Greina

For the brief summer period, Giovanni Boggini, native of the town of Aquila, leads his cattle onto the mountain pasture. We are in the Greina Alps, a vast plateau which unites Ticino and Grigioni. This will be the dairyman’s last year of producing his cheese and butter in a wood-fired cauldron, in the traditional way. These mountain heartlands have been forced to “modernise to European standards”. During the winter months, we return to the Motterascio pasture via helicopter to find it cloaked in white, glacier-like. Later, we accompany Sig. Boggini into the white interior of the laboratory. Resplendent with shiny tiles and glittering instruments, it resembles a high-tech pharmaceutical plant. The incredulous dairyman reluctantly accepts the sterilised cap and other similar constrictions. It is my belief that only a deep-seated passion for the trade could account for those individuals who, despite the difficulties, continue to keep it alive.