SubheaCatanzaro, Italy
We first met cheese merchants Rafaella and Giuseppe Castagna at Salone del Gusto, when the show first ventured out of the Fiera and into the park by the river. They gave us soft gorgonzola to try, in ice cream cones.”Crikey”, I remember thinking, “this is a game changer”.
Since then they have been our cheese afineur - our ‘stagionatura’ - in Italy, working from their base near the headwaters of Lago di Maggiore. We have visited them in their HQ, met with them at subsequent trade shows, stayed in their splendid boutique hotel, and visited cheese makers with them.
Rafaella is a constant source of advice and help, as we have moved our business slowly into the cheesy coloured light. We have become a family of cheesemongers largely because of her efforts.
The cheeses which we take from Castagna are marked with a ‘C’ in our online shop.
