Enterprises, Trade and Industry in the Lombardy Dairy Sector : The Origins of Locatelli and Galbani (1860–1914)

Lombardy had a long empirical tradition in dairy production, part of which was already being exported to international markets. During the last three decades of the nineteenth-century farming and livestock further increased in the region and the expansion of breeding contributed to the transformation of the entire dairy chain. Lombardy confirmed itself as Italy’s largest producer and in the 1890s accounted for around 1/3 of all cheese production and exports (especially Grana and Gorgonzola). Former small family businesses transformed themselves into larger enterprises and industries, which controlled the purchase of milk and cheese from the farms of the plain, founded new plants, provided the ageing process for cheese and sold the produce on domestic and international markets. The advent of new manufacturing systems allowed for the pooling of large quantities of milk: large-scale mechanised cheese production became possible. Names such as Locatelli, Galbani, Invernizzi (all from Valsassina, the high hills near Lake Como, which specialised in ageing cheese) or Polenghi Lombardo (from the Lodi area) are some of the most important enterprises which emerged during this period, whose brands have lasted until today. In 1950 these companies employed nearly 40% of all workers in the dairy industry. This chapter focuses first on the main directions and character of the transformation of the dairy sector in nineteenth- to early twentieth-century Lombardy. Then it traces the origin of the family firms, particularly Galbani and Locatelli, which shifted dairy production from a craft to an industry, examining the local leading role they played as merchant-entrepreneurs in the collection, ageing and trade of cheese. The study particularly focuses on their business strategies, analysing innovation in dairy processing systems and the development of commercial relations and new markets, which seem to have been particularly important in promoting the growth of production.