Wolf attacks on herds in the Italian Alps are threatening the survival of Storico Ribelle, one of Italy’s rarest artisan cheeses, whose most aged wheels can sell for up to 300 euros per kilogram.
About 20 Orobica goats have been killed in recent weeks across pastures in the Val Gerola and upper Valvarrone valleys in Lombardy, according to producers. Cheesemaker Erica Mazzola said several animals and some of the dogs used to protect the herds had also disappeared this summer.
Producers warn that losing the animals risks losing the cheese itself. The Storico Ribelle, previously known as Bitto Storico, is made only in summer on the high mountain pastures of Val Gerola and the surrounding Orobie Alps. Its recipe requires raw milk from both cows and native Orobica goats, a breed adapted to roaming freely at altitude. Roughly 500 Orobica goats currently take part in its production.
Twelve producers, fewer than 1,000 wheels a year
Just 12 producers still make the cheese, turning out between 900 and 1,000 wheels annually, a figure far smaller than comparable Italian cheeses. Wheels aged for more than a decade command up to 300 euros per kilo, placing it among the most expensive cheeses in Europe.
Producers say permanently enclosing the animals is not a viable solution, because the goats’ diet of alpine herbs and wild vegetation is central to what makes the cheese distinctive. Keeping herds confined would alter a production method that has remained largely unchanged for generations.
Wolf attacks compound other pressures already facing the sector, producers say, including increasingly frequent droughts, sanitary regulations on raw-milk cheeses, and a lack of younger people entering the trade. Regional estimates put the wolf population in Lombardy at between 80 and 112 animals spread across more than 20 packs.
Producers are calling for measures that would allow wolf conservation and livestock farming to coexist, warning that if traditional transhumance continues to retreat, a centuries-old way of making cheese could be lost entirely.
