Add to your log book

Paul-Marie NICOLOSI

Casgiu Caprunu Venachese

Goat’s cheese – Certified organic Brocciu

Visits : Open from January to mid-July (fresh and ripened cheeses)

Regions : Corsica Livantina

Categories : Animal farming, cured meats, cheeses

Agricultural sectors : Brocciu cheese, Corsican cheese, Suckling lamb and goat

After studying Management, Paul-Marie Nicolosi could have taken over his parents’ small grocery-bar, if he hadn’t felt such a strong desire to live in the open air, surrounded by animals.

This passion for rural life has obviously skipped a generation because Paul-Marie is now treading the same transhumant paths - used to herd grazing livestock to and from summer and winter pastures - taken long ago by his grandfather.  Though discreet and measured when he speaks, he clearly loves his career and animals which take up almost all his time. He arrives at half-past six in the morning to feed, milk or treat his goats and only leaves at nightfall.

He looks after a herd of a hundred animals and divides his time between the plains, in Vaccaghja, during the winter, and the Verghellu valley, in the summer.  Up in the valley and free from their master’s watchful eye, the goats gambol and gather extra strength to provide Paul-Marie with delicious milk which is used to produce his venachese*  cheese.

Even though, as a good manager, he permanently seeks to organise his work in a more efficient manner  and enhance his activity, Paul-Marie knows that the freedom afforded by the life he has chosen is already a major achievement.

*One of five types of Corsican cheese, venachese can be easily recognised thanks to its distinctive orangey-red rind.