Spaccio Caseificio Ponte di Barbarano
Shop next to the cooperative dairy, rebuilt and enlarged in 2018. Besides cheese it sells a wide range of dairy products.
About Provolone Valpadana
A semi-hard stretched-curd (pasta filata) cow's-milk cheese made in two types, Dolce with calf rennet and Piccante with lamb or kid rennet. The zone is mostly Lombard, but includes the Veneto provinces of Verona, Vicenza, Padova and Rovigo. It is shared, not Veneto's alone. Italian Wikipedia says weights run from a few hundred grams to over 100 kg depending on shape and ageing. Qualigeo says the shape may be salami, truncated cone, melon or pear, optionally topped with a small ball.
Made in: Cremona, Brescia and parts of Bergamo, Mantova and Lodi; Verona, Vicenza, Padova and Rovigo in Veneto; parts of Trento; Piacenza
On the plate
Mild in the Dolce type, more decided in the Piccante, per Qualigeo; the paste is compact, straw yellow, with the odd slight eye, under a thin smooth rind from pale to golden yellow, sometimes brownish. It can be smoked.
Rind: natural crust
Wine and cheese
What to pour with Provolone Valpadana
Recioto di Soave Veneto
Our pickPiccante, made with lamb or kid rennet and aged at least 90 days, is sharper than the Dolce type. A sweet Recioto di Soave, with apricot and honey over bright acidity, sets sweet against salty and sharp.
The grapes behind these winesGarganega
From the source
Where to buy and taste it
Caseificio Gugole shop
Opened in the 1990s so that people of the Val d'Alpone could buy the Gugole products directly. Open Monday to Saturday with a midday break.
Spaccio Pennar, Asiago
Shop at the dairy on Via Pennar. Pennar lists two more, Mörar at Via Ceresara 18 in Asiago and Tresché at Cesuna in Roana, and announces one in Vicenza as opening soon.
La Casara Roncolato, Soave
Second shop of La Casara Roncolato, on Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Soave, closed on Sundays.
Cheese experiences nearby
Festa Storica del Formaggio Monte Veronese, Erbezzo
Cheese festival in the streets of Erbezzo with a competition between Monte Veronese DOP cheeses, a guided tasting, a children's cheese-making workshop and direct sales by producers. The 2026 edition was the 34th.
Moonlight Lessinia, full-moon hikes with a mountain-hut dinner
Guided full-moon hikes in the Lessinia Natural Park followed by a tasting dinner with the Monte Veronese Consortium. In 2025-2026 the dinners were at a traditional malga, with Monte Veronese DOP and VinNatur natural wines, and the hikes were led by AIGAE guides.
Caseificio Aperto, open day at the Barbarano dairy
Open day at the cooperative dairy with guided visits, tastings of its cheeses and local products, and the shop open. It is free, needs no booking, and the dairy reports about 2,000 visitors a year.
Guided visit to the Ponte di Barbarano dairy
A 35 to 40 minute walk through nearly all the dairy rooms to see milk turned into Grana Padano and Asiago Pressato, with a tasting at the end and the shop next door. Booking by phone or email is required.
Guided visit to the Pennar dairy, Asiago
Guided visit of the Caseificio Pennar dairy on weekday afternoons, Monday to Friday 15:00 to 17:00, by reservation through the form on the dairy's visits page or by phone.
Provolone Valpadana: questions
Which Veneto provinces make Provolone Valpadana?
Verona, Vicenza, Padova and Rovigo, per Qualigeo.
What is the difference between Dolce and Piccante?
Qualigeo says Dolce uses calf rennet and tastes delicate; Piccante uses lamb or kid rennet, is aged at least 90 days and tastes sharper.
When was Provolone Valpadana first protected?
The name Provolone Valpadana became an Italian denominazione di origine by prime ministerial decree of 9 April 1993, according to the consortium, and an EU DOP in 1996.
Same cheeseboard
More cheeses from Veneto
Plan the trip
Visit Provolone Valpadana country
Tastings and tours where it is made, and somewhere to stay.
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Sources: protection register, www.qualigeo.eu, it.wikipedia.org. The drawing is made from the cheese's recorded shape, rind and paste, not a photograph.