Caciocavallo Silano

Caciocavallo Silano is a semi-hard, spun-curd cow's milk cheese produced across a defined zone of the southern Apennines spanning provinces in Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, and Puglia. The curd is spun in hot water and moulded into oval or truncated-cone forms, with or without a head, and the cheese may be marketed at varying stages of maturity.

About this designation

Caciocavallo Silano holds PDO status, registered under file number PDO-IT-0003 with eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012985, with EU protection dating from 2 July 1996. The protected name as registered is Caciocavallo Silano. The designation covers a semi-hard pasta filata cheese made exclusively from cows' milk. The geographical area is defined as the territory of communes falling within the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza, Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Naples, Salerno, Campobasso, Foggia, Bari, Taranto, Brindisi, Matera, and Potenza, together with the entire territory of the neighbouring province of Isernia, forming a continuous area along the ridge of the southern Apennines. The production method requires that the curd, obtained by coagulating the milk with calf's rennet, be subjected to a spinning process in hot water, then moulded into the traditional oval or truncated-cone shapes, with or without a head. Salting and ripening follow, the latter at variable duration. The specification notes the presence of holes in the paste. The product is marketed with a special label showing the name of origin. The applicant group responsible for the designation is the Consorzio di Tutela del formaggio con denominazione di origine protetta Caciocavallo Silano.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 2 July 1996 under file number PDO-IT-0003, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012985.
• The geographical area spans provinces across five regions — Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Molise, and Puglia — forming a continuous zone along the southern Apennines.
• The specification requires coagulation with calf's rennet and a hot-water spinning process to produce the characteristic spun-curd texture.
• The cheese may be oval or truncated-cone in shape, with or without a head, and is permitted to be marketed at varying stages of maturity.

Tasting notes

Southern Italian pasta filata cow's milk cheese with characteristic teardrop/horse-saddle shape. Pale yellow paste, firm but elastic, rich savory-buttery flavor evolving with age; younger versions milky-mild, aged versions sharp-piquant.

HoReCa use

Sliced fresh on cheese boards; aged grated over orecchiette and rustic pasta; melted over warm focaccia; classic in southern Italian frittate.

Packaging

• whole-piece-1-2.5kg
• half-piece-vacuum-700g
• wedge-vacuum-300g