Touring & tasting Treviso

“Noo morrre cheeese!” I groaned as I keeled over in the car. 

My colleagues and I had just completed a tour of the Nonno Nanni cheese factory in Treviso, Italy. Nonno Nanni, a family-owned business founded in 1947, specializes in fresh n’ spreadable stracchino and robiola cheeses. Their high-tech factory, which pumps out thousands of cheese blocks per day, is considered one of the largest cheese operations in Italy. 

It’s here where Treviso Glocal and the Italian National Tourist Board of North America brought PAX, alongside three other travel writers, last week for an educational trip into Treviso’s small towns and manufacturers. 

Nonno Nanni is clearly one of Trevisio’s pride and joy. They make a lot cheese. Damn good cheese, too. So much so I lost complete self-control after the company’s marketing team showed us their fermenting and packaging facilities and then offered us a complimentary sample of their product line. 

It could of have been prevented if someone had stopped me, but I ate the entire product line, and then some. Dozens of thick chunks of chilled stracchino and robiola, divinely spread over crisp toasts, all for me. I zeroed in for seconds, thirds, fourths and even fifths. More cheese? “Yes please,” was my automated response each time a rep from Nonno Nanni offered me more.

By the time I stuffed my face with enough Nonno Nanni to feed all of Treviso, I realized I’d bitten off more cheese than I could chew. My stomach gargled, and much to the amusement of my colleagues, I spent the next three days in a cheese-induced coma. 

When in Rome, they say. Or Italy, for that matter. Overeating was an all-too-common occurrence in our group during Treviso: The Art Of Making, the tour which covered ground across the province of Treviso in the Veneto region of northern Italy. 

About a 30 minute drive north of Venice, Treviso is a quaint community of high hills and neoclassical architecture. It’s similar to Venice because of the rivers that roll through the town of Treviso, the capital, under ancient canals and bridges — notably the River Sile, the longest spring water river in Europe. Downtown Treviso, with its cobblestone roads and public frescos, feels like the setting of a Brothers Grimm fairytale, modernized by gelato cafes, chic restaurants, restored cathedrals and stores.

Beyond downtown and into the greater Veneto Region like picturesque villages, such as tiny Asolo, a hilly, romantic treasure known as the “City of a Hundred Horizons” that was once home to English poet Robert Browning. 

Treviso thrives as an off-the-beaten path destination, but it’s also, notably, a leader in producing famous Italian products, which makes it all the more authentic. 

“Treviso is the best place for radicchio,” said Matteo Portelli of Tenuta Al Parco farms, a leading producer of the bitter and spicy-tasting vegetable with white-veined red leaves. The radicchio, here, relies on Trevisio’s mild climate, and it was so fresh it was ridiculous. It spills into town, too, where radicchio vendors (perhaps in lieu of hot dog vendors) sell their best stems. 

Treviso is also ground zero for superior Prosecco. No knock-offs may apply. Prosecco DOC, as it’s called, is made exclusively in nine provinces spanning the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. Prosecco Superiore DOCG, alternatively, can only be produced in the Treviso province of Veneto. Two consortiums oversee the region’s Prosecco to protect its authenticity in global markets where Prosecco impostors are all too common. Both headquarters treated our group to a tasting seminar and made Prosecco advocates out of all of us. By the time we toured the vineyards of Vincenzo Toffoli estates in Refrontolo, a microclimate village where the grapes are picked by hand, we were wine and Prosecco aficionados.

And do you like sour bread with your Prosecco? In addition to cheese, Treviso is a major exporter of panettone, produced primarily by Fraccaro Spumadoro, a family-run bakery in the town of Castelfranco. Panettone tastes like a cross between Christmas and coffee cake, and our group got to see Fraccaro Spumadoro’s speedy operations in action. They package up to 12,000 loaves per day!

Our tour wrapped in fashion at the main headquarters for Stonefly, a leading producer in stylish, sporty footwear, where we previewed the company’s upcoming collection. Seeing designers manually map out every texture, heel and lace on each product propelled all appreciation for what goes into a shoe. 

The wealth of Treviso is, hands down, based within the notion that a community can build itself up using the best resources its land and citizens can offer. Throw some traditional Trevigian dishes into the mix (fresh gnocchi, sea food and tiramisu, anyone?) and you can count on being well-fed, too. 

Just pace yourself before cutting the cheese.