In the hills of Tuscany, near Pisa, in the village of Acciaiolo, lies the Caseificio Busti. For three generations, the Pecorino cheese has been made from fresh sheep's milk by the family. In the aging rooms and caves, hundreds of wheels are stored, some young and creamy, others carefully aged for months until they develop their full flavor.
The history of the cheese dairy begins in 1955 with Alessandro Busti and his son Remo, originally shepherds from the upper Garfagnana, a mountainous region in northern Tuscany. There, between chestnut forests and steep slopes, they ran a small sheep farm before settling in the municipality of Fauglia, near Pisa, and founding the cheese dairy. Initially, they processed only a few hundred kilograms of milk from the province of Pisa, which the young Remo himself collected in a small delivery van with a tarpaulin cover.
After the first years alongside his father, Remo took over the cheese dairy as sole owner. Production grew slowly but remained artisanal; initially, no more than eight to ten hundred kilograms of milk were processed. Remo's passion became a model for his son Stefano, who after some years decided to join the business. With this generational change, the operation began to grow. Today, he runs the cheese dairy with his children Marco and Benedetta.
The milk for the cheese comes from selected Tuscan shepherds, especially from Siena, Pienza, and the Val d’Orcia, regions known for their excellent pastures. Milk is also sourced from the province of Grosseto, the Pisan hills, and the Maremma.
The Busti family currently no longer owns their own sheep herds. However, Stefano harbors the desire to rebuild his own flock in the future to have even greater control over milk quality and to connect the old traditions of shepherd life with cheese making.
In the large, bright production rooms of the cheese dairy, the sheep's milk is processed fresh daily. With skilled hands, the cheesemakers shape the wheels, which then develop their distinctive flavor in the aging rooms. After a few weeks of aging, the classic Pecorino Toscano DOP reaches its fine character. It is made exclusively from milk that meets the strict requirements of the consortium for Tuscan DOP Pecorino.
During the aging process, the wheel receives special treatment: the rind is rubbed multiple times with olive oil, giving it its characteristic, marbled brown color.
