Today we’d like to introduce you to Giovanni Guffanti Fiori
Hi Giovanni, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The Company
Today “Luigi Guffanti” still selects its cheeses from the same production sites as it did back in 1876. Once selected, these cheeses, preferably made with raw milk directly at the milking dairies, then undergo a refining process that takes place inside special caves owned by “Luigi Guffanti”. Only after this are they ready for delivery to gourmets.
An established presence both in Italy and Europe, and in the influential markets of America, Asia and Oceania, “Luigi Guffanti” regularly attends the top trade fairs and national and international events in the sector, supplying the cheese trolleys of prestigious restaurants, discerning distributors and the delicatessen counters of food stores which offer specialty cheeses of the highest tradition.
Cherished for You
Fresh, medium-aged and blue cheeses, cheeses from around the world… after their selection and aging and refining processes, “Luigi Guffanti” prepares them so that they reach the end consumer in prime condition.
The cheeses are carefully selected, then cut, if necessary, into sizeable pieces and packaged to perfection, sometimes inside little wooden boxes available in a range of sizes. This is how the cheeses are delivered, ready for presentation on restaurant cheese trolleys or for display in sales counters.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There haven’t been any significant obstacles. We have always focused on the quality and uniqueness of our cheeses. Our product is truly unique, incomparable to similar cheeses or those with the same name, which are often made with raw materials (milk) that have nothing in common with the milk from freely grazing animals.
This is the only challenge we sometimes face: the customer or market not fully understanding or financially recognizing this differentiation. And it is an objective one!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Luigi Guffanti 1876 s.r.l.?
Since 1876
Cheeses are our passion and our trade since 1876: we select them, we age them, we refine them,we prepare them for export across the globe. A passion and a trade since 1876, dedicated to those who appreciate unique flavours.
Cheeses as dictated by Tradition
The year was 1876: Italy had only recently been unified, and in Arona, on the shores of Lago Maggiore, Luigi Guffanti was starting up his business as a refiner of different varieties of cheese.
Back in the nineteenth century special underground caves were required for this purpose, and so Luigi bought one, an old disused mine in Valganna, at the foot of the Alps. And thus began a long family history, one that continues today. In 1925 Luigi Guffanti was succeeded by his sons, Carlo and Mario; in 1970 it was the turn of Giovanni Fiori, Carlo’s son-in-law. Since then several generations of the Fiori family have been at the helm of the Company: first Carlo and Luisa, Giovanni’s children, and now Giovanni Guffanti Fiori, Carlo Fiori’s son. The name “Luigi Guffanti” therefore represents a time-honoured art in the selection, aging and refining of cheeses.
The Company Today
Today at “Luigi Guffanti” we still selects the cheeses from the same production sites as we did back in 1876. These cheeses are then aged and refined in our own cellars, and, once fully matured, are delivered to gourmets. An established presence both in Italy and Europe, and in the influential markets of America, Asia and Oceania, “Luigi Guffanti” regularly attends the top trade fairs and national and international events in the sector, supplying the cheese trolleys of prestigious restaurants, discerning distributors and the delicatessen counters of food stores which offer specialty cheeses of the highest tradition.
Awards and invitations pour in from Italy and abroad, making the presence of “Luigi Guffanti” mandatory wherever cheese is revered.
Unique flavours
Careful selection, optimal aging, unhurried refining: this is the recipe for uniqueness in a “Luigi Guffanti” cheese
Careful selection
Now, as back in 1876 the experts at “Luigi Guffanti” go directly to production sites throughout Italy and to the most highly renowned areas of Europe to select cheeses, preferably made with raw milk directly at the milking sites. In summer selection processes also take place up in the high pastures, where shepherds take their herds and produce cheeses in close contact with nature, according to the most established ancient traditions.
Optimal aging
In Guffanti tradition the initial aging is carried out by the cheesemakers themselves on the site of production, and then followed by a lengthy refining period inside our caves and cellars .Here too, the techniques and methods we use date back to 1876, although the facilities have since been modernized and refurbished. The new refining caves we use could not be more natural. Built underground, they offer perfect temperature and humidity conditions, and are protected by their own unique environment. Both the caves up in the mountains, adjacent to the production sites, and the ones in the lowlands are strongly influenced by the geology of their location by the shores of Lago Maggiore.
Optimal refining is provided both by the existing microclimate which preserves the “character” acquired by the caves over the decades, as well as by the “Luigi Guffanti” experts whose care of the cheeses is based on their experience and knowledge of these environments.
Dedicated refining
“Refining” at “Luigi Guffanti” entails adopting different care methods according to cheese type, so as to bring out the original specific characteristics of each type.
The cheeses inside the refining caves require continuous care: the wheels are regularly turned, brushed and rubbed down with water-oil-salt mixtures that keep their rinds supple. Depending on their stage of aging, cheeses may also be moved to cooler, damper areas of the caves,
The materials and instruments used during the refining process could not be more traditional: brushes for the rinds, hammers, needles and irons for testing texture and ripeness, and all sorts of shelves on which the rounds can “rest”. Refining is a process that cannot be hurried. We at “Luigi Guffanti” know when a cheese is ready, so we wait until that time when the cheese is at its very best.
Our caves
The cheeses aged and refined by “Luigi Guffanti” are housed in two caves in the northern Piedmont region, one in the plain and the other up in the mountains: the differences in these natural environments provide yet another characteristic in the cheeses that are aged there.The Arona cave on Lago Maggiore was carefully refurbished in 2005 to restore it to its original nineteenth-century state. In Oira, a tiny mountain hamlet at the heart of Ossola, the cave that dates back to the seventeenth century. Refurbished in 2004, it is part of a building complex which includes a rotational dairy for the production of the Toma cheeses of Ossola, and is run co-jointly with the Latteria Sociale Antigoriana (Antigoriana Dairy Company).
Our cheeses
Fresh; medium-aged; long-aged; blue; from around the world: the wide variety of “Luigi Guffanti” cheeses.
Fresh cheeses
A fanfare of flavours and fragrances evoking the flavour of fresh cow’s milk
Medium-aged cheeses
A subtle balance of fragrance, texture and flavours enhanced by the passage of time.
Long-aged cheeses
Rich, aromatic notes, a mature texture and unique flavours: the precious results of a long journey undertaken below ground.
Blue cheeses
The pungent taste of fine moulds blends perfectly with the flavour of the cheese.
From around the world
Authentic specialities from the many different cheese-making traditions of the world.
Prepared for You
After their selection, aging and refining processes, we at “Luigi Guffanti” prepare the cheeses so that they reach the end consumer in prime condition.
The cheeses are carefully selected, then cut if necessary into sizeable pieces and packaged to perfection, sometimes inside little wooden boxes available in a range of sizes. This is how the cheeses are delivered, ready for presentation on restaurant cheese trolleys or for display in sales counters.
And for those important occasions where exceptional flavour is required, we at”Luigi Guffanti” also offer a comprehensive catering service providing individual cheese portions, which may be served with special preserves, fruit and vegetable conserves, honey, wine, beer and bread.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
What really make the difference is not the marketing, the price, the history.
What’s really make the difference is the PRODUCT!
Pricing:
- WE HAVE NOT EXPENSIVE PRICES BUT HIGH PRICES
- OUR PRICES EXPRESS THE VALUE OF THE PRODUCT
Contact Info:
- Website: https://guffantiformaggi.com/
- Instagram: guffanti1876
- Facebook: GuffantiFormaggi
- Twitter: LuigiGuffanti
- Youtube: Luigi Guffanti
