Biking like a local and Parmigiano Reggiano, one last time.

Before leaving Colorno, I wanted to take Mum to see where the local parmigiano reggiano was made and where we bought our fresh ricotta. We didn't have a car, so off we went on our bikes. At first, Mum was a little wobbly - she said she couldn't remember the last time she rode a bike, but I'm pretty sure it was just her shaking in fear as the huge trucks wooshed by us as we tried to share the single lane road that gave us about 3 inches until the grass sloped into the little river along the side of the road where the muscats scamper and splash about. We survived though, mum was a trooper, and we got two chunks of parmigiano reggiano to bring home. With Arina's innate-Dutch-bike-riding confidence, I gained my own bike-riding-slash-owning-the-road-confidence on the little country roads around Parma. I think Mum too felt like a local riding around the Italian countryside.

like a pro. like a local. 

Unfortunately, Caseificio San Salvatore was robbed a couple weeks ago. I don't know how they managed, but according to the Gazzetta di Parma newspaper, about 6 or 7 people stole 350 wheels of parmigiano reggiano that are worth....150,000 euros!! I could not lift or carry one of those if I had worked out for months to train for a body building competition. Apparently these people arrived at 9:30 at night, disassembled the security system and covered the camera, then proceeded to pass the wheels through a back window where they transferred them to a truck. It may seem a bit early to carry out a robbery, but the cheesemakers have to start working by 5am so they are asleep early.

made it back to Colorno safely.
am I a creepy photographer?

If you could see the look in the cheese maker's eyes, you could feel his heartfelt pain in his loss. It was so incredibly sad, even unfathomable what happened. According to Alberto, he has insurance and the wheels have traceability, so hopefully he will get them back, or some money, but that doesn't return the time and effort of the last past years he put into making these cheeses every morning.  You'd think for such a regional, traditional, and artisanal product that people would have a little more respect. It's disgusting.

local.