ENO-GASTRONOMY
AN ENO-GASTRONOMIC TOUR
OF BERGAMO
More than just breathtaking landscapes. The province of Bergamo offers an array of flavours for those who want to discover and enjoy the typical eno-gastronomic specialties of the area. Included among Bergamo’s typical products we find: cheeses, Franciacorta sparkling wine and Moscato di Scanzo wine.
THEBERGAMO AREA’S PDO CHEESES
The province of Bergamo is a land of alpine dairies and herds, where cheese-making techniques have been refined over the centuries. Today there are 9 Bergamo cheeses that have officially obtained the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), and with 150 active alpine dairies, the Bergamo province comes in first among Italy’s provinces.Typical cheeses include Branzi, Bitto, Stracchino, Agrì di Valtorta all of which are renowned, but the “Strachitunt”, an ancient cheese dating back to 1380 that has survived, will soon boast the prestigious brand, earning international fame, owing to the tenacity of a few breeders and cheesemakers in Val Taleggio.
In 2019 Bergamo was awarded a “UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy” thanks to the dairy production of the Orobie valleys, with its 30 traditional cheeses, 9 of which are PDO and 3 Slow-Food artisan food lines.
MOSCATODI SCANZO
Considered a pearl of Bergamo wine production, Moscato di Scanzo is in fact the only wine in the Bergamo area to boast the Guaranteed Certified Designation of Origin (GCDO) as it is produced with an ancient grape variety grown almost exclusively on the hills of Scanzorosciate. It is so closely linked to the region that the place name is also its grape variety.It is a wine from ancient history, dating back to the Romans and Celtic populations. Its fame, however, increased in the eighteenth century when Giacomo Quarenghi, an artist from Bergamo, donated it to Catherine the Great, making it renowned throughout Europe. Buckingham Palace still has this straw wine shipped in today.
THEFRANCIACORTA WINE-CELLARS
Franciacorta, the Lombardy location most famous for its wine-making history and located below Lake Iseo, is a half hour drive from Bergamo city. Grapevines have been grown constantly in Franciacorta since Roman times, thanks to the favourable climatic conditions and soil.The name “Franciacorta” has an unsure etymology: its name might be derived from “corte franca” (free court), as a region not subject to duty, to which all the other areas under the rule of Venice were commonly subject. There are those who even trace it back to Charlemagne who, arriving at the gates of Brescia during the campaign to conquer Lombardy, and admiring the hilly landscape similar to that in France, exclaimed that he had arrived in “Little France”.
Today the name “Franciacorta” has become synonymous with the same DOCG sparkling wine produced in the many area vineyards. However, in the land of Franciacorta you can also find still red and white wines, all of which you can discover, learn about and taste visiting the wine-cellars open during different periods of the year.
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