Bitto

The next stop on our discovery tour of the local flavours and aromas is Morbegno, the main town in the lower Valtellina lying on the Bitto cone and home to the cheese specialty that goes by the same name.

A large, semi-hard cooked cheese with a cylindrical shape and straw-yellow rind, Bitto di Morbegno is made by processingraw whole cow's milk twice a day on the spot, immediately after milking, with the addition of no more than 10% of milk from Orobica goats, an animal native to the Val di Gerola.

Probably of Celtic origin, between 1995 and 1996 the cheese formally known as Formaggio Grasso Valtellina was given the name Bitto and the PDO mark, until the Bitto PDO consortium decided to change the traditional production method in order to produce more cheese and sell it at a lower price.

Not appreciating the change and continuing to produce Bitto according to the Celtic method, some producers in the Gerola Valley and the Bitto Valley of Albaredo, created the Bitto Storico brand, which in 2016 became Storico Ribelle,  following numerous disputes that arose over ownership of the Bitto brand.

Every year in October, Morbegno hosts the Mostra del Bitto, or ‘Bitto Show’, a food and wine event centred around the typical cheese that provides an opportunity to showcase all the excellence of the food chain with tastings, markets, show-cooking and taste workshops.