Launch the cheese!

A small town in Sicily takes its romano to the streets.

Novara di Sicilia, Italy

Turns out, Gloucestershire, England’s Cooper’s Hill cheese rolling race isn’t alone in its curation of cheese-related athletic events. The Lancio del Maiorchino in Novara di Sicilia, Italy, is an extravaganza all its own.

TraditionalSports.org published a breakdown of the game, detailing its tournament-length competition that takes place during the four weekends leading up to a “Maiorchino Festival.”

Using a shoemaker’s twine three meters in length called a “lazzada,” team members launch a wheel of local pecorino romano cheese along a historic route through the city streets, from “via Duomo to via Bellini” (the word “via” precedes street names in Italy), and ending at the “Don Michele” rock wall. The team that completes the course with the least number of throws wins the race. 

The month-long competition then culminates at the Maiorchino Festival, where the overall victor takes home a wheel of Maiorchino cheese, and community members partake in a town-wide tasting of local products. 

This tradition derives from the early 1600s, a time when cheesemakers rolled cheese wheels through the streets to control their maturing. According to Neal’s Yard Dairy, the practice of “rolling” cheese wheels — now referred to as “turning” — is meant to prevent the build-up of moisture. 

The Maiorchino pecorino wheels used in the competition have been aged for eight months and weigh between 10 to 18 kilograms, or 22 to 39 pounds. Unfortunately, due to the cheese’s complicated production technique and growing sanitary regulations for food production, the specialty Maiorchino cheese is increasingly difficult to source. 

Check out this reel for a closer look at the game, and satiate your own lancio del hunger with Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery’s selection of cheeses made from our pure Guernsey milk.