Busi Silvano

Latteria Sociale Valtorta

KNOWLEDGE KEEPERS - CHEESE MAKERS

In Valtorta after the end of WWII there was a cooperative of breeders and a dairy cooperative (latteria turnaria, whose members would take turns in making their own cheese). The leader of these initiatives was the dairyman Abramo Milesi. In 1954 the Latteria Sociale Cooperativa was established and was run for more than 40 years by Abramo Milesi, who was its first president, besides also being a cheesemaker.

Colombo Martino

Azienda Agricola Colombo

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The Colombo farm is based in Pagnona in the Upper Varrone Valley whose most famous, populous and important center is Premana. It is registered to Lorenzo Colombo, but the whole family and three generations work on the farm. The farm is a typical family business. Martino’s son, Lorenzo (who is the owner since he turned 18), his wife and mother all work in the farm.

Duca Carlo e Luigi

Azienda Agricola Flli Duca

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”We carried everything on our shoulders. We did not have donkeys, because pastures were dedicated only to cattle-grazing”. There were no goats. “I started 20 years ago with a few white goats, now there are about 20 goats, which belong to Carlo’s girlfriend”. As this was custom in those old days, Aldo learned the job from the old cheesemakers by watching them closely while they were working. (“If you want to learn, you learn”)”.

Invernizzi Daniele

Caseificio Invernizzi

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”We carried everything on our shoulders. We did not have donkeys, because pastures were dedicated only to cattle-grazing”. There were no goats. “I started 20 years ago with a few white goats, now there are about 20 goats, which belong to Carlo’s girlfriend”. As this was custom in those old days, Aldo learned the job from the old cheesemakers by watching them closely while they were working. (“If you want to learn, you learn”)”.

Locatelli Agapito

Società Agricola Guglielmo Vedeseta

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Guglielmo Locatelli has been a custodian of the dairy tradition in Reggetto di Vedeseta (Taleggio Valley). He played a substantial role in the survival and revival of Strachitunt. He was also a protagonist in the revival of Stracchino all’Antica, a Slow Food Praesidium. He continued to go up the mountains and process the milk until he died in December 2016. His children and grandchildren continue to follow in his path. The company still bears his name and he has received numerous awards for his role as historical cheesemaker.

Midali Italo

Latteria Sociale di Branzi

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The history of the Latteria Sociale di Branzi is closely intertwined with the history of the Midali family, which was a prominent family in the village and used to own properties in many other locations. Giacomo Midali, the founder of the co-op, was also mayor of the village for 20 years. A turning point for the Latteria Sociale di Branzi came with the registration of the Formaggio Tipico Branzi (FTB) logo enclosed into a triangle, which is easily identifiable. The creator was the architect Gino Midali, son of Giacomo. All the Midali siblings (Norberto, Giancarlo, Italo, Gino and the sister Agnese) contributed in one way or the other to the growth of the Latteria Sociale.

Ravasio Alvaro

CasArrigoni

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Within the framework of traditional productions we want to distinguish ourselves from the generic products, which have ambiguous reference to the mountains: “We call Branzi cheese Alben, the name of our grazing fields and of a mountain, because nowadays Branzi is made in the plains. We do not sell latteria cheeses, because too many producers sell them with the names of our valleys, while these cheeses come from Veneto, Austria or Eastern Europe. We call crescenza what is crescenza (a fresh, white, soft cheese), while in our tradition stracchino is not a white cheese, but a cheese with a hard bloomy rind. We try to be traditional”.

Rota Martino

Azienda Rota Martino

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The company is co-owned by Martino Rota and Eugenia Rota, (neè Rota), and has closed ties with the bergamini culture: “But we are not blood relatives”, Martino states. Both husband and wife come from generations of dairy cow breeders who produced stracchini. Some relatives are still breeders in the plains, where they settled after the end of transhumance.

Salvini Jury e Katia

Azienda Agricola Salvini Juri

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Formai de Mut is our signature cheese”, states Katia. Like many other fellow dairymen the Salvinis have been part of the Bitto and Formai de Mut PDO consortia. Producing two similar cheeses is a way to take advantage of market fluctuations.

Ferdy Quarteroni

Agriturismo Ferdy

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Ferdy Quarteroni has lived his childhood in a world that had not yet known the collapse of rural culture. Indeed, during the ‘60s from the village of Ornica in the Upper Brembana Valley a rural exodus began and led to a decline in population from 500 inhabitants to today’s 150.