BETWEEN TASTE AND SOLIDARITY: THE ROADS OF LOMBARDY MEET IN MANTUA

On September 29, 2024 , Mantua will become the meeting point of Lombardy's food and wine excellence with the Festival of Wines and Flavors . Organized by the Federation of the Roads of Wines and Flavors of Lombardy , the Festival will take place at the historic Loggia dei Mercanti of Palazzo Andreani , in via Spagnoli in Mantua . Participants will be able to discover and taste the typical products of the eleven Roads, immersing themselves in the unique flavors of every corner of the region. The Festival will also have a significant charitable goal : all proceeds from the event will be donated to the social cooperative Onlus Il Ponte, which offers daytime services for people with disabilities.

The event will bring together the eleven Roads of the Federation through tastings and samplings, offering an in-depth look at the world of Lombard excellence.

“It is a wonderful sign that the Roads of Lombard Wines and Flavors meet in Mantua – commented the deputy mayor of Mantua Giovanni Buvoli -. In fact, in recent years our territory has done a lot at all levels, both institutional and professional operators to promote our very important food and wine, both by teaming up with Cremona, Bergamo and Brescia in the East Lombardy project and by promoting our products, which characterize an important food and wine tradition that attracts further tourist flows to our territory”.

During this day, visitors will be able to learn about, taste and buy the identity products of the Lombardy region in a location of art and elegance. After the first edition in Broni, at the Enoteca Regionale della Lombardia, this year the Festival moves to the suggestive Renaissance center of Mantua, the city "worthy of a thousand miles of travel to see it", as Torquato Tasso described it, which together with Sabbioneta constitutes a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Federation of the Wine and Flavor Roads of Lombardy will gather in a single mosaic all the food and wine excellences that coexist in Lombardy. During the Festival you will be able to discover the Valtellina Wine Road , with the Nebbiolo of the Alps, the Valcalepio Wine Road and flavors of the Bergamo area , with its DOC wine of the same name and the Franciacorta Road , a wine that in 1995 became the first Italian territory and wine produced with the method of refermentation in the bottle; from the Botticino DOC and Montenetto DOC wines of the Colli Longobardi Wine and Flavor Road to the Mantuan Rice and Risotto Road , with its famous Risotto alla Pilota, cooked by absorbing water and subsequently adding pork pesto; again, from the Strada del Vino del San Colombano and the Flavours of Lodi , with the famous raspadüra, to the Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico DOCG of the Strada dell'Oltrepò Pavese . Also present are the rice of the Strada del Riso dei Tre Fiumi and the Cremonese mustard with the Strada del gusto cremonese nella terra di Stradivari . Visitors will also have the opportunity to taste the refined Garda oil, a product of excellence of the Strada dei vini e dei sapori del Garda . Finally, the Strada dei vini e sapori mantovani will be present, which will offer the public the opportunity to taste Lambrusco Mantovano, the wines of the Colli Mantovani and Parmigiano Reggiano. This is just a taste of what can be discovered in the rich Lombardy region.

“ With this Festival , the Federation aims to enhance the various Lombard expressions , making them known first of all to the final consumer - says Gianni Boselli, President of the Federation -. It will be a day of celebration, in which the protagonists will be the Lombard identity products, those authentically linked to the territories that are immediately associated with an area, in a city like Mantua , a true jewel of the Renaissance famous throughout the world for its history, food and wine, art treasures and natural beauty, and awarded, not by chance, the title of Italian Capital of Culture for the year 2016”.

Finally, the Festival represents the opportunity to bring together the Wine and Flavor Roads that operate in the East Lombardy territories, a brand that unites producers and restaurateurs who guarantee the culture of healthy, sustainable food that respects local biodiversity. East Lombardy, a brand of the Eastern Lombardy gastronomic region, aims to promote the evolution of food and wine in the four provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Mantua, supporting the notoriety of the excellence of its producers and restaurateurs at a national and international level.