I have discovered the path to the world of cheese eight years ago.
While walking down the path from the parking lot towards the next point, Crampiolo,
I find myself on a two-hour walk (including straying) on a breathtaking road, following the wooden signs pointing to Crampiolo.
The snow-capped mountains all around, the endless bloom, the conifers trees and the effort going uphill can make your heart feels like bursting out…
The thought that goes through my mind is how my journey began eight years ago, and now, in few moments, I’ll be at the top on the mountain, at the highest point I have reached, in order to learn and understand the people who live here, a few meters below God, the highest, purest and most beautiful place I have ever visited.
In this place, the people of the mountain have been making cheese for hundreds of years in order to have food supply for the snowy winter days, a time when no one comes and goes from the area.
Suddenly, I see a number of mountain huts next to a flowing stream, the sounds of bells are heard from the meadow where cows devour fresh and juicy grass full of water. Quiet, 9 o’clock in the evening and it is still daylight.
This is the highlight of a week that began in a short rest after Shavuot at Lago Maggiore, from there to the cheese-making school in Morta, where we were greeted by Guido – who professionally accompanied the visit.
From there we travelled to Valliera, a village in the Italian Alps on the French border, to learn how to make castelmagno cheese, from there to Kamri to visit the dairy that produces the gorgonzola cheese in traditional method.
A stop at Arona at the lower end of Lago Maggiore to visit the ripening and aging rooms guffanti luigi A cheese cellar that has been operating since 1876.
And after visiting the cheese cellar again ascend to the Alps, this time on the Swiss border, driving by car to Baceno and from there heading by foot to Crampiolo.
A week of a fabulous experience through the cheeses of the province of Piedmont in northwestern Italy.
In the coming days I will write about each point on the road in more detail (worth reading)
Yours, Hanan the Cheesemaker
