At Tuscany’s Oasyhotel, you might catch the distant howl of a wolf (a species that recently returned to habitation here) as you settle on your deck to watch the sun set behind the Apennines. Stomp through sloped fields and furrows on an after-dark nature walk and you might hear the huff of a wild boar. Humans can stay awhile in the hotel’s camp-style cabins, but truly this is the domain of the furred and fanged things who were here first.
And, also: cows. The WWF-protected Oasi Dynamo reserve sprawls over more than 2,000 acres; and aside from stare downs with startled mouflons, there are a few more surprises to be found in her leafy folds — one such is the Caseificio Oasi Dinamo, a dairy and food lab whose not entirely unpleasant curdled scent you can smell long before you enter. To one side of it is a herd of Limousin cattle, grazing peacefully, seemingly unaware of the carnivores also inhabiting this reserve; on the other, a mountain vista that demands stopping and gasping. Within, the dairy is all stainless steel and protective coverings, very much focused on function.
This is where guests are brought for the hotel’s cheese-making experience (€180 a person). This includes a tour of the farm and stables and a chance to scrub up and get your hands milky as cheesemaker Romina walks you through capturing curds and pounding blocks of whey into submission. She’ll then show you mould-furred rounds of Pecorino-like cow’s cheese in humid fridges, and rows of wheels aging in the cellar, stating proudly, ‘When you take one of those wheels out, you can see it’s beautiful, perfectly aged and everything is as it should be. It’s really satisfying because you know that you’ve been working well.’ Then — the most anticipated part — you’re presented with a board full of samples to try: some infused with lavender, rosemary or chilli; some hard and pungent; some soft, white and fresca.
Romina is a mentor who could charm even the lactose intolerant, whose fruitful collaboration with Oasyhotel has made her the chief supplier of cheeses to their two restaurants, with only a small portion of the 20 wheels she makes a day — using 200 litres of cow’s milk — being sold at local markets. She reciprocates by teaching hotel staff how to make cheese. A genuine nonna with a youthful spryness, she seems to have learnt enough English to tell people she doesn’t speak it. Her style of working is mesmeric. ‘I love what I do and I do it with passion,’ she says slamming a bucket on a counter. ‘I never know when I arrive in the morning when I’ll leave — sometimes I just forget about the hours. This is a job that has no schedule, where you need a lot of attention. Milk changes every day, and you have to learn to feel it. You must have patience, an eye and a desire to do it. It’s a lot of work but when you do it with passion, it feels easier.’
It might be her life now, but Romina’s journey was an untraditional one. Despite spells helping on her grandparents’ farm, there was little agriculture or cheesemaking in her past. It wasn’t until she married a sheep farmer that she decided to try her hand at the craft, with no formal training. ‘I started to learn how to make cheese but at first it wasn’t coming out very well — everything had to be thrown away. Every mistake meant wasted time and money. It was difficult on a personal level, but stubbornly, I decided to keep going. I learnt by myself, without schools, because I didn’t have access to them. I learnt by trying, making mistakes and trying again. I believed I’d succeed, even when it seemed crazy.’
‘I found my own recipes — there was a lot of testing, making modifications along the way, then testing again.’ The delighted, polyethylene-wrapped guests commandeering her laboratory are testament to her achievements, and she’s recently started to compete with larger makers in regional competitions as she sets on a course to earn her official diploma in cheese-making.
What makes her cheeses stand out is, well, they’re delicious. Her ricotta parcelled out in tortelli; her Crescenza-Stracchino blended into a cheesecake; or slivers of her six- to 12-month aged cheeses — these are the rustic Italian mouthfuls you come here for. Also because her small yet mighty operation champions the slowly-being-forgotten art of traditional cheese-making, ‘people who come here get to see how cheese was originally made, because no cheese producer today makes it by hand — they all use mechanics. Today we work in large quantities and the time it takes to use traditional methods is too long, so when you come here you can actually see how we make the cheese, how the milk reacts, the whole process. It’s a way of keeping that story alive.’
There’s an Alpine twist to proceedings, too: in northern Italy cow’s milk is usually used in Fontina, and in Tuscany sheep’s milk is used in Pecorino, but here in Oasyhotel Romina exclusively uses cow’s milk for all her cheeses, because cows produce greater quantities, with a more delicate flavour. Here, you may not be gathered round a huge wooden, farmhouse table — after all, this lab is an operation where experimentation on a scientific level is encouraged — and perhaps you think talking about the optimum temperature of fridges is a touch dry, but watch Romina stir and sift, gently cradle two-kilo wheels as she checks for any imperfections (she can tell at a glance when one has gone bad) and crack jokes with the translator with a lupine sardonicism, and you’ll be whey in her hands in no time.
She wants visitors to be just as excited as she is, stating, ‘Every time someone gets passionate, even if only for a couple of hours, it is a success for me.’ As such, she’s looking to expand the range and length of her courses, offering more intensive learning. Of her own path here, she says, ‘It was a difficult journey, but looking back I feel proud. I did everything by myself, with my own hands, and this gives me strength every day.’ She may have arrived at this mountain outpost as a something of a lone wolf in the industry, but she’s slowly and surely accruing a hungry pack around her.
Crackers at the ready for a stay at Oasyhotel, or see our full collection of stays in Tuscany. And you know what else pairs well with cheese? The world’s best wine hotels