Casizolu

Casizolu. Foto di Laore Sardegna – Progetto Prometea

Casizolu is the best-known Sardinian *pasta filata* (stretched-curd) cheese and one of the island’s few cow’s milk products—a notable exception in a tradition dominated by sheep’s milk. The *pasta filata* production method—involving the patient wait for the curd to reach the right stretching consistency and the manual shaping of the rounds, which are dried on cloths and then aged while draped over wooden beams—has been documented in Sardinia since the 13th century.

Casizolu is pear-shaped, featuring a "priest’s hat" or "rosette" style top and a small tip that allows it to be tied and hung. Its name varies by region (*tittighedda*, *fighedda*, *sa buledda*, *sa zucchitta*). It has a thin, smooth, straw-colored rind and a soft, compact, elastic, and melt-in-the-mouth paste, with a pleasant aroma of butter and milk and a delicate flavor that is milky or slightly tangy.

Its primary production area is Montiferru, north of Oristano, where the cheese is made from the milk of free-roaming Sardo-Modicana and Bruna-Sarda cows. Traditionally, production was the work of women, who kneaded the curd in boiling water to shape its characteristic pot-bellied form. Due to its rarity and the value of the artisanal technique involved, Casizolu is listed among Italy’s Traditional Agri-food Products and is protected by a Slow Food Presidium. It is enjoyed on its own, sliced, or—in the oldest tradition—warmed over hot coals and drizzled with a thin layer of honey, paired with red wines.

Bibliography

Formaggi di Sardegna, a cura di M. Venusti. Regione Autonoma della Sardegna – Agenzia Laore, 2010, p. 21.
A. Guigoni, Il formaggio nei presidi Slow Food: marchi di qualità, in Formaggio e pastoralismo in Sardegna. Storia, cultura, tradizione e innovazione. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2015, pp. 653-664.
G. Murru Corriga, Dall’ovile al museo. Tecniche e strumenti della caseificazione tradizionale in Sardegna, in Formaggio e pastoralismo in Sardegna. Storia, cultura, tradizione e innovazione. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2015, pp. 665-692.
S. Paulis, Il ruolo della donna nel mondo pastorale della Sardegna tradizionale. Pratiche, simbologie e identità di genere, in Formaggio e pastoralismo in Sardegna. Storia, cultura, tradizione e innovazione. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2015, pp. 599-616.
A. Pirisi, I formaggi tradizionali e a Denominazione di Origine Protetta, in Formaggio e pastoralismo in Sardegna. Storia, cultura, tradizione e innovazione. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2015, pp. 199-262.