When Italians wish to get a smile for a photograph, they urge “Dici ‘cheese’!”  Many of the photographed subjects don’t even know the meaning of “cheese” but they obediently repeat it with a wide smile. There is no point in saying “Dici ‘formaggio’” because saying the Italian word for “cheese” turns the lips downward a bit. Not ideal for a photo!

Near Assisi, we head to the Caseifico Broccatelli for tasty cheeses (formaggi). As you enter, there is a fresco on your left by famed American artist Mark Balma (who had lived for some years in Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi – not far from the caseificio). Assisi rises in the distance behind a shepherd playing his pipe. His wife caresses a sheep, perhaps just milked, and a huge container of milk sits to the left of the piping shepherd.

Below the “B” for Broccatelli, an open book recounts information on all the cheeses sold there in the shop. On a recent visit there, a client ahead of me had just requested what I, too, would take home: mozzarella fatta a mano (mozzarella formed by hand).

Smaller mozzarelle shared the display case including treccine e treccione (“braids” and “big braids”, twists of mozzarella).

I purchased fresh ricotta for pasta con la ricotta, but I also enjoy it in the morning on wheat toast topped with jam. This time, I resisted a couple buonissimi caciotta cheeses, one with tartufo (shaved black truffle) and another with peperoncino (chili pepper). Nearby was an aged pecorino (sheep’s milk cheese). I concluded my purchases with a scamorza affumicata, a smoked cheese we bake in our woodstove until it melts. The smoked scamorze, darker in color, were piled behind other scamorze of all sizes.

There are numerous cheeses to choose from at Broccatelli as well as a variety of yogurts and butter. A surprising new addition to the Broccatelli shelves is gelato! All very good reasons to return soon to Caseificio Broccatelli.