Mozzarella is a curd cheese originating in southern Italy. Traditionally cheese is made from Italian buffalo's milk by pasta filata method. Mozzarella cheese is not aged like most cheeses. It is eaten fresh and within a few hours after it is made. It can be kept in brine for up to a week. Low-moisture mozzarella can be refrigerated for a month; some shredded low-moisture mozzarella's shelf life is up to six months. 

Since 1996, mozzarella is recognised as a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG/STG) food product in the EU. It is available in the form of balls of different sizes. Fresh mozzarella is one of those easy-to-make-at-home cheeses used in salads, meats, seafood, and vegetables.

Mozzarella di Bufala, also known as 'buffalo mozzarella', is made from domesticated water buffalo milk.

Mozzarella Fior di Latte is produced from fresh, pasteurised or unpasteurised cow milk, while low-moisture mozzarella is made from whole or partly skimmed milk. And last, but not least, mozzarella affumicata is a smoked variety of mozzarella.

Ciliegine is a traditional Italian type of mozzarella made with pasteurized cow's milk or sometimes with water buffalo's milk, and is available in small smooth white balls.

Mozzarella made from sheep's milk by adding lamb rennet, is called mozzarella pecorella or mozzapecora, in Sardinia, Abruzzo, and Lazio.

Mozzarella is also produced from goat's milk.