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Spotlighting Cheese
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| From 11 to 13 April, the city of Mantua in Lombardy in the north of Italy will be hosting the "Mille e due formaggi" (A thousand and two cheeses) market-fair presenting Italian cheese products. There will also be a host of collateral events and they will tend to focus on Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano. Three days in which both connoisseurs and the merely curious can delight their palates and their eyes, as well, touring the residences of the city's former rulers, the Gonzaga dynasty. |
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Coming to the Gonzaga residence to sample Italian cheeses. The invitation is very tempting and the setting couldn't be more evocative. The Palazzo Ducale (Duke's Palace) and the historic core of Mantua will be hosting the big cheese show intended to give traveling gourmands an opportunity to sample every kind of cheese produced on our peninsula.
This is the second edition of the market-fair and, given the success it enjoyed last year, this time around it will no doubt offer all sorts of surprises with its full calendar of flavorful events. Over 130 exhibitors will be showing their wares in this regal setting. The royal residence of the Gonzagas - the Palazzo Ducale includes Vincenzo's Cellars and the rooms of the "New Court's Pantry", the Listone dei Marmi, Tasso's Cellars and what used to be in the distant past the "Court Kitchens" and the "Monitioni", i.e. the store rooms, this very evocative, emotionally stirring residential complex will host Italian consortiums and manufacturers, while the streets and squares of the old city, historic places like Piazza Sordello, Piazza Broletto and Piazza Erbe will be open to the public for both consuming and purchasing the products on display. This beautiful setting with its myriad historic, artistic and gastronomic attractions, will also be hosting a variety of interesting collateral initiatives designed to enhance the fair, including a series of conference-workshops like: "Excellence in the Art of Cheesemaking".
Pure-bred cows, grazing land, summer pastures in the mountains: the cornerstones of quality". Friday the 11th they will hold the awards ceremony for the seventh edition of the "Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano National Competition", which will be participated in by all the companies located in the areas where they produce these two types of cheese (in the case of the Grana, this includes about twenty Italian provinces, in the case of the Parmigiano, only seven). Another important conference will address the question of "How a quality label is created": Grana Padano DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) Cheese. And this year, for the very first time, they will attempt to reestablish the ancient bond that united the Gonzaga family to the Monferrato area. Towns like Acqui Terme, Montana Alta Valle Orba, Erro and Bormida di Spigno will be represented in the streets of Mantua, offering their products, delicacies like Robiola di Roccaverano, made from pure, raw goat's milk, variously aged and of various provenance. These products can be tasted together with local grape and honey mostarda (a tangy local marmalade). Along with the food and wine part of the fair, showcasing Italian cheeses, the show will include many other typical products, organic foods, special local dishes, cultural and musical events, tasting sessions and exhibits and shows featuring cheese processing and manufacturing products as well as the professional figure of the cheesemaker, not to mention educational events for connoisseurs, journalists, children of all ages and schools, complete with practical didactic and interactive activities. And before you go back home, don't forget to take a tour of the spectacular Palazzo Ducale in order to find out more about the intriguing noble lady who used to live here, taking in a very special exhibit entitled: "Isabella and her historical court". |
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 Isabella and her historical court
Opening hour:
Palazzo Ducale -Area Business from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m
Historic center of town -Shopping Area from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m
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