Hard cooked cheese made from whole sheep's milk either medium-mature or mature depending on whether it is for table use or for grating, cylindrical in shape with straight sides.

Geographical area: the entire territory of the autonomous region of Sardinia and of the provinces of Rome, Prosinone, Latina, Viterbo, Rieti and Grosseto, forming a single continental area.

The cheese is of very ancient origin, with many historical references to it in the Roman period; it spread over the centuries to the Latium region although the main source of milk continued to be Sardinia. Consequently the name of the cheese refers etymologically to its historical and geographical base, in line with the above-mentioned links with Sardinian sheep-rearing which, since the

beginning of this century has also experienced considerable autonomous development of the processing and marketing of the product.

The curd, obtained from whole sheep's milk with lamb's rennet added, is cooked and cut up into granules the size of grains of rice and then is pressed and salted and left to ripen for a variable period depending on the gastronomic use to which the cheese is to be put; this ripening period affects its organoleptic characteristics, the pungent flavour of the curd increasing as the cheese matures.

As for natural factors, the particular characteristics of the areas used for rearing sheep, particularly with free grazing on natural pastureland, should be borne in mind; these areas are rich in natural essences which impart particular qualities to the milk to

be used for cheese-making. As for the human factors, apart from the historic economic importance, the sheep-rearing concerns involved are characterized by the sociological aspects connected with the presence of a rural population in so-called marginal