A Q&A with Italian researcher and cheesemaker Lucia Sepe
Sepe discusses the history of goats in Italy and the state of cheesemaking there today.
I recently got the opportunity to speak with Lucia Sepe, a senior researcher at the Council for Agricultural Research and Economics near the Research Center for Animal Production and Aquaculture in Bella, a province of Potenza in Southern Italy.
Sepe, who served as vice president of the International Goat Association, began teaching about cheesemaking in 1994 in addition to her prolific research. She also served as editor of two magazines about cheesemaking and wrote a children’s book on the topic as well.
She graciously spoke with me about the history of raising goats in Italy through the present day.
You have an extensive background in livestock husbandry and cheesemaking. How did you get interested in goats? Did you grow up with them?
Thank you for your kind words. I started working in 1992 at the Research Centre, which specialized in goats. My job with goats started in 1994, for a European project on cashmere goats; I dealt with herd management and cashmere fiber quality. Then, I studied goat nutrition at pasture, diet supplementation and feeding behavior, and cheese production and quality (sensory analysis). I can say that professionally I grew up with them.
How did you get interested in making cheese?
Over 20 years ago, I thought that I could not teach (even only occasionally) about cheese without being able to make cheese by myself; I believe that personal experience helps in knowing the process. I started at home, in my kitchen with raw cow milk (my parents-in-law’s animal), and liquid calf rennet, then I watched the technicians making cheese at our Institute, thus personally learning to make my experimental cheeses. I participated in projects on factors affecting cheese quality, and innovation in dairy production (vegetable rennet, cheese from diet supplementation), working in our experimental dairy.
You mentioned that goat herding in Italy dates back to the Neolithic era. Herders came from Anatolia with sheep first and then goats, correct?
Well, from the archeological studies, the goat appears as the first domesticated dairy species (about 10,000 years before Christ). Presumably, sheep and goats came together from Anatolia to the Mediterranean Sea around 7,000 B.C., first milked for direct human nutrition (see the myth of Amalthea breastfeeding Zeus in Crete), then for both drinking and cheesemaking (the myth of centaur Chiron who curdled goat milk to feed Zeus).
Today goats are reared in all Italian regions, from Alps to Sicily; historically most are herded in the eight Southern regions. In 2022, 65% were reared in the South, with Sardinia and Calabria regions the richest in goats, followed by Lombardy, Sicily, and Piedmont respectively (see the figure below).
Have goats traditionally been used for cheesemaking in Italy?
Definitely yes. Besides for drinking, traditionally goat milk has been used for cheesemaking, pure or mixed with sheep and (later) cow milk. In 2023, Italy counted 586 cheeses recognized by the European Union, with labels of Protected Designation of Origin PDO (53), Protected Geographical Indication PGI (2), Guaranteed Traditional Speciality GTS (1), and 530 as Traditional Agrofood products (Italian label). Among them, about 15-20% are made with goat milk as traditional cheeses, besides those made commercially.
When was raising goats in the mountainous regions most prevalent?
In ancient times, goats were raised with sheep for milk, meat, and leather, in almost all the Italian regions, from the grasslands to the mountains. They were an economical resource for poor families, thanks to the low care and feeding requirements.
Transhumance was practiced, with flocks moving from the land (in winter) to the mountains (late spring-summer), till the Barbarian invasions. Around the year 1000, when general conditions improved, cow milk was processed into cheese (starting in the abbeys). The transhumance restarted, with taxes for the use of lands. The pastures and grasslands were reserved for sheep and cows for their milk production and wool.
Moreover, the requirement for wood increased and many uncultivated areas were sown. Goats were considered dangerous for use in these areas and the banning of goats for grazing in the forests started. In the 16th and 17th centuries, several bans and restrictions confined goats to the poorest areas (mountain rocky pasture, poor land pasture), where only goats could find all the necessities to live and supply products at low cost.
From the late 17th and mostly all of the 18th century, when the competition with dairy cows and the industry (for wood) further increased, an open “war against goats” was declared, banning or limiting the raising and/or grazing of goats. To safeguard the forests, the most oppressive laws were passed in 1927 and 1930, with a special tax for goats. The poorest populations especially were damaged by these laws. Later, from the scarce information available, and until 1950, goats were herded in small percentages in the sheep flock or by the poorest population, with few heads.
In the internal areas, for instance, the Alps, commonly flocks are made up of only goats, raising local breeds and producing traditional cheeses. Selling cheese at the local market was common till the late 20th century, when some Consortia were born and the way to sell products changed, introducing the national and international markets (online selling).
You mentioned was common practice for flocks to be 10% goats and the rest cows or sheep (or six sheep to one goat in Calabria). Then people make ricotta cheese with cow’s whey and goat’s milk to make it richer. Was this standard in the 17-19th centuries and is this still common today?
In Central-Southern Italy, in the past (15th to 19th centuries), goats were commonly reared in a mixed flock with sheep in a ratio changing region by region, from 1:4 to 1:6 (goat: sheep), and 1:10 in cow’s flocks. Cheeses were made in the winter and spring with goat milk mixed with sheep and cow milk, and in summer with pure goat milk (being their lactation longer than sheep’s).
In some areas in Southern Italy (Calabria, e.g.), goat milk was added to cow whey to make a richer Ricotta cheese (10% of cow whey). It is difficult to find historical evidence of this use. However, we can suppose that it is a traditional practice, still present in some areas in the Southern Apennines, with the Podolica cow breed flocks. It is different for large farms, of course.
In Southern Italy, you mentioned cheese made from goat’s milk is not so much a gourmet food as it is in France, that it’s more of an everyday food?
The Southern Italian goat cheese (Cacioricotta and other hard cheeses) was traditionally consumed grated on pasta, as a protein source in a simple diet: the memory is still strong, and valorization is in progress.
At the same time in other regions, soft or fresh cheeses, such as Caciotta or Caprino-type cheeses, are consumed as gourmet food, or traditionally as a main dish with bread and vegetables or soup in other regions. Recently, goat cheeses have become more appreciated, thanks to the awareness of their nutritional properties and values, and the valorization also for the Southern traditional goat cheeses.
How much was goat herding a way of life in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries compared to today?
Very complex question. Goat herding as a way of life in the 18th, 19th and half of the 20th century basically meant pastoralism. That meant a hard life, transhumance, cheesemaking at the farm level or in small dairies. From the late 20th century until today, goat herding as a way of life still remains pastoralism in the internal and mountain areas, as a semi-extensive system with use of pastures. In other areas, mostly in the Sardinia region, the intensive system was introduced, with cosmopolitan goat breeds reared indoors all year and zero grazing.
Cheesemaking has been regulated by national and European laws that recognize traditional dairy processes and provide “good practices” designed to ensure the safety of the product and the health of the herd. Today the tradition must be conciliated with these regulations; moreover the market is more difficult, with foreign competition and the Big Distribution imposing low margins for the producers.
In the earlier centuries, the goat herding way of life was inherited by the parents, a productive activity for large flocks, and a form of subsistence with few heads. Today, goat herding as a pastoral system is kept alive by those who love this species, keepers of tradition and the territory, and in some cases heroes, for all the difficulties they encounter. As an intensive system, it is livestock production, but not free from economic problems. Few people choose this way of life.
Bleats of the week
A couple from Newcastle in the UK decided to mix up their date nights by taking goats on a walk.
In Dorset, police prevailed in their hunt for two different sets of stolen goats this month.