Pecorino
con Pere e Miele
In Pienza, a
festival is held in honor of the local Pecorino
in early September. The hard round balls of
Pecorino, often aged in a coating of ashes, are
used in a ball game! Perhaps you can imagine
this as you cut into a pecorino from this
area south of Siena, to make this delicious and
refreshing dessert or snack on a cold winter evening.
1/4 to 1/2 cup
of honey
1/2 pound of
pecorino, sliced or shaved
2 or 3 ripe winter
pears, cut into slices
Warm the honey
and drizzle over the slices of pear and pecorino.
This is delicious when accompanied by walnuts. Enjoy!
Il Cacio
Pecorino
In the Val D'Orcia,
pecorino is the most widely produced and popular
cheese. About 40% of all Italian cheeses come
from the milk of sheep, but here, in the territories
of the Crete and the Val D'Orcia, sheep's milk cheese
is the most commonly produced of all cheeses.
The taste and
aroma of the local Pecorino reflect the beauty and
tranquillity of the surrounding Val D'Orcia.
This cheese is a worthy reflection of the landscape
from which it comes. It is best when savored
with a wine from the area, perhaps Montalcino or
Montepulciano, and the combination of wine and cheese
are evocative of the gentle countryside and picturesque
villages that produce them.
The pecorino
is made by traditional methods and relies on several
factors for its taste and texture. The sheep
are carefully bred, and fed on the abundant and
aromatic grasses of the Val D'Orcia, creating a
distinctively fragrant and delicious cheese.
The milk is still often strained in burlap and cooked
in great cauldrons handed down through generations
of farm families. Another of the important
factors in local pecorino production is the air
in which the cheeses are left to dry. These
conditions are carefully controlled by the local
producers, who are justly proud of their product.
The fresh pecorino
is edible just twenty days after its production.
Generally, the cheese is aged for four months.
A seasoned pecorino
is also produced, and this cheese is delightful
with the red wines of the area. Below we have
a wonderful wine suggestion for those of you interested
in trying our recipe for Pecorino con Pere e
Miele.
Moscadello
di Montalcino
The Moscadello
di Montalcino is a traditional white wine from Montalcino,
produced in the same area as the famous Brunello,
but made from white Moscato grapes. It has
a pale yellow color, and its bouquet is characteristically
fresh, delicate and persistent. The taste
of the Moscadello di Montalcino is sweet and aromatic.
This is a dessert wine, and our suggestion for pairing
it with the Pecorino, Pears and Honey is perfect
for this vino.
The Moscadello
is also produced as a sparkling wine, with the same
characteristics of the still wine, but with a delicate
and lively froth.
A special kind
"vendemmia tardiva" (late vintage) is
produced with grapes partially withered, picked
in the vineyard starting from the first of October
of each year, which are then subjected to a further
withering. The color of this wine varies from pale
to golden yellow; the smell is delicate, and the
taste is quite harmonic. The late vintage Moscadello
di Montalcino has a compulsory aging of 12 months,
starting from the first of January following the
year of the vintage. This is a truly special dessert
wine.
The Model
City of Pienza
Pope Pius
II, founder of Pienza
The history of
Pienza is quite an interesting one. The town
was originally know as Corsignano, and was a humble
village until its most famous son, Enea Silvio de'Piccolomini,
a well known poet, philosopher and politician, was
elected Pope in 1458. A year later, Pius II
hired Bernardo Rossellino to redesign the entire
village of Corsignano.
The Piccolomini
family were originally a powerful Sienese clan,
forced to seek exile in Corsignano, one of their
possessions, during a turbulent period in the politics
of Renaissance Siena. No one is quite sure
why Pius, born in Corsignano in 1405, was compelled
to create a model city from his humble birthplace,
but he was, and he hired the architect Rossellino
to do the job. Another mystery that surrounds
the birth of Pienza is the motivation of the architect:
did Rossellino set out to build an original model
city, a monument to Pius, or a faithful recreation
of his patron's dreams? No one is quite sure.
What we do know is that the town was built as a
model example of classic Renaissance architecture.
It is said that Rossellino was caught embezzling
funds from the construction of the town, but Pius
II forgave him because he was so pleased with the
results of the architect's work.
Set in a gorgeous
archetypal Tuscan landscape, Pienza, christened
so by Pius after his Papal name, draws visitors
with Rosellino's monuments to Pius II that form
the core of this model city: its central piazza,
the Duomo, and the Papal Palace.
Piazza
Pio II
All the major
sights in Pienza sit here, on Rosellino's famous
piazza. The piazza itself is elegantly proportional,
and appears simple in design. The piazza itself
speaks much more to the tastes of the early, rather
than the middle or later, Renaissance, in that the
Piazza Pio was clearly designed to be much more
of a place where citizens could carry out their
daily lives, rather than an impressive and perhaps
grandiose statement.
The Duomo
Rosellino built
the Douomo in 1459. It is best known for the
golden light that floods it through its many and
vast stained glass windows. Pius II specifically
requested these windows, because he wanted a
domus vitrea, "a house of glass,"
to symbolize the Humanistic Age's spirit of intellectual
enlightenment.
Rosellino himself
carved an altar and baptismal font in the lower
church, and the cathedral also features works by
several well known Sienese artists. Sano di
Pietro, Matteo di Giovanni, Vecchietta and Giovanni
di Paolo all contributed altar pieces.
Pius II issued
a papal bull in 1462 that expressly forbids changing
anything in the interior of the Duomo. Sadly,
the Duomo itself is in great danger, since it has
been suffering from subsidence almost since it was
built.
The Duomo is
open daily, except Tuesday. Recent hours were
10-1 and 3-6. There is a charge for admission.
Palazzo
Piccolomini
The Palazzo Piccolomini
sits nest to the Cathedral on Piazza Pio and was
home to various members of the Piccolomini family
almost continuously until 1968. It is now
open to visitors. Leon Battista Alberti's
designs for the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence were
Rosellolino's inspriation for the palazzo.
Among the favorites
sights of visitors to Pienza is the ornate and arcaded
courtyard at the rear of the palazzo. There
you will find a three-story loggia that overlooks
a hanging garden at the edge of a cliff. The
views from here to the wooded slopes of Monte Amiata
are not to be missed.
The Palazzo Piccolomini
is open to visitors from Tuesday through Sunday.
Hours vary with the season, so be sure to check.
There is a charge for admission.
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