Brocciu — U Brocciu

ILOCC — Interprofession Laitière Ovine et Caprine de Corse — brings together all livestock farmers and processors in the Corsican dairy sector, which relies on small ruminants (ewes and goats), predominantly of the Corsican breed, reared extensively across the island. Pastoralism and the floral diversity of the island's grazing lands give Corsican milk its characteristic aromas and flavour, forming the basis of the cheeses produced by the farmers and processing workshops it unites. Based in Altiani, in Haute-Corse, it has notably been responsible since 2011 for managing PDO (AOP) Brocciu, ensuring that its specifications are upheld.

Beyond its role as guardian, ILOCC supports farmers on a daily basis: technical and regulatory advice, a shepherd's guide, vocational training for future livestock farmers, and regular publications on sector news. It also offers recipes and promotes the various cheeses made from Corsican milk, from farm to table.

Fromagerie Mallaroni describes itself as a farmhouse sheep farm founded in 1998 by the Mallaroni family, later joined by the Cerruti family, and run today by four partner shepherds, handling everything from rearing to sales. Located in Sartène at the foot of the Cagna massif, in the Ortolo valley (lieu-dit Lezza), the farm rears 400 Corsican-breed ewes fed on pasture from rangelands and natural or irrigated meadows, milked twice daily from November to June.

It processes its own raw milk in its on-site cheese dairy and maturing room: seasonal fresh Brocciu PDO (AOP) and Brocciu passu PDO, as well as Casgiu Sartinesu (fresh, 3, 6 and 12 months), Impivaratu, Murta, Machja and grated cheeses. The cheeses are sold directly every Saturday morning from 8:00 to 12:00, from November to August, on Place Porta in Sartène, as well as via mail order and through a network of partner restaurants, cheese shops and delicatessens.

Based in Corte, in Centru di Corsica, Joseph-Marie Sabiani describes his journey as having started from next to nothing: « a small wooden shack and just a few animals ». Having become a business owner as much as a shepherd, he now runs a farm of 350 ewes and 250 goats and produces one of the region's most renowned cheeses.

The farm produces Brocciu, Corsican cheese, as well as milk-fed lamb and kid goat, and welcomes visitors all year round. Joseph-Marie Sabiani explains that he has taken a step back from day-to-day management: his sister, assisted by their father, handles cheese-making, while another person assists him in managing the flock. He also mentions the upcoming opening of a ferme-auberge on the rolling hills overlooking Corte. The cheese dairy is listed by ODARC (Office du Développement Agricole et Rural de la Corse) in the Gusti di Corsica directory, under the livestock, charcuterie and cheeses category.

The Gusti di Corsica directory, run by ODARC (Office du Développement Agricole et Rural de la Corse), lists the farm under the name Gaec Orsatelli Frères: farmhouse ewe's milk cheese, Brocciu PDO (AOP) and milk-fed lamb, in the territory of Centru di Corsica.

According to this directory, the pastoral tradition has been passed down in the Orsatelli family for several generations: Joseph Orsatelli learned the craft of shepherding alongside his parents, like his elder brother Pierre-Jean before him — a succession that the directory describes as 'mimetic, almost atavistic'. Having recently retired, Pierre-Jean continues to lend a hand to his brother in cheese making.

The farm, an EARL registered to Romain Loefgen, is based in the lieu-dit of Arca, in Muracciole (Centru di Corsica). According to the account published by the directory of producers of the Chambre d'agriculture de Corse, Harry Loefgen, a young German who fell in love with the island in the 1970s, settled there after meeting an elderly shepherd from Venaco who passed on his pastoral knowledge to him; he became a Corsican shepherd. He then met Françoise there, who had also come to learn the trade, and the couple settled permanently in Muracciole.

The farm offers certified organic ewe's milk cheese and tomme de brebis, Brocciu PDO (AOP), likewise certified organic, as well as organic honey. According to the same source, the quality of their cheeses has been awarded several times at the Foire du fromage de Venaco.

Romain Loefgen, the son of Harry and Françoise, now runs the farm and has begun diversifying its activities by installing his first beehives.

Fromagerie A Filetta is a family-run business based in Taglio-Isolaccio, in Castagniccia, on the coastal road (RT10). It was founded in 1972 when Michel Mattei set up as a livestock farmer with 80 ewes and initially sold his milk to dairies destined for Roquefort, before choosing to process the milk himself on his farm. In 1976, the Mattei couple adorned their cheeses with a fern leaf — a filetta in Corsican — a gesture that became the house's trademark and name. Established in Taglio-Isolaccio since 1981, the cheese dairy acquired a new dairy facility in 1989, the year of its incorporation as a SARL, and has since remained run by the Mattei family, joined today by the next generation, Johan and Bastien, in its management and operation.

The cheese dairy collects milk from around twenty producers in the eastern plain and Castagniccia to make ewe's and goat's milk cheeses, tommes and Brocciu PDO (AOP). It offers free on-site tastings, direct sales at the property, vacuum-packing and online sales, as well as a selection of regional produce — wines, charcuterie, pastries. Open all year round, accessible to persons with reduced mobility, it welcomes its clientele in French, Corsican, Italian and English.

Stéphanie and Xavier Bartoli raise ewes on the plain of Prunelli di Fiumorbu, in eastern Corsica. Xavier has been working as a shepherd for some twenty years; Stéphanie joined him later to train in turn in cheesemaking. Together, they process the milk from their flock at the cheese dairy in the locality of Abazzia, along the Poggio-di-Nazza road.

The farm produces venachesu-type ewe's milk cheese, a tomme, as well as Brocciu — the fresh whey cheese under an appellation of origin, the centrepiece of Corsican pastoral tradition.

Located in the locality of Poggiale, in the commune of Figari in Corse-du-Sud, Domaine des Oléastres perpetuates a family cheese-making tradition handed down over three generations. The farm describes itself as a rarity in the Corsican terroir: its ewes graze in complete freedom between the estate's vineyards and the maquis, a practice said to impart distinctive aromas of the maquis to their milk.

The farmhouse cheeses, all handmade from raw ewe's milk, include fresh PDO (AOP) brocciu, matured brocciu passu, tomme sartenaise and crottins flavoured with maquis herbs (thyme, myrtle, immortelle). The estate indicates that its fresh PDO brocciu was awarded the silver medal at the 2026 Concours Général Agricole. The production, entirely artisanal, is ordered in advance and delivered across France under cold-chain conditions.