Pienza is a Renaissance town in the province of Siena, built in the 15th century at the behest Pope Pius II. The production area of this Tuscan pecorino is the area of the "Crete Senesi", low rolling hills that offer good pastures for the sheeps altough they are poor. The pecorino cheese is produced in three types: the red semi-hard, colored with tomato juice as a protective coating, is fresher; the black truffle that is similar to the one semi-hard but with white crust, and the ripe version that has a black colored crust . The taste is not spicy, as generally happens in pecorino, for the use of calf rennet instead kid rennet (once in Tuscany it was customary even use vegetable rennet) with truffle hints. Pecorino di Pienza is one of the most used cheeses in the processing of the Fossa cheese from Sogliano al Rubicon.
