Cheese Tour in Bellagio with Cooking Class and Cheese Tasting Led By Local Chef

I start know the Cheese In the 1988, I went to visit “Negro” for the first time with my father, Mino. The name already evoked an historic name in dairy production, perhaps the most historic in the Garnasca region to date. Next to Gianni “Negro’s” farmhouse was a barn, and my father took us to watch as the cows, reared, like ours, on only hay and fresh grass, were milked by hand. And that very milk, which I saw collected in the buc- kets myself, we enjoyed for dinner that evening at home. The cheese that Gianni produced was an uncooked cheese, not entirely low-fat; which would be left to age for a prolonged period in the caves behind the barn. He also produced small pats of butter and little fresh cow's milk and goat's milk cheeses, similar in shape to “zin- carlin”.
The close relationship that I feel with these cheeses also stems from the stories that my father would tell me of my grandfather, Rico, who, like Gianni, was a cheese maker. When my grandfather decided to retire, my fa- ther began to use the Latteria Sociale di Bellagio, the Bellagio Social Dairy, through which we were introduced to
lower fat cheese and butter made with milk from our local dairy. My favourite mornings soon became Thursdays, when the farmers would come to the restaurant with theirfinest cheeses, and father would let me sample them all as he selected his favourites for his kitchen.
Just recently I discovered some new traditional products from the Western Upper Lake Como Region, as well as alpine pasture butter, a delicious but- ter with a wonderful aroma and a milky taste.
And not forgetting the cheeses of the Valsassina, to which I was introduced whilst studying at the Casargo Professional Hotel Training Centre, in the province of Lecco.