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In antique
documents concerning Aosta Valley the name Fontina is often
seen. In the mid 1200s there was mention of the “de Funtina”
family which a century later became “de Fontines”.
There is a wealth of documentation on the use of the name Fontina
to indicate place names: meadows, lands, villages..
Slowly leafing through the archives you can note the name Fontina
matched to the characteristic cheese; substituting “vacherinus”,
together with “seras” cheese, and then from the 18th century onwards
it was definitively used for the typical cheese.
For several centuries Fontina was produced where enough milk,
that is enough cows, was available, in the high pastures. As during
the winter almost all Valdaostan families had just two or three
cows per family, it was only during the 1800s that shift dairies
were set up and the milk transformed by co-operatives.
So Fontina is a product of the high mountain, the mountain pastures,
and has taken its name from noble families and recurrent
place names in Aosta Valley. If you visit Valdaostan
castles, look at the frescoes in Issogne Castle. Among ladies,
knights and warriors there is a medieval market stall selling
cheese: the typical Fontina cheese is easily recognisable.
This is the sign of tradition – of art, in fact – which has been
carried out here for seven centuries and has given taste to generations
of Valdaostans and visitors.
Fontina, a word with a wealth of history, a name
which today guarantees at a European level the respect for strict
production regulations and permits the maintenance of the cheese’s
specific and organoleptic qualities, as well as its centuries-old
tradition.
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