How Fontina D.O.P. was born

fontina d.o.p.

Fontina D.O.P. stands out from other mountain cheeses for its soft and elastic texture, with few holes. It has an oily and compact rind. It has a dark, intense smell. It has a flattened cylindrical shape with a flat surface and concave sides, weighing an average of 8-9 kg.

It has a high energy value, ensuring a good supply of mineral salts, vitamins A and B and lactic bacteria. It is a rather complete and digestible food. Its flavour makes it the ideal ingredient or side for many recipes, letting the imagination do the rest for new culinary creations.

How Fontina D.O.P. was born

The oldest graphic representation of the Fontina D.O.P. dates back to the end of the 15th century, found in a fresco painting in the castle of Issogne, a feudal residence in the lower Aosta Valley. There is a workshop in the painting with a stack of Fontina cheese that looks the same as the Fontina we produce today.

In the photo: Issogne Castle. Fresco from 1480 BC. representing a shop of food products. On the right, some cheese shaped almost identically to the current Fontina shapes.

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its HIstory

The term "fontina" appears for the first time in a document dating 1270, written in Latin, to name a specific region. The name was subsequently used since 1700 to refer to the cheese in manuscripts, texts, public deeds and inventories. Some believe it could derive from the Fontin mountain pasture or from the village of Fontinaz or from an old family name. From that moment, however, it enters the current language to indicate this well-known cheese.

* for further information you can consult the first six chapters of the book. You will be able to find it online on our website.

In the photo: replica taken from the document from 1270, in which Vacherino cheese is mentioned for the first time. In the same tome, the patronym and the toponym of Fontines (Peronimus de Fontines and the meadows or the Fontines locality).

THE ENVIRONMENT

GEOGRAPHY, OROGRAPHY, CLIMATE AND AGRONOMIC ASPECTS

The Aosta Valley is located in the heart of the Alps. The climate is continental, and the scarcity of rainfall favours the rapid increase in temperatures in the summer; there is a wide temperature amplitude over the year.

In an orographically complex region, however, there is not only one type of climate. There are different microclimates, depending on the altitude and location in the valley. The outer massifs are made of crystalline rocks mainly. Metamorphic rocks such as calcareous and green rocks also abound. About one-third of the total area is covered by perennial meadows and mountain pastures, reaching up to 3000 metres of altitude.

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Like all sectors of our society, the agricultural and rural fabric of Valle d'Aosta has undergone profound transformations. Most arable land has been abandoned, giving way to permanent meadows, which are used for cattle fodder. The number of farms has been greatly reduced, but the regional livestock population has not declined, as the average farm size has expanded. Running larger farms means dealing with greater organisational complexity and, in the presence of a fragmented and dispersed land base, results in the impossibility of adopting the same agricultural practices on all cultivated plots. Variation in fertilisation and in the frequency of mowing or grazing, together with differences in altitude, exposure and slope, contribute to explaining the heterogeneity of the vegetation of Valle d'Aosta's meadows and pastures.
There are a dozen types of permanent meadows in Valle d'Aosta, differing in botanical composition, production potential and variation in grass quality during the growing season. These various meadows are one of the central elements of the region's biological and environmental richness and, with their different blooms, participate in drawing a variegated mosaic of colours on the slopes and in the valley bottom.

Studies conducted on Valle d'Aosta meadows have identified almost 150 different species of plants, of which 31 are graminaceous and 15 are leguminous (Roumet et al., 1999). Among the most widespread graminaceous plants are oats altissima, mazzolina grass, bluegrass and various fescues; among the leguminous plants, purple and white clover, birdsfoot trefoil, sainfoin and alfalfa abound. In addition, there are many dicotyledons with variously coloured flowers: from the white of wild chervil, panacea and daisy to the pink of silene dioica and ambrette, from the blue of common sage to the yellow of buttercups, beargrass and dandelion.

The assortment of different vegetation types in the meadows is counterbalanced by an even greater botanical richness in the alpine pastures, where no less than twenty vegetation types are found, covering a very wide range of forage potential (Bassignana and Bornard, 2001).
Approximately 500 plant species have been identified, some of which are more abundant and characterise particular plant associations.

Cocksfoot grass dominates at the lowest altitudes, in the well-fertilised pastures, red fescue and agrostis in the pastures of medium fertility, while deergrass is present above all in the pastures with acid and impoverished soils. The grasslands on the warmest and sunniest slopes are characterised by sesleria, brachypodium, sheep fescue and helicanthus. Even higher up, in the alpine meadows, heather, curved sedge and fragrant alpine clover dominate.

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THE PEZZATA ROSSA VALDOSTANA BREED

The Valdostana Pezzata Rossa, similar to other red-spotted cattle breeds that populate the base of the Mont Blanc massif, most likely derives from the spotted cattle from Northern Europe, introduced by the Burgundians towards the end of the 5th century.

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The most widespread indigenous breed in the western Alps, where it has adapted perfectly to the geographical and climatic conditions.
It is characterised by a dappled red coat with colour variations from light to deep red. The head is generally white with short, thin, red ears; the abdominal region, the distal parts of the limbs and the tail are white. The light, yellowish horns are fine and pointing forward and upwards. The limbs are short and vigorous, with wide joints, strong hocks and short, solid shanks. The hooves are serrated and made of compact corneous tissue.

Peculiar characteristics of the breed

The Valdostana Pezzata Rossa is characterised by a great locomotor capacity, even on steep slopes, thanks to its robust limbs, extremely resistant and tough hooves and a relatively 'light' constitution (live weight of around 500 kg).
Furthermore, its particular adaptability to difficult climates and resistance to common diseases allow it to be exploited in areas where more demanding breeds in terms of nutrition and management can hardly be profitably bred. The cows generally show excellent fertility, understood as remarkable calving ease and high reproductive efficiency; they are also long-lived, frugal and are characterised by a marked aptitude for the use and exploitation of roughage.

THE PEZZATA NERA-CASTANA VALDOSTAN BREED

The Valdostana Pezzata Nera, the Chestnut and their Swiss relatives, the Hérens breed, represent the local bovine group that originally populated the Alps. It is a common belief that they derived from the Bos Brachyceros species.

The brachycephalic breeds (i.e. species with a broad skull) are known for their lively and authoritarian character. They are a symbol of rusticity and the rural landscape of the area. The Black Valdaostan Piebald and the Chestnut breed, although different in the colour of the coat, are part of the same group.

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The coat in the Pezzata Nera is characterised by the presence of black and white pigment distributed to form the classic dappling and by a generally visible star on the forehead; in the Castana, on the other hand, black and red pigment combine continuously to form shades of colour from all-black to fawn. The apparent mucous membranes and hooves are generally slate-black in colour; the head is pigmented, short, with a distinct and vigorous expression, and the forehead is broad with rather large horns, generally black, strong, directed forward and upwards.
As for the Valdostana Pezzata Rossa, the limbs are short and vigorous, the shanks short, the fetlocks solid, the hocks strong and the hooves tight and hard.