Valgerola, a secondary valley off Valtellina, is nicknamed Valle del Bitto in honor of its famed historic Bitto cheese production. Cows freely graze in the summer months on high alpine valleys, and farmers skillfully manufacture cheese from their milk (with some goat’s milk added, too) according to a thousand year-old process. The raw milk is immediately processed in stone huts called “calécc.” The wheels end up at an underground storehouse at the Centro del Bitto Storico in Gerola Alta to age for up to 10 years. Each wheel has a unique flavor due to the mix of mountain flowers and herbs that make it into the cows’ diets. The consortium of farmers and cheese-makers recently changed the name of their cheese to “Bitto Storico” in honor of this ancient method and in an attempt to distance themselves from modern productions encroaching on the Bitto name who pen their cows, give them feed, and use industrial machinery.
Starting on foot right out of the door of our family’s mountain cabin in Pescegallo, we hiked up to the summit of Pizzo Tre Signori, one of the most prominent peaks in this area of the Bergamasque Alps, or Alpi Orobie, at 2,554 meters (8,379 feet). The mountain’s name comes from its location at the meeting point of the historic city-states of Milan, Venice, and the Swiss Grisons.
