Farms, dairies, cooperatives and affineurs in Tuscany that you can visit or buy from.
A guide to cheese farms in Tuscany.
Family dairy at Montepulciano making Pecorino di Pienza since 1962, founded by a Sardinian family. Visitors can book a tasting that explains production, or an outdoor picnic.
Cheeses: Pecorino di Pienza
Visiting: farm shop, guided tasting that explains production from milking to ageing, outdoor picnic of its cheeses and local cured meats (booked online), B&B rooms
Working farm a few kilometres from Pienza with its own sheep and goat dairy making pecorino, caprino and ricotta from unpasteurised milk. Tours cover production from fermentation to ageing and end with a tasting.
Cheeses: Pecorino di Pienza, Caprino, Ricotta
Visiting: guided farm and dairy tour (about 2 hours, with a master cheesemaker), cheese tasting, cheese-making demonstration, restaurant with a panoramic terrace, cooking classes, online shop
Family dairy making sheep and goat cheeses: classic, fermented and spiced pecorini, with black pepper, walnuts or basil and pine nuts. Its shop is La Bottega del Naturista in Pienza.
Cheeses: Pecorino di Pienza, Goat cheeses
Visiting: cheese sales at its shop in Pienza
Maremma sheep dairy founded in 1957 by Duilio Fiorini, with an ageing grotto cut into the rock of Roccalbegna in 1962. Visits cover production, the grotto and a guided tasting.
Cheeses: Pecorino Toscano
Visiting: guided dairy visit (reservation only), natural ageing grotto, guided tasting of 4 pecorini (2 hours) or 6 pecorini (4 hours, with Roccalbegna village), dairy shop
Maremma farmers' cooperative making Pecorino Toscano DOP and other cheeses. It opens the plant on reserved mornings, ending with a tasting, and sells directly from the dairy.
Cheeses: Pecorino Toscano
Visiting: guided dairy visit by reservation on some weekday mornings, tasting of the main cheeses, direct sales
Family dairy that began cheesemaking in 1955, when the shepherds Alessandro and Remo Busti came down from the upper Garfagnana. It runs guided tours with tastings, a factory shop and a restaurant at Acciaiolo.
Cheeses: Pecorino Toscano, Ricotta La Pec
Visiting: factory shop, guided dairy tours of about 1 hour, ending with a tasting, ageing caves tour, restaurant Il Rifocillo (dinner Tuesday to Sunday)
Dairy at Poggibonsi founded in 1987 and run by the Morrocchi family, with a shop and morning visits that show cheese being made, followed by a tasting of eight pecorini and ricotta.
Cheeses: Marzolino del Chianti, Raveggiolo, Pecorino, Ricotta
Visiting: dairy shop, dairy visit from 9:30 (about 45 minutes), tasting of 8 pecorini and ricotta, bookable in the morning
Wine and olive oil estate that has made sheep cheese from its Sardinian flock since 1992. The shop sells cheese, and guided tours with tastings run on reservation.
Cheeses: Pecorino Ruota del Re, Dante, Marzolino del Chianti, Ricotta
Visiting: farm shop, guided tour of the winery and dairy (dairy seen from outside), tasting with cheese board and wine
Dairy cooperative begun in 1961 by Alto Mugello herders, part of the CLAI group since 2019. Its renovated shop sells its cheeses, including an organic caciotta, local cured meats and Tuscan specialities.
Cheeses: Caciotta biologica
Visiting: dairy shop, snack point (punto ristoro)
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Fresco must age at least 20 days and stagionato at least 4 months, according to the Qualigeo product sheet.
Mostly, but the DOP area also covers bordering communes in the Viterbo province of Lazio and the Perugia and Terni provinces of Umbria.
Qualigeo describes the taste as sweet, never salty or spicy, and credits a salting much shorter than other pecorini: on average about 16 hours for a fresco and about 24 hours for a stagionato.
Italy recognised Pecorino Toscano as a denominazione di origine by presidential decree on 17 May 1986, and the EU registered it as a DOP in 1996.
Fresco from 7 to 44 days, semistagionato from 45 days to 6 months, stagionato from 6 to 12 months and da asserbo over 12 months.
0.6 to 2 kg for the fresco, semistagionato and stagionato, and up to 7 kg for the da asserbo.
Raw whole sheep's milk from Sardinian-breed sheep, with vegetable rennet.
Italian sources link the name to March (marzo), when spring milk and production traditionally began. Production at Chianti dairies is said to run from November to June.