Pecorino Toscano DOP

Among the documents recalling the history of Pecorino Toscano we find the ‘Manuale del Pecoraio’ (Shepherd’s Handbook), written in 1832 by Ignazio Malenotti, a member of the Linnean Society of Paris. The vademecum pays tribute to this cheese and for the first time refers to two types of cacio: the strong one that ‘pinches’ and the sweet one. The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were years of great production due to the revival of sheep farming, which stopped in the 1930s in favour of agriculture. It was in the 1970s that sheep farming resumed, also due to the arrival in Tuscany of Sardinian shepherds who introduced their activities and traditions, including cheese-making.