About us
An affineur in the Valtellina, not a dairy
Our part of the work begins once the wheel has already been made. This page states exactly what we do, what we do not do, and which of it is documented.
Updated September 19, 2026
The trade
An affineur — the French word the trade uses for the party that ages cheese — takes on wheels made by dairies and carries them to the point of maturity at which they should be sold. In our case the work covers three activities:
- aging of hard, semi-hard and semi-soft cheese;
- portioning of fresh, semi-soft, semi-hard and hard cheese, including shredded and julienne cuts;
- packing of whole wheels and portions, in food-contact paper or vacuum, including modified atmosphere.
The list is deliberately precise: it states what we do, without widening. A broader wording — “production”, “full supply chain” — would promise operations we do not carry out.
What we are not
We do not produce milk, we own no herds, and we hold no denomination of origin. When a cheese we age carries a DOP, the denomination belongs to its protection system and to the dairy that made it. We appear in one defined role: the party that took it to maturity.
We say this bluntly because in export trade ambiguity on this point is a practical problem. It changes the paperwork, it changes who certifies what, and it changes where responsibility sits.
Where the role is documented
The label applied by the Consorzio di Tutela Valtellina Casera e Bitto to wheels of Bitto DOP and Valtellina Casera DOP carries the words “Stagionato da: Bongetta Formaggi — Cosio Valtellino”. Taleggio DOP is packed in our own printed paper, which shows the company name, the mark of the denomination and the reference to the authorized control body.
For the other denominations we distribute, the exact role still has to be established, and we do not get ahead of it here.
The premises
The plant is in Cosio Valtellino, province of Sondrio, on the valley floor and a short distance from the Valtellina summer pastures. The location is not a piece of storytelling: it shortens the time between the dairy and the aging cellar, and it shortens the chain for denominations made at altitude.
Editorial responsibility
The text, diagrams and photographs on this site are produced and published under the responsibility of Bongetta Formaggi srl. They carry no personal byline: we answer as a company. Every figure that comes from an outside source is given with that source and its publication date.
Full company details — registered office, VAT number, REA number, share capital — are on the Legal notice page.
