Italian Soft Power
Caseificio Valceno

Parma, Italy

Italy is famous for its many top-quality food products. The country’s best-loved cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, is produced by hundreds of licensed dairies, which collect their milk from cows that graze between the Po and Reno rivers. Today, small dairies like the one run by Caseificio Val Ceno are under threat from bigger cooperatives. Cheesemakers face long, grueling workdays and by law must allow the 40kg wheels of cheese to age for a minimum of two years.

Monocle Magazine 49