Pecorino from La Porta dei Parchi, Marcelli Formaggi

In Abruzzo, Pecorino isn’t just cheese. It’s a memory, a story, and a connection to the land. It’s not something used as a seasoning that we grate and forget — it’s something we eat, share, and celebrate. It’s a food that carries the flavour of wild herbs, mountain winds, and centuries of care. And in today’s world, it has become a quiet act of resistance against industrial food, climate change, and the erosion of rural life.

A Taste Born in the Mountains

Pecorino Cacio Fiorello available in Marcelli Formaggi, New Jersey, USA

What makes our Pecorino so different? It begins not in the dairy, but on the high mountain pastures where the sheep graze — the Apennines, stretching out in Abruzzo with Maiella and Gran Sasso d’Abruzzo massifs, which are among the richest areas of flora in Europe.

Here, in this astonishing cradle of biodiversity where northern, Mediterranean, and Balkan influences meet, you’ll find over 3,200 species of plants — almost half of Italy’s botanical heritage that quietly seasons the milk long before the cheesemaker begins their work.

Flowers and Herbs That Flavour the Cheese

The sheep graze freely on high-altitude meadows, which include:

• Gentiana dinarica – With its intense blue flowers, this rare gentian adds a delicate bitterness.
• Iris marsica – Endemic to the Apennines, this iris lends subtle floral notes, especially from drier pastures.
• Leontopodium alpinum subsp. nivale – The Apennine edelweiss, resilient and aromatic.
• Paeonia officinalis subsp. italica – A showy mountain peony, whose presence adds to the richness of the landscape.
• Daphne mezereum – Though its berries are toxic, its sweet-scented flowers perfume the air.
• Anacamptis pyramidalis – A wild orchid that dots the meadows with vibrant colour and hints of sweet vanilla.
• Lilium martagon – The elegant Martagon lily, rare and graceful.
• Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – Known as bearberry, this plant is more important to the fauna, but adds to the terrain’s complex aroma.
• Adonis distorta – Endemic and found at higher altitudes, it imparts subtle alpine notes.
• Minuartia glomerata subsp. trichocalycina – Thriving on stony slopes, it contributes a mild minerality.
• Ononis cristata subsp. apennina – Grows in dry alpine pastures and may give the milk faint herbal hints.

At lower altitudes, more familiar herbs also shape the milk’s flavour, many of which double as key ingredients in traditional recipes like pecora alla callara, the mutton stew cooked in a cauldron that Tucci in Italy recently profiled

• Nipitella (Calamintha) – A minty herb that adds freshness.
• Santoreggia (Savory) – Peppery and slightly spicy.
• Achillea (Yarrow) – Earthy and slightly bitter.
• Timo (Thyme) – A classic Mediterranean fragrance.
• Origano (Oregano) – Intense and aromatic.
• Iperico (St. John’s Wort) – Known more for its golden colour, but adds grassy notes.
• Menta (Mint) – Sweet and sharp.
• Malva (Mallow) – Mild, sometimes with a hint of cucumber.
• Piantaggine (Plantago) – Slightly astringent, grounding the blend.

All these wild herbs and flowers not only contribute to the health of the animals but are what make our Pecorino cheeses so memorable.

A Living Tradition, Sustained by New Hands

Our cheese-making culture is ancient, but today it is kept alive thanks in large part to migrant shepherds from countries like Romania and Albania who have come to Abruzzo and taken up this demanding work. It is thought that as many as 90% of Abruzzo’s shepherds are not Abruzzese.  Without them, much of our rural and high-mountain shepherding and pecorino cheese would be lost.

Photo by Jo Malcolm on Campo Imperatore

These modern-day shepherds continue a tradition that dates back to the transumanza – the seasonal migration of flocks between the mountains and plains. There was a time when sheep in Abruzzo outnumbered the people, and the rhythm of life was defined by the passage of bells and hooves along the tratturi (ancient shepherding routes). Today’s shepherds — whether born in Abruzzo or across the Adriatic – preserve that rhythm.

Pecorino: From Soft and Fresh to Aged and Rich

Not all Pecorino from Abruzzo is hard and crumbly. Many local forms are soft, creamy, and delicate, meant to be eaten young. A shining example is Gregoriano, a soft Pecorino made by Valle Scannese, created in Scanno by the late Gregorio Rotolo, one of the region’s most beloved artisan cheesemakers.  It won best Italian cheese in 2022. His legacy, and that of his friend Nunzio Marcelli from La Porta dei Parchi has helped raise global awareness of what Abruzzo cheese can be when it is allowed to speak in its own voice.

Gregoriano Pecorino Cheese, Best Italian Cheese 2022, available online at Marcelli Formagi, New Jersey, USA

Historically, Abruzzo would send its young, unfinished cheeses to Rome to be aged — a practical export, but one that often erased the identity of the land it came from. It is thanks to cheesemakers like Gregorio, Nunzio, and other committed artisans that Abruzzo Pecorino is now being enjoyed around the world, as Abruzzese cheese – not just as a generic wheel of hard sheep’s milk.

We Eat It, We Share It, We Celebrate It

Primo Sale Pecorino

Here in Abruzzo, Pecorino is not an ingredient — it’s a celebration. We eat it as part of antipasti, with a drizzle of delicious, award-winning honey or a slice of pear. We pair it with local wines, break it out at festivals, and gift it as a sign of respect and pride. It connects us to the land, to those who walked the shepherds’ paths before us, and to the new generations, from Anversa degli Abruzzi to Romania, who walk them today.

Where  to Buy Abruzzese Pecorino in the USA

Author: Sam Dunham

Sam is a very lucky midlife Mum to A who is 13 and juggles working as a freelance SEO copywriter with teaching IGCSEs at Istituto Cristo Re in Rome. She is the founder of the Life In Abruzzo Cultural Association, co-founder of Let's Blog Abruzzo and the 'English in the Woods' initiative.