Sabina, land of delicious shopping

Starting with the cheeses and dairy products from the Caseificio Valle del Farfa, in Montopoli di Sabina, a town at the foothills of the Sabine Mountains, where for generations they have been working the milk from cows raised on the farm, producing the typical Sabina caciotta, low, soft, and delicately flavored; fragrant ricottas, caciocavallo, mozzarellas, and stracchinos. Another reference point is the Ecofattorie Sabine, in nearby Poggio Mirteto, where you can find fresh and semi-aged pecorinos, flavored with herbs or chili; primo sale ricottas, yogurt, and a specialty: Cacio Magno, a kind of taleggio made with sheep’s milk. In Poggio San Lorenzo, there is the Capofarfa Farm, with the Agamennone family’s mill-museum, producing oil since the 1600s, using typical local cultivars: Frantoio, Leccino, Moraiolo, Raia, Pendolino. Besides showing old pressing machines, the company also organizes pleasant and educational tastings. Oil calls for wine, and for a good glass of “Bacchus’s blood” DOC, you can head to Rocca Sinibalda with its imposing castle, where Azienda Poggio Fenice produces Il Nibbio, a characterful red made from sangiovese, montepulciano, and cesanese grapes, and a fresh Rigogolo, pure vinified pinot blanc. A stop in Greccio is finally worthwhile not only to visit this picturesque village, where St. Francis staged the first nativity scene in history, but also to taste the cold cuts from Azienda Agricola Collemaggiore, which, from the meat of the black pig of the Monti Reatini raised free-range, obtains excellent products such as pancetta, guanciale, capocollo, very lean loin, and a unique salami: bronzone, a salty ham heart, closed by a rim of lard, aged 180 days.