Gorgonzola (cheese)

Gorgonzola is a blue-veined cow's-milk cheese, soft-textured and made from unpasteurised-style curd, marbled with the green or grey-blue veins of a mould of the genus Penicillium: the Treccani dictionary defines it as «a soft, uncooked, buttery table cheese made from whole cow's milk»^[1]. It takes its name from a town in the province of Milan, but its protected designation of origin also covers six areas of Piedmont, and most of it is now produced around Novara, which has also been home to the cheese's protection consortium since 1970^[2].

From «green stracchino» to the name of a town

Accounts of its origins diverge. The Consorzio di tutela places the cheese's birth around 879 in the town of Gorgonzola, on the outskirts of Milan, while noting a rival tradition that locates it in Pasturo, in the Valsassina^[3]; the Fondazione Qualivita's profile instead speaks of a period between the 10th and 12th centuries^[4]. The accounts agree, however, on how it was made: every autumn the farms of the plain received milk from herds coming down from the alpine pastures, and from that milk came a soft cheese that for centuries was known as «stracchino» or «green stracchino»; the name of the town only later came to prevail, to distinguish and promote the product of its area of origin^[3][4].

By the early twentieth century Gorgonzola was already an export product, with more than a hundred thousand quintals a year shipped to England, France and Germany^[3]. In the 1930s it reached its record output: 270,000 quintals, about 13.5 per cent of all cheese produced in Italy, of which more than 60 per cent — 162,000 quintals — went abroad^[5].

The shift towards Novara

After the Second World War the technique changed. The old «two-curd» method, laborious and expensive, was replaced by single-curd processing, which was more consistent and more hygienic; over time, the original production of the Milan and Como areas had been joined on a large scale by that of the Pavia and Novara areas, and today the three leading producing provinces are Novara, Pavia and Milan^[3]. In the 1970s the more than one hundred dairies had to modernise their plants; many small producers left the market, and today about thirty structured firms remain, which also age the cheese themselves^[3].

The Novara area plays a leading role. In Cameri, a few kilometres from the provincial capital, IGOR — one of the best-known brands in the sector — has been operating since 1935^[6]. It was from a plant in Cameri that, in February 2019, the Ministry of Health ordered a recall of several batches of sweet Gorgonzola over the risk of Listeria monocytogenes, sold under five different brand names^[7].

Protection: from Stresa to the PDO

The protection of the name has a Piedmontese milestone. After a meeting in Stresa, on Lake Maggiore, among the leading European experts in the dairy sector, a convention protecting the main typical European cheese productions was signed on 1 June 1951; on 30 October 1955, Presidential Decree 1269 officially recognised the designations of origin of Gorgonzola, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano, Fontina and Pecorino Siciliano^[8]. Decrees issued in 1955 and 1977 set out the production and ageing zones^[3].

In 1968 two voluntary consortia were formed: one in Novara, at the Chamber of Commerce, for the province's small producers, and one in Milan bringing together the largest dairy companies. In 1971 the Consorzio was given oversight duties by the ministry, and from 1 March 1975 official marking began, with a seal stamped on the aluminium wrapping of each wheel^[8]. In June 1996, EC Regulation No. 1107/96 entered Gorgonzola into the European register of PDOs^[8][4]. Today controls are entrusted to the certification body CSQA Certificazioni, and the name is protected against imitation and evocation even in translation^[9]; Gorgonzola is also among the 205 European geographical indications that Japan committed to protecting under the trade agreement ratified by the European Union in December 2018^[10].

Production area and specification

The milk must come from farms in fifteen provinces. In Piedmont these are Novara, Vercelli, Cuneo, Biella and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, plus the area around Casale Monferrato; in Lombardy they are Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Lecco, Lodi, Milan, Monza e Brianza, Pavia and Varese^[2]. For the province of Alessandria, the specification includes 31 municipalities^[4].

Pasteurised whole milk is inoculated with lactic ferments and Penicillium spores; the curd is left in its mould for twenty-four hours, then dry-salted. The sweet type, made in large wheels, is aged for 50 to 150 days; the piquant type, in small and medium wheels, for 80 to 270 days. Ageing takes place between −1 and 7 °C, at a humidity of 85 to 100 per cent^[4][11].

Figures and markets

According to the Fondazione Qualivita, in 2023 the supply chain produced 58.3 million kilograms, with a production-level turnover of 429.9 million euros, of which 202.6 million came from exports, involving 1,685 registered operators^[4]. In 2025, 25,445 tonnes were exported, about 39 per cent of production and 2.14 per cent less than the previous year; the leading market remains France with 511,494 wheels, followed by Germany with 432,793^[12]. The Consorzio's president, Antonio Auricchio, commented on the figures as follows:

«It is a decline that does not worry us, not least because it affects the whole sector, and it is certainly no indication of waning affection for Gorgonzola cheese.»

As of 31 May 2026, the wheels produced that year numbered 2,197,094, essentially the same as the year before^[13]. In July 2026, the board of directors, meeting in Novara, confirmed Auricchio as president, for the first time with a four-year term rather than three^[14].

Pages linking here

• Igor Gorgonzola Novara
• Novara

Related articles: Novara

Sources

1. Treccani
2. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
3. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
4. Fondazione Qualivita (Qualigeo)
5. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
6. IGOR Gorgonzola
7. Il Post — 7 February 2019
8. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
9. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
10. Il Post — 12 December 2018
11. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola
12. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola — 20 April 2026
13. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola — 13 July 2026
14. Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Gorgonzola — 1 July 2026