caciocavallo

The Italian name of the cheese caciocavallo literally means 'horse cheese' and it is generally thought that the name derives from the fact that two cheese forms are always bound together with rope and then left to mature by placing them a cavallo, i.e. straddling, upon a horizontal stick or branch.

A sort of caciocavallo is believed to have first been mentioned by Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 370 BC), who emphasised the "Greeks' cleverness in making cheese". Columella in his classic treatise on agriculture, De re rustica (35–45 CE), described precisely the methods used in its preparation, making it one of the oldest known cheeses in the world. Types of cheese with names similar to caciocavallo are common throughout the Balkans and southern Italy.
In Sicily, the Ragusano DOP, known locally as caciocavallo ragusano had to drop the denomination "caciocavallo" in order to get DOP status.

Many different types of caciocavallo exist in Italy, and several are recognised as prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (PAT), such as caciocavallo podolico (produced using only milk from the Podolica cattle breed), caciocavallo di Castelfranco (from Miscano Valley in the Apennines) or caciocavallo di Godrano (often called caciocavallo palermitano).

Caciocavallo silano is made with cow's milk in designated areas of southern Italy, in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Apulia, and gained protected geographical status in 1993.