Savignano Irpino, in the province of Avellino, is where Caciobarile is tied to the land. Milk comes mainly from Brune Alpine and Pezzate rosse cows that graze, so pasture aromas can travel into the cheese rather than remaining only in the field.
Work begins when milk is set with calf rennet, left to act for about fifteen minutes, and a ferment is added. After that enzymatic curd forms, cooking and stretching follow, then the cheese is shaped by hand into its cacio form.
The finished piece, ten to twelve kilograms, is meant to recall a small barrel. It rests for four to six months in rooms kept near eighty-five percent humidity, a level held by a steady mist of water so the paste does not dry out as it matures.
Outside, a golden-yellow rind is not especially thick. Cut it and the paste is straw-yellow, with even eyes from butyric fermentation, and a characteristic sweetness that gives the cheese its most inviting note.