Cheeses of Lodi
A Lombard city on the Adda whose rich pastures are linked with the birth of grana cheese and with mascarpone.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: April to June and September to October.
Lodi stands on the river Adda south-east of Milan, in a plain irrigated since the Middle Ages by canals dug by monks. The well-watered meadows gave hay and grass for dairy cattle almost all year, and the area is one of the places linked with the first grana cheeses, the ancestors of Grana Padano. Mascarpone, the rich cream cheese, is also traditionally tied to the Lodi area.
Grana and mascarpone
Grana Padano is a hard, grainy cow's milk cheese made across the Po valley, aged for at least nine months. Its roots are often traced to the Cistercian abbey of Chiaravalle and to the Lodi plain, where the old grana lodigiano was made. Mascarpone is made by heating cream and setting it with acid, giving a thick, sweet cream cheese used in tiramisu and risotto.
The city
Lodi has a large arcaded piazza with a Romanesque cathedral, and the octagonal Tempio dell'Incoronata, decorated inside with gold and paintings. Its bridge over the Adda saw a famous Napoleonic battle in 1796. The surrounding plain, the Lodigiano, is still dairy country, with farmsteads called cascine built around great courtyards.
A trail idea for Lodi
- Piazza della Vittoria The arcaded main square and the cathedral.
- Tempio dell'Incoronata The richly decorated octagonal church.
- A cascina Visit a farm courtyard on the Lodi plain.
- Adda riverside Walk by the river where the old bridge stood.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Lodi, Lombardy" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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