News from the Italian Parks

(20 Set 16) There is an indissoluble bond between quality of the territory, quality of the pasture and quality of the dairy production; the sensory properties of the latter are strictly connected to the environment the animals live, move and eat in.

This fact - according to the researchers Aurelio Manzi and Giampiero Sacchetti, who participated in the workshop entitled "L'erbario e i sapori del pecorino di Castel del Monte" (The herbarium and the tastes of the pecorino cheese of Castel del Monte) together with the cheese producer Manuela Tripodi - is proved on the Campo Imperatore upland, where natural quality and territorial quality coincide, determining the most peculiar qualities of the "Canestrato".

In a landscape shaped by a centuries-old sheep farming characterized by the practice of the transhumance, the extremely rich herbaceous community evolved along with the pasture and, says Manzi, this implies that to keep the pasture and the extensive farming alive means to maintain the extraordinary heritage of biological diversity safeguarded by the pastures.

The outcomes of the workshop and the interesting "discoveries" and suggestions produced by the participants confirmed what had been already discovered after the study-tour of technicians and managers of the Park to Asiago: quality of pastures as a guarantee of the milk quality and of the safeguard of biodiversity, in order to guarantee unique and inimitable dairy productions.

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Study-tour to Asiago (VI)