Gorgonzola cheese: from the success of the early 20th century to the protection of tipicality in the 1970s

In mid-19th century Lombardy, cheese production was linked to the territories and to traditional know how. In Valtellina the dairy industry was a very significant economic activity. The decisive role was played by families of rich cattle farmers specialised in migratory herding: the so-called cowherds or ‘bergamini’ from Lecchese and Valbrembana who produced various whole-milk and soft cheeses (squared stracchino, quartirolo, blue stracchino or Gorgonzola). On the plains, the success of the dairy industry was partly due to the above mentioned cowherds, who came down to the plains between September and May and manufactured their whole-milk cheeses in farmhouses during the autumn. The centre of dairy production, in this case, was the irrigated plain around Gorgonzola, but the production of the cheese spread across Lombardy (especially in the area of Milano and Lodi) and Piedmont (Novara) Industrialisation of the Lombardy dairy sector first started in the 1870s. The dairy factories, owned by private entrepreneurs or by milk cooperatives, aimed to manufacture products which could guarantee good returns on the milk. Gorgonzola was a type of cheese increasingly in demand from international markets, starting especially from the last few decades of the 19th century. During the last few decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries the aging process for Gorgonzola was improved and spread to several places in Valsassina, a small valley in the Prealpi, near Lecco. The aging of Gorgonzola was the original core business of some of the most important Italian enterprises as Locatelli and Galbani. Later, thanks to electricity and new refrigeration systems, the ripening stage became indipendent from mountain caves and many stores were built in the plain. In the following decades, the problem of safeguarding typical, widely consumed cheeses arose, particularly in terms of their protection against foreign imitations. In 1938, the exportation of Gorgonzola was more than halved respect to 1925 (when it reached its maximum) and in 1953 it was decreased to less than 1/5. Starting in the 1950s, Italian legislation implemented the Stresa Agreement and introduced the Protected Denomination of Origins (P.D.O.). Then a series of consortia were founded, starting with the Grana Padano Consortium in 1954, whereas the Gorgonzola Consortium, based in Novara, followed only in 1970 (after the merger of the two associations established in 1968 in Novara and Milan). These early associations were a response to the competition from large foreign enterprises, which was increasing on local and international markets. Locatelli, Invernizzi and Galbani were acquired (in 1961, 1985 and 1989) by the multinationals Nestlè, Krafts and Danone, and are now all owned by the French company Lactalis. Recent European PDO obtained in the 1996, aimed to meet specific consumer demand, i.e. to buy cheese from guaranteed production chains, more closely connected to territories and traditions. More generally, the recent decisive quantative increase in certificated Lombardy Gorgonzola and cheeses has to be set within the frame of the progressive success of made in Italy products in the food sector.