We have been reporting on the continuing renaissance of cheese rolling in the narrow stone streets of Barga Vecchia for some time now. There are two main centres for the resurgence of this old sport – one is in the piazza outside Aristo’s bar with Marino and his team and the second is just inside the Porta Reale main gate, this time with Andrea Mazzolini supplying the cheese. It would seem that this second group is the strongest with more members arriving on a daily basis to try their hand at the ancient art/sport of cheese rolling.
This afternoon Camila from the trattoria ALTANA joined in the fun.
She picked a mature cheese from Andreas shop, took up the position and hurled her first cheese down the length of the street to Mario Edicola waiting at the far end to block the fast moving, heavy and potentially dangerous cheesy object before once more disappearing back into the kitchen of the ALTANA to prepare for the evening meal (article here)
E’ ormai diventato un appuntamento da non perdere.
Alle ore 12.00 ed alle ore 16.00, si ripete quotidianamente il lancio della forma che Andrea Mazzolini e Mario Nardini attuano per testare la genuinità e l’originalità del prodotto venduto dall’Andrea.
La forma rotola su via di Mezzo dalla bottega dell’Andrea fino a quella del Mario, andata e ritorno.
E’ così che ormai da molto tempo il formaggio locale si impregna dei sapori di Barga per essere poi venduto con un valore aggiunto ed unico in tutta la vallata.
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So what is all this cheesey activity about ?
The answer can be found in the news that there are plans afoot to organise and promote next autumn in Barga Vecchia the 1st Traditional Cheese Rolling Festival.
The competition will take place for cheese rollers to move their cheeses from Porte Macchiaia through the city to the finishing line at Porte Reale. (article here) The winner being the team that can roll their cheese the distance in the least possible rolls…. so it’s bit like golf tournament except that the cheeses have to remain on the ground. Already teams from the L’osteria, ALTANA and Casciani’s (article here) are thinking about training for this forthcoming event. Watch this space for further details
(A full article about Andrea Mazzolini and his “we never close shop” can be found here)