Castel del Monte canestrato

History and origin

This is the pecorino of transhumance. Some three hundred forage species have been recorded on the Gran Sasso pastures, and this richness, together with the dry climate at altitude, has favoured sheep farming for centuries. In winter the flocks went down to the milder pastures of the Tavoliere along the tratturi, the great grassy droving roads: one of the most important ran from San Pio delle Camere to Foggia, a journey of at least fifteen days.

Long-distance transhumance is no longer practised, but the vertical kind remains: flocks winter under shelter at lower altitudes and climb to the high pastures in spring, ensuring seven to nine months a year outdoors.

Castel del Monte, with much of Campo Imperatore within its boundaries, is called the «capital of shepherds». The producers belong to a protection and promotion consortium, and canestrato is a Slow Food Presidium and a traditional Abruzzo product, listed as incanestrato di Castel del Monte.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Pecorino Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Il Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Italia.it — Castel del Monte · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

It is made from raw sheep's milk, from flocks largely of Sopravissana and Gentile di Puglia breed, without pasteurisation or thermisation, so that the milk's natural flora stays intact. The area covers the southern, L'Aquila side of the Gran Sasso: Barisciano, Calascio, Carapelle Calvisio, Castel del Monte, Castelvecchio Calvisio, some districts of L'Aquila, Ofena, San Pio delle Camere, Santo Stefano di Sessanio and Villa Santa Lucia.

Each farmer follows their own method, but in general the milk is filtered, warmed to 35-40 degrees and curdled with natural lamb rennet. The curd is broken to the size of a grain of maize, sometimes briefly cooked, and placed in baskets, where it is pressed to drain the whey.

After salting the wheels rest on wooden boards in cool, airy rooms, the casere, and during ageing they are regularly rubbed with olive oil so they do not dry out too much. It is made all year round.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Il Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Pecorino Canestrato di Castel del Monte

How to recognise it

The name comes from the canestro, the basket: the rind bears the marks of the baskets used to shape the cheese. The wheels are cylindrical, with flat faces and a slightly convex side, and weigh from one to fifteen kilos. The Presidium's rules set a different minimum ageing for each size: two months for one- or two-kilo wheels, eight for five-kilo ones, fifteen for the traditional fifteen-kilo wheels.

Fresh or semi-aged, its flavour grows steadily more intense, with notes of hay and pasture and a pleasant sweet finish. Aged beyond a year, it has intense, balanced aromas, a surprisingly creamy paste and a clear but not overwhelming sharpness; in the mouth grassy notes give way to chestnut, pasture and spice.

It is good for slicing and excellent grated.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Pecorino Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Italia.it — Abruzzo, uno scrigno di sapori e di saperi

In the kitchen

It is enjoyed fresh or aged, sliced or grated. Guides suggest it for starters and snacks, together with other Abruzzo cheeses and cured meats, and recommend tasting it with the honeys of the L'Aquila Apennines.

The pastoral tradition of Castel del Monte has produced other things worth knowing: marcetto, a creamy and very sharp cheese, fresh ricotta, which carries the scent of mountain herbs, and micischia, lean mutton cut into strips, dried, kept under salt and often smoked.

The area also offers caciocavallo, black-pig cured meats and artisan yogurt: a basket that tells the story of the Gran Sasso shepherds.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Italia.it — Prodotti e piatti tipici abruzzesi: la guida · Italia.it — Abruzzo, uno scrigno di sapori e di saperi

Where to taste it

Castel del Monte, at 1310 metres on the L'Aquila side of the Gran Sasso, is the perfect place to taste it. The village keeps its old core, the Ricetto, a maze of lanes and arches cut into the rock, and its old houses host a spread-out museum of pastoral life. The church of the Madonna del Suffragio, where shepherds sought protection before setting off on transhumance, still holds its procession on 8 September.

Above the village opens Campo Imperatore, the vast plateau between 1600 and 2100 metres, where thousands of sheep still climb in May; at Fonte Vetica the shepherd's monument honours those who devoted their lives to transhumance.

Canestrato is also found in the other villages of the production area, such as Santo Stefano di Sessanio and Calascio, on a route linking L'Aquila, the Baronia villages and the plateau.

Sources: Italia.it — Castel del Monte · Italia.it — Campo Imperatore · Italia.it — Itinerario per il Gran Sasso e la Baronia di Carapelle · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte · Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga — Il Canestrato di Castel del Monte

Protection

• Slow Food Presidium — canestrato-di-castel-del-monte (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte)
• Traditional agri-food product (PAT) — Abruzzo, n. 41, 26th revision (Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026))

When

• Production: all year round (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Canestrato di Castel del Monte)

Where

Abruzzo