The pits are the place where the “Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano DOP” cheese matures; the cheeses are laid in the ancient flask-shaped pits dug into the sandstone rock to a depth of about three meters. This tradition originated in medieval times: farmers from Sogliano would come to the village at the end of spring to entrust their cheeses to the pits so that they could store them during the summer; they would then return in November to collect the cheeses and, in this way, they could cope with the hardships of winter. The traditional opening of the pits, on November 25, the day of St. Catherine of Alexandria, was anciently a very heartfelt occasion for the people of Sogliano. The Soglianese infossatori (dimplers) have preserved this ancient place and craft over time and are now expert cheese refiners, creating products of great quality. There are four stages of production:

• the preparation of the pit: this consists of burning the straw inside the pit to remove accumulated moisture and sanitize it against germs that could harm normal fermentation. Next comes the lining of the walls to insulate them, with a layer of about 10 centimeters of straw, supported by a scaffold of vertical reeds, horizontally tied by wooden hoops. Wooden boards are placed on the bottom.
• dimpling: the cheese is placed inside the pit, enclosed in white cotton cloth bags on which the pit owners have previously affixed two identifying numbers: the first corresponding to the owner, the second to the weight. The bags are piled up to the mouth of the pit, which is filled and covered with cloths to prevent perspiration as much as possible and finally closed with a wooden lid sealed with plaster and sand. Traditional infossatura is done in August, with sfossatura in November. The specification also calls for spring dimpling to meet summer demands for the product.
• curing: begins once the lid is sealed. Maturing takes place thanks to special temperature and humidity conditions created in the anaerobic environment of the pits. Maturing gives the cheese a strong taste and intense aroma, gives it greater digestibility and better nutritional characteristics. During this stage, the loss of whey and fat and compression due to weight cause most cheeses to lose their original round shape, which take on new forms after about three months.
• deboning: this consists of removing the materials placed to cover the pit and removing the cheese bags from inside. Once the deboning operations are completed, the pits must observe a rest period of three months.

The normal cheese buried in August has become “Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano Dop” with an unmistakable flavor and fragrance. The aroma and flavor of the final product are influenced by many factors such as the quality of the initial cheese, the size and characteristics of the pit, the duration of aging, humidity, temperature, the position of the cheese inside the pit, contact with neighboring cheeses, and the type of milk used. Here is the list of our pits: