GALBANI is the story of a man, a place, a dream, a taste, an attitude.
It’s an Italian story, more than 140 years old.
Galbani was born in Valsassina, a green land characterized by lush alpine pastures, in the North of Italy. From such a generous landscape, only the best of milk could come.
Typical of Valsassina is the “grotto”, made of tufa and sedimentary rocks, naturally refrigerated at a temperature of 5-7 °C and with 70% of humidity: the ideal environment for cheese maturation and storage.
Everything in Galbani refers and goes back to its founder: Egidio Galbani. Even today, he is a source of inspiration for generations of “Galbani people”: workers, managers, partners.
Egidio was inspired by the so-called “Bergamini”: seasonal dairymen, who used to make cheeses following the local tradition to improve preservation and storage.
Egidio Galbani was supposed to grow up as a blacksmith, like his father. But his real passion was making cheese.
In the middle of the 1870s, he started handling the whole cheese production cycle.
After visiting France, where he looked into the production of premium soft cheeses like brie, camembert, and Roquefort, he immediately started to experiment and apply this knowledge.
The first Galbani factory was founded in 1882, in Ballabio, Lecco.
In the first half of the XX century, Galbani expanded its business throughout Italy and abroad. With 5 plants opened in Lombardy, up to 5.000 workers were hired.
In 1911 Galbani opened a new site in Melzo, next to the modern and fast-improving railway system. From that strategic position, cheeses could efficiently reach Milan and the entire Lombardy region. Inside the factory, all the latest technologies were installed, such as the first refrigerators and the steam engines.
The story of Galbani, the first real dairy industry in Italy. A place where the industrial standardization always harmonizes with a crafted “handmade” attitude.
In the second half of the XX Century, the company reached a huge and impactful distribution model: 2.700 dedicated representatives were traveling throughout Italy, bringing Galbani fresh cheeses to a wider and wider audience. Italian quality cheeses, historically too perishable to go far and to stay fresh, were now available on a large scale.
Galbani brings to the tables of its consumers a slice of genuine Italian flavour: fresh and tasty cheeses that represent not only the best Italian culinary tradition but also the so celebrated Italian attitude and lifestyle.
