The origins of Parmigiano Reggiano dates back to the 12th century. It was monks in the area around Parma and Reggio Emilia who first started making a distinctive hard cheese during the Middle Ages: thanks to the oodles of rivers and vast pastures, in a short while in this area of Emilia region it spread the production of a hard cheese obtained through the processing of milk into large boilers.
Today like in the past, cheese masters continue in their effort and in their risk by sincerely and proudly persisting in making their cheese with solely milk, rennet, fire and art, and in abiding by the rigorous centuries-old methods and application of the technique that is the result of special vocations and matured experiences.
The Parmigiano Reggiano was always famous: several biographers of Molière reported that this great playwright, in old age, mainly lived on Parmigiano cheese.

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Photo by Parmigiano Reggiano