Caseificio Il Casolare

The people behind it

Il Casolare is the La Vecchia family's dairy in Alvignano, in the Alto Casertano. In 2016 the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog told it as the work of three generations: their father Benito ran a dairy in Vitulazio, and there Mimmo La Vecchia entered the trade in 1969, at fourteen. After fourteen years beside his father he started a production of his own; today the dairy is run by Mimmo with his brother Pasquale and their wives Concetta and Donatella.

Identità Golose, the same year, presents Mimmo's son Benito alongside him, following production and the cheese experiments. Mimmo, the magazine writes, told his sons that if they ever change the production philosophy they must also change the name Il Casolare. In 2020 Benito La Vecchia, interviewed by Zest of Italy, described the business as a third-generation family firm. In 2025 the Italian Cheese Awards gave Mimmo La Vecchia their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sources: Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog — Alvignano, caseificio Il Casolare (18 marzo 2016) · Identità Golose — Il Casolare: non solo mozzarella (28 aprile 2016) · Zest of Italy — Caseificio Il Casolare and their buffalo mozzarella (30 aprile 2020) · Italian Cheese Awards — Archivio 2025, vincitori

What they make

The heart of Il Casolare is Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO. According to the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog the range includes spheres, plaits, bocconcini, knots, smoked mozzarella and ricotta; the smoking is the traditional cold method over wheat straw. Since 2014, Identità Golose reports, the family has also been experimenting with soft buffalo-milk cheeses with cheesemaker Peppe Iaconelli, including Fabula Affinato al Sidro, created to give an outlet to the milk in the cold months, when demand for mozzarella drops.

The link with pizza is documented by several sources. Scatti di Gusto writes that Franco Pepe, at Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo, uses Mimmo La Vecchia's buffalo mozzarella, and Identità Golose recalls that his father already bought from the family. With Gino Sorbillo, again according to Scatti di Gusto, Mimmo worked out a pizza blend of about 80% cow's milk and 20% buffalo milk, to join the oven behaviour of fior di latte with the flavour of buffalo. Pasqualino Rossi, at the Elite pizzeria in Alvignano, uses its buffalo mozzarella and a buffalo blend.

Sources: Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog — Alvignano, caseificio Il Casolare (18 marzo 2016) · Identità Golose — Il Casolare: non solo mozzarella (28 aprile 2016) · Scatti di Gusto — Pizza, Franco Pepe in Grani a Caiazzo (2014, aggiornato 2017) · Scatti di Gusto — Mozzarella vs fiordilatte (2012, aggiornato 2019) · Scatti di Gusto — Campionato della pizza, Pasqualino Rossi, Elite (2014)

Ingredients and territory

The dairy lies between Monte Maggiore and the Matese, and the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog reports that the milk comes from buffalo herds within 12-15 kilometres; the work is semi-mechanised but mostly manual, with 14 staff in 2016. In his 2020 interview with Zest of Italy, Benito La Vecchia speaks of 15 trusted breeders within about ten miles, each with an average of 150 head, and of production done by hand in almost every phase, including the mozzatura, the cutting off of each piece.

The mozzarella awarded in 2025 is described by Cronache di Gusto as made in the Aversa school, with natural whey starter and cooking by hand. Mimmo La Vecchia, again according to the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog, chose not to grow further in order to stay artisanal: distribution still reaches Campania, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Lazio and Veneto, and in 2020 Benito said that 60% of production stays in Campania, 30% goes to the rest of Italy and 10% abroad.

Sources: Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog — Alvignano, caseificio Il Casolare (18 marzo 2016) · Zest of Italy — Caseificio Il Casolare and their buffalo mozzarella (30 aprile 2020) · Cronache di Gusto — Svelati i vincitori degli Italian Cheese Awards 2025 (27 ottobre 2025)

Recognition

The most recent recognition comes from the Italian Cheese Awards, organised by Guru Comunicazione: in the 2025 edition, with the final evening on 26 October 2025 at the Bergamo trade fair, Il Casolare's Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO won the Pasta filata category, and Mimmo La Vecchia received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Cronache di Gusto reports that there were 34 finalists, chosen from more than 1,400 cheeses entered. The same competition, in its 2016 edition at Formaggio in Villa, had already given Il Casolare first place in Pasta filata, according to Identità Golose.

In 2025 the dairy was also among the 16 finalists of the Buffalo Mozzarella Championship run by Scatti di Gusto and the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog, blind-tasted by 20 judges, finishing 9th; it had been a finalist in 2022 as well. None of these recognitions comes from guides or awards that Il Casolare is known to sponsor. The pizzerias that use it hold their own awards: Pepe in Grani has Gambero Rosso's Three Slices 2026 and is No. 31 in 50 Top Pizza Italia 2026.

Sources: Italian Cheese Awards — Archivio 2025, vincitori · Cronache di Gusto — Svelati i vincitori degli Italian Cheese Awards 2025 (27 ottobre 2025) · Identità Golose — Il Casolare: non solo mozzarella (28 aprile 2016) · Scatti di Gusto — San Salvatore, migliore mozzarella di bufala al Campionato 2025 (classifica) · Scatti di Gusto — Campionato della Mozzarella di Bufala 2025: i 16 caseifici in finale · Scatti di Gusto — Mozzarella di bufala, classifica dei migliori caseifici (aggiornato 2026) · Scatti di Gusto — 3 Spicchi Gambero Rosso 2026, le migliori pizzerie · 50 Top Pizza — 50 Top Pizza Italia 2026, classifica

Going there

Il Casolare is at Via Olivella 12 in Alvignano, in the province of Caserta, in the valley between Monte Maggiore and the Matese; the phone number given by Scatti di Gusto in 2025 and by the Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog is 0823 610906. In the 2020 interview Benito La Vecchia explains that the clientele is split between shops and restaurants and that the dairy also sells directly in its small shop next to the production room.

Buffalo mozzarella is bought fresh, on the day, and here it can be found where it is made. For those who want to see how pizza makers use it, the same Alto Casertano area is home to Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo, which according to Scatti di Gusto and Identità Golose has bought from the La Vecchia family for two generations, and to Pasqualino Rossi's Elite pizzeria in Alvignano itself. The dairy's official website could not be reached on the date of this entry: it is worth calling ahead for the shop's opening hours.

Sources: Scatti di Gusto — San Salvatore, migliore mozzarella di bufala al Campionato 2025 (classifica) · Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog — Alvignano, caseificio Il Casolare (18 marzo 2016) · Zest of Italy — Caseificio Il Casolare and their buffalo mozzarella (30 aprile 2020) · Scatti di Gusto — Pizza, Franco Pepe in Grani a Caiazzo (2014, aggiornato 2017) · Identità Golose — Il Casolare: non solo mozzarella (28 aprile 2016) · Scatti di Gusto — Campionato della pizza, Pasqualino Rossi, Elite (2014)

Products and flavours

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana (buffalo mozzarella)

PDO · Cheeses

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Ricotta di Bufala Campana (buffalo ricotta)

PDO · Cheeses

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Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO

History, stretching and hand-cutting, PDO rules, landscapes and practical tips for recognising and enjoying buffalo-milk mozzarella.

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Photo: Popo le Chien / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Resized and converted to WebP.

The region

Campania