This time we bring you to the heart of Italy, where we have tasted the best sheep cheese and the best pancetta since the beginning of our adventure! Turrita is a small village in the Umbria region. Certainly one of the most central villages in Italy. We met Marco there, who has owned a small family farm with his mother since 2015, called “La Redola Verde”. On his farm, Marco raises around 80 Lacaune sheep and around 20 Cinta Senese pigs, a local breed with black skin, belted in white at the shoulders. A breed whose physique is very similar to our French pig named "Porc Basque"!
Cinta Senese is an ancient pig breed, represented in Italian art as early as the 14th century and probably already existing in Roman period. It was one of 21 Italian pig breeds of the early 20th century and one of the few to survive the increase in more productive English pig farms. Today, Cinta Senese is protected thanks to its charcuterie, which is the subject of a PDO. The Cinta Senese is a rustic pig with strong legs, suitable for outdoor living, which requires little intervention. Its fat is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which helps produce healthy, tender meats… A delight!
Apparition of Cinta Senese on the painting of Ambrogio Lorenzetti, from the fresco "Allegory and effects of Good and Bad Government" presented at the Public Palace of Siena - 1338
Marco currently milks 38 ewes in production, from which he makes ricotta and a range of sheep cheeses, pressed or soft, more or less mature. Among this lovely variety of cheeses, we find Pecorino: a sheep's cheese widely consumed in Italy. He even tries his hand at making an Italian Roquefort, which may be delicious when the maturation is complete! The ewes are fed cereals and hay as well as 4 to 5 hectares of pasture from March to the end of June and from September to the end of November, on fallow land around the farm. The farrowing of the ewes is spread out over the year.
From left to right: Marco's Lacaune sheeps; first try for Roquefort making; soft sheep's cheese
Below the farm site, a few shelters with outdoor yards accommodate a boar, three sows and a few piglets. This is where Marco raises his reproducers and young pigs, before they join "the big league". Along with their "indoor" area, this small group of animals of all sizes can also indulge in muscle relaxation on the grounds surrounding the shelters
Cinta Senese hugging...
Even further down, some 15-20 well-rounded Cinta Senese pigs enjoy two wooded hectares, where they feed on acorns and hazelnuts (there are no chestnuts here). Every day, the pigs are also given a mixture of cereals, equivalent to 2% of their body weight. Marco will also show us a small area cultivated with barley, which he opens to the pigs who pick cereals to feed themselves. Pigs are slaughtered around 18-24 months old at an average weight of 150 kilos! Marco transforms the meat of his pigs to make multiple end products: sausage, cured ham and a delicious and tender pancetta, which left us speechless!
The farm has its own store, where the farm's cheeses and cold meats are sold, as well as some local wines. Quality products from the farm also supply Italian restaurants. Quality certainly, but this is not yet sufficient for Marco, who would like to improve the meat processing activity of his pigs in the future.
Despite the small size of his farm, Marco admits the work is hard: processing and selling the products is a lot of work, and year-round milk production leaves no break in the annual schedule. In the coming years, Marco wants to reduce the workload. In particular, he would like to group the lambings a bit more, so as to stop milking during August and finally take some deserved vacation. Because it is possible to combine breeding and private life, including when you produce, process and sell your products.
As usual, we leave Marco with a bag full of cheese and pancetta 😋
Did you know ?
- Truffle pig
Marco owns two blend dogs (Braque and Pointer) with whom he goes in search of truffles in early summer. Piqued with curiosity, we asked him if the Cinta Senese was a good truffle pig. But in Italy, the law forbids looking for truffles with a pig!
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