“It is something romantic to dedicate yourself, your money and your time to cheese.”
Anthony Bourdain
The mound is the mountain pasture or sheperd of the cattle in the mountains, the transfer to pastures at high altitude from spring to autumn. At this point there are those who will think about trekking and those who will think about… cheese!
One hour far from AbanoRitz, along the Valdastico, and then climbing the hairpin bends of the Costo up to 1000 meters above sea level, you get to the plateau of Asiago and then to the adjacent plateau of Vezzena. The plateau is a “different” mountain, it has its own unique charm and embellished by the memory of the taste of cheese.
Asiago, main center of the plateau of the Seven Municipalities, is certainly among the places that have something to say in Italy, among the most fascinating: the land of the First World War, the place of the writers who told us the senselessness of these wars. Its forests two years ago were hit by the Vaia storm: gusts of wind at 200 kilometers per hour that in the Seven Municipalities have razed to the ground about 2,300 hectares of forest.
A piece of history of Asiago is certainly symbolized by the cheese and more precisely by the Pennar Cheese Factory that since 1927 produces by its own cheeses and dairy products, with the highest quality, created following the dictates of a strict protocol for the healthy feeding of cows and only with good mountain milk, rennet and salt. Gran Pennar, Pennarone, Tosela Pennar, but a special mention should be dedicated to the Asiago DOP, a product of excellence.
Bordering it, the plateau of Vezzena, less known than the one of Asiago, 1500 meters above the sea, is well served by forest roads perfect for walking through woods, pastures and forests. Between Veneto and Trentino is the cheese that unites the different provinces crossing the administrative borders. The typical cheese of the Plain, the Vezzena in fact, is declined fresh, medium, old or very old. Until the early 1900s, Vezzena was the only cheese used in Trentino as a condiment for soups and dumplings. According to the chronicle of the time, it was also one of the cheeses preferred by the Emperor Francesco Giuseppe.
The raw milk, partially skimmed, is processed with bovine rennet and left to mature, sometimes exceeding two years of maturation. A Slow Food presidium cheese, which is really perfect accompanied by the inevitable polenta.
We wait for you at the AbanoRitz to discover these fantastic regional products and to be your starting point for interesting excursions in order to discover an area rich in culture and food and wine.
