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Why Italy’s Most Famous Cheese, Parmesan, Was Almost Lost
From Benedictine vats to global delicacy, Parmigiano‑Reggiano has endured disasters that might have soured a lesser cheese. Eighteenth‑century wars in Parma and Modena decimated herds and shut dairies, thinning milk so severely that production nearly vanished. When Napoleonic decrees stripped monasteries of their lands, the medieval dairies were dissolved, and villagers retreated to backyard caselli to keep the craft alive.
Imitation “Reggianito” exported from Argentina after World War II soon undercut prices abroad. Emilia’s makers fought back by founding the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano‑Reggiano in 1928, later enshrined in law; its fire‑brand rind marks became a global authenticity seal. The cooperative model was so trusted that local banks accepted stacked wheels as collateral, turning aging sheds into edible vaults that carried small dairies through milk crises.
Nature dealt the fiercest blow on 20 May 2012, when a 6.0‑magnitude quake toppled more than 600 000 maturing wheels—almost a third of annual output. Within days chef Massimo Bottura’s charity recipe “risotto cacio e pepe” galvanized consumers worldwide to buy the damaged wheels, pumping about €50 million back into the valley’s economy.
Each crisis tightened, rather than snapped, the ritual chain of milk, salt, and time. That resilience is why every crystalline shard of Parmesan still tastes faintly of survival.
