🧀 Zanetti

Zanetti is an Italian family company that makes, ages and packs cheese. It was founded in the late 19th century as a small business ageing local hard cheeses and is now run by the fifth generation of the family. Zanetti S.p.A. has its head office in Lallio near Bergamo.

Between the 1920s and 1940s Guido Zanetti became one of the leading agers of Grana Padano. In 1946 the company bought the dairy in Marmirolo (Mantua), where it still makes Grana Padano; in 1980 it added fresh cheeses, in 1992 it acquired the provolone maker Carbonelli, in 1995 it opened a packing centre in Lavis (Trento), and in 2012 it built a site in Panocchia (Parma) for Parmigiano Reggiano.

The Zanetti website lists 15 cheese families: Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano, Hard Cheese, Provolone Valpadana PDO, fresh cheeses, pecorino, goat's cheeses, Malga Bianca (Taleggio and Quartirolo Lombardo PDO), Gorgonzola, Bergamo-tradition cheeses, cheese for pasta and butter.

The company says its cheeses are made from 100% Italian milk from local suppliers. The Lallio warehouse can age up to 150,000 wheels of Grana Padano and Panocchia up to 130,000.

How to choose: for PDO cheeses look for the PDO mark and the age on the pack; Zanetti packs also state fat in dry matter.