Thrift is a virtue of any typical farmer, especially when nature does not give anything for free. And so it is in the mountains, where each product is hard to achieve and therefore everything is used without any wastage. This happens also in case of cheese: the best is destined for the market and the ones with any defects are destined for own consumption.

The thrifty farmer then endeavours to recover it, crumbling it in a “pignato”, an earthenware container, and then soaking it in white wine; in the basement a fermentation takes place, which after some time brings spicy flavour to the creamy substance, to be spread on bread or eaten with polenta, a delicious dish for palates accustomed to strong flavours.

Today, the tasty mountain cheeses are used and certainly one does not skimp on the wine, choosing among the excellent white wines of Breganze. Nowadays the formajo de pignato is produced by connoisseurs, who can taste it in early February during the festival of the patron San Biagio, or on the third Sunday in October during the Thanksgiving celebration, when it becomes the protagonist of a competition between the dairymen of the valley.