History of Provolone Valpadana DOP
The long history of Provolone Valpadana DOP. Italianness, emigration and excellent raw materials
The history of the Provolone Valpadana it is the story of a traditional cheese, the result of the interaction, over time, of important factors linked to the territory: the geographical characteristics, the agricultural production and the history of the men who worked and lived there.
The origins
The Origins of Provolone Valpadana can be traced back to the period in which the Cistercian monks carried out the vast operation of reclamation and canalization of spring and surface water in the area between the Lambro and Adda rivers.
This innovation created the basis for the development of a cereal-livestock production system, oriented towards the breeding of dairy cattle and cheese making, which spread from the original nucleus of the lower Milan area to the whole Po Valley, later establishing itself as the main economic resource of Po Valley agriculture, leading to the birth of numerous typical cheeses.
The birth
The Provolone Valpadana cheese It was born in the Po Valley towards the second half of the 19th century from the happy marriage between the cheese-making culture of “paste filate”, originating from the south of Italy, and the dairy vocation of the area.
The history of Provolone Valpadana continues in 1861, when the unification of Italy makes it possible to overcome the barriers between the different areas of the peninsula and, therefore, the settlement of entrepreneurs from the south, who had transferred their production activities to the provinces of Piacenza, Cremona and Brescia. It is still in these provinces today areas which proceeds with the production of Provolone Valpadana.
This determines the spread of the culture and consumption of stretched curd cheeses throughout the national territory. The Po Valley offers a large availability of milk suitable for cheese making and also the infrastructures necessary to achieve quality production, which find an evolution in the Provolone Valpadana produced in very diversified formats (from a few hectograms to over a quintal).
The denomination
The name “Provolone” appears in literature for the first time in 1871, in the “Vocabolario di agricoltura di Canevazzi-Mancini” (Cappelli, 1871). “Provolone” thus refers to a large provola. A completely original cheese, distinguishable from other cheeses. stretched curd cheese widespread in the south of Italy as they are large dimensions, capable of maturing for a long time, without drying out excessively and therefore without becoming a cheese to be grated.
The denomination of origin “Valpadana” was added to the term “Provolone” in 1993 (DPCM 09-04-1993), crowning a centuries-old tradition that has determined the characteristics for which the cheese is known and appreciated.
