The cheese of the Occitan hamlets
In the upper Valle Grana, one of the Occitan valleys of the province of Cuneo, where an ancient Provençal language is still spoken, Castelmagno is a tiny municipality of scattered stone hamlets, the "borgate", at between 1,000 and 2,000 metres, with fewer than a hundred inhabitants. Its name is known all over the world thanks to one of the most prized Italian cheeses: the Castelmagno PDO.
It is a semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk, sometimes with the addition of sheep's or goat's milk, with a particular process: the curd is broken, left to rest, then broken again and kneaded with salt, and finally pressed into cylindrical moulds and aged in cool caves or cellars for at least two months. It has a crumbly texture and a complex, intense flavour, slightly spicy, and with long ageing it can develop blue veins of mould. The most prized version is "d'alpeggio", produced in summer in the mountain huts with the milk of cows grazing on high-altitude pastures. Castelmagno is excellent with honey and walnuts, and in Piedmontese cuisine it is used in gnocchi al Castelmagno and risottos. At the top of the valley, at about 1,760 metres, stands the sanctuary of San Magno, a pilgrimage destination since the fifteenth century, with frescoes of the late Gothic period, surrounded by meadows and mountains.
Tip: buy Castelmagno directly from the dairies of the valley; the sanctuary of San Magno hosts a festival in August.
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