Roncofreddo has been home to the Brancaleoni family for over 250 years, and it was here that Renato was born in 1947, destined like his predecessors to carry on the long tradition of cheese-making. His professional life actually began on a different track: in 1978, when his father Gino closed the shop where he had sold food products for years, Renato worked in a large sports shop, which he also owned. It was only in 1992 that he decided to return to his true passion: encouraged by his daughter Anna, who showed an interest in cheese, he resumed the business and in 1997 opened the Osteria dei Frati, specialising in fine cheeses and cured meats.
Since then, Renato Brancaleoni’s career has been marked by numerous successes: in 2004, he won first place in the national competition “Miglior Carrello dei Formaggi” (Best Cheese Trolley) in Maratea; in 2005, he won the Caseus award; in 2007, he won the bronze medal at the Bocuse D’Or-Internatinal Caseus Award-Lyon world championships; in 2010, he won first place in the Infiniti Blu competition in the city of Gorgonzola.
Today, in the Piazzetta della Torre dell’Orologio, in the 14th-century Palazzo Dominici, owned by the Malatesta Marquises, the Brancaleoni family’s “La Fossa Dell’Abbondanza” refines cheese from Fossa to Foglie di Noci al Fieno, from Cenere to Stravecchio di Natale. ‘The affineur is the person who chooses the best product, follows its natural or controlled evolution, takes care of the cheese at every stage, knows its secrets and knows how to present it at the moment of its maximum flavour expression’.