Here is the story that gave rise to Casa Pedona, and to the rediscovery of the "scoppolato di Pedona"! In the mid-1800s, Giobatta Pacini, a landowner from Lucca, decided to buy a large flock of sheep to graze on the high grounds of Seimiglia, entrusting it to a shepherd, Tristano da Pedona. From time to time, Tristano would travel to Lucca to bring the sheep's cheese he produced, which was always of poor quality. An inexplicable matter. After a reverent "Scoppolata" (Tristano was always characterized by his unmistakable flat cap), he confessed to Pacini that the cheese was not what he had expected. "Maybe it's the grass the sheep eat!" he would justify himself, but there was a secret behind it. Tristano would buy cow's milk from a neighboring farmer and mix it with the sheep's milk, thus getting enough sheep's milk to make, for himself, a pure pecorino cheese, fragrant and flavorful, which he hid away, letting it age in a cave. Who knows how the man from Lucca sensed that behind that poor-quality cheese there was a mystery waiting to be solved. He sent for the shepherd, who, after the usual "scoppolata", reiterated that if the cheese wasn't very flavorful, it wasn't his fault. After this evasive answer, one morning, quietly and without a word, Giobatta went up to Tristano's sheepfold and met him just as he was coming out of a cave. The shepherd, upon seeing him, turned pale and greeted his master with the usual "scoppolata", but was pushed by Pacini into the cavity, where there was a good aroma of cheese. In a niche, wrapped in straw, there were dozens of wheels of cheese. Giobatta cut into the wheel with a knife and drew out a flake from inside: an unmatched flavor! At that point the shepherd had to confess to the wrongdoing. "So much for the scoppolato di Pedona!" - Pacini exclaimed furiously. And as he chewed that tasty piece of cheese, he added: "You are not a polite person who takes off his cap in front of his master. You are a rascal. But from now on you will produce this cheese, keeping it to age in the niche of the cave. For me, that is." About ten years later, Tristano stopped doing the "scoppolata". A heart attack took him to the other world, and with him ended the production of this unmistakable cheese. Today rediscovered by me, Gabriele Ghirlanda, when passion manages to create unique products!