the mass distribution market whereas Il Fiorino favours the « Gastronomia » market, these very popular stall-restaurants which propose cooked pork delicatessen, wines and cheeses to be eaten at the bar or in the dining-room. As for example that is worth going to : Enoteca from San Quirico de Orcia situated on the main street of this little village of 2,000 inhabitants all settled around the church on top of a hill in south Tuscany. « Molto, molto boni » the owner Angelo Zamperini keeps saying while tasting « Poderino » (appellation Orcia) made by Luciano Gorellin, his school friend who owns three hectares (7,400 acres) of wine and has a local star in the Brunello di Montalcino appellation, Casanova di Neri, turn his grape into wine.
The store also proposes, almost solely, wines from the Sienna’s area (Brunello di montalcino, Nobile di monte pulciano, Orcia...) a little bit of Chianti Classico, some Sicilian wines and Krug champagne for special occasions. The menu of the day was « stag sausage and plates of small raw milk goat cheeses well refined ». The favourite match of the manager is a Nobile di Monte Pulciano (from Poderi Boscarelli, or from Poliziano) with 6-months old Pecorini di Pienza : « These cheeses have a very special taste because ewes eat Barbecco grass that grows in clayey valleys which bring a specific taste to the cheese. » With fresher pecorino, Angelo likes the Rosso di Montepulcano or the Rosso di Montalcino better.

Another good address to be advised, in a more touristic version, is the Taverna di San Giuseppe, settled in a steep little street of the wonderful city of Sienna, with its typical basement situated below the dining-room. Pecorini of all ages and all refining ripe slowly among cases of wines...

A more feminine ambiance is at Da Alcide next to Pise, more exactly in Venturina, where Signora Baldini and her two daughters Cristina and Francesca cook a coloured, seasonal and creative cuisine. A well-inspired modern décor on the restaurant side, a tapas ambiance on the café side with hams hanging from the ceiling and free generous smiles from the three ladies of the house make this restaurant a very popular one !