A number of historical sources recount that Marcus Porcius Cato compiled the regulations that governed the use of sheep farms in republican Rome, where sheep’s milk had three different destinations: religious-sacrifical, nutritional, and as a beverage and food (for transformation into cheeses with the use of the residual whey for making ricotta). Galen in Chapter XVII of the book of foods "Della natura et vertu di cibi" (1572), states that in the world of Galen and the Greeks the thing known as “oxygala” is what we now call ricotta. Mario Vizzardi, in his book "Formaggi italiani- Italian Cheeses," maintains that ricotta originated in the Roman countryside and its spread was due to Saint Francis of Assisi, who, on finding himself in 1223 in a place in Lazio where he was to create a crèche, taught the shepherds the art of making ricotta; Columella, in Chapter VII of "De re rustica," describes the techniques for making ricotta; Ercole Metalli, in "Usi e costumi della campagna romana- Customs and Habits of the Roman Countryside" (from 1903), speaking of the shepherds, reports: "They put the vat back on the heat to extract the ricotta from it; (…) The ricotta, along with a bit of bread, is their only food." From the Chamber of Commerce collection of customs and habits that existed in the Province of Rome in the year 1951, in Chapter X, the methods, forms of contract, and buying and selling of ricotta are brought to light. Trinchieri in "Vita di pastori nella Campagna Romana- Life of the Shepherds in the Roman Countryside" (1953), describes the shepherds’ meal which was only "bread and ricotta” and in a quantity of approximately a “heaping spoonful” given by the cheese maker. Romolo Trinchieri in the same "Vita dei pastori nella Campagna Romana," from 1953, also describes the shepherds’ hut, stating that there was a main hut “that dominates the others in height and size, and in which live the shepherds with no family, and where communal cooking and the making of ricotta takes place."

The packages of Ricotta Romana Dop must, mandatorily, display on the label, in clear and legible block letters, along with the EU graphic symbol and the relative information required by law, the following further indications: the designation "Ricotta Romana" must be written in significantly larger letters, clear and indelible, clearly distinct from any other writing, and must be followed by the mention of the denominazione origine protetta (D.O.P.); the name, company details, address of the producer and packager; the product's logo is made up of a square perimeter formed by three lines of color, from the outside, green, white and red, with a stylized sheep's head on the inside between two large letters "R,” the left one yellow, the right one red. The perimeter of the logo’s square is interrupted: laterally by the letter "R" in red and below the abbreviation, in large red letters, "D.O.P.." The denomination of the product is positioned on the bottom inside the perimeter of the square and is made up of the words, "RICOTTA," in large yellow letters, and "ROMANA" in red letters.