“Gorgonzola is an inspirational blue cheese” (Mauro Pagliai Publisher of the I non cookbook series), co-written by Maria Cristina Ricci And Claudio Maria Tartari pays homage, through literature and history, to one of the most famous blue cheeses in the world which also has Martesana in its origins.
Gorgonzola is an inspirational cheese
Maria Cristina Ricci, graduated in Philosophy in Padua, has been involved in the conservation of the cultural heritage of the area for decades and has written various texts on the subject. With Mauro Pagliai editor you published “The words of the castle in the works of Dante Alighieri” in 2021. Claudio Maria Tartari, graduated in History with a medieval focus with a thesis on agricultural economics, has produced around thirty studies on the Milanese territory. Together they wrote “Gorgonzola a cheese of inspiration”.
Recently, together with the astrophysicist Tommaso Maccacaro, he published three books on popular science (“History of where” Bollati Boringhieri 2017, “Numbers seen askew and “The necessity of chance” Clichy 2003 and 2004”).
“An idea born more than 20 years ago”
«The idea was born more than twenty years ago and found its first realization in a publication published by the Agriculture sector of the Province of Milan, a publication which in 2007 earned the organization a European communication award -explained the authors of “Gorgonzola, an inspirational cheese”, Maria Cristina Ricci and Claudio Maria Tartari– Since then the search for new writers and intellectuals who mention gorgonzola in their writings has continued, also involving our friends and acquaintances with a passion for reading in a sort of shared treasure hunt».
«The essay “A historical profile for a mythical cheese” which completes the work is also much broader and more documented – they continue authors– in recent years, investigations into the ancient origins of gorgonzola have been further enriched, thanks to the research of Michele Corti and Antonio Carminati on transhumance and the civilization of the Bergamo people».
“A cultural heritage to be preserved”
Gorgonzola is a blue cheese, produced in Italy from whole cow’s milk. It takes its name from the Lombard town of the same name that gave it birth, where the “Festival of Gorgonzola” which attracts thousands of visitors.
«The book found the perfect place in the “I NON RECIPE BOOKS” of the Florentine publisher Mauro Pagliai, as the series “deals with cuisine to be savored with the mind before the palate. Food is not mere preparation but an idea, emotion, inspiration of stories, memory, thought, reverie even before being an edible material…” – underlined the authors of “Gorgonzola, an inspirational cheese”, Maria Cristina Ricci and Claudio Maria Tartari– The title of the book comes from the fact that a true mythography was born around gorgonzola, precisely due to the very strong and divisive organoleptic characteristics of this cheese, which does not allow half measures: either you love it or you abhor it, but it certainly does not leave you indifferent.».
«In the months to come – they concluded authors– we will be engaged in a series of presentations: some local, under the aegis of Ecomuseo Martesana which has well understood that gorgonzola is part of the cultural heritage to be preserved, being a product of the morphological characteristics and political and social events of Martesana. Other scheduled presentations will be in Florence, Sondrio and Piedmont. But we hope to be invited abroad too… who knows: to France or Switzerland…».
The book is already available at the operational headquarters of Martesana Ecomuseum in Villa Daccò in Gessate.
Augusta Brambilla
