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Simply a legend. And like all legends, Parmigiano Reggiano has a history of seamlessly blended truth and myth. It is an extremely ancient cheese which has been made in the same way at least since the Middle Ages. It is described in the writing of the great Italian poets of the 14th century. Giovanni Boccaccio cited it in his most famous work, The Decameron, in which he imagines "a mountain of grated Parmigiano cheese, on top of which there were people who did nothing but make maccheroni and ravioli and cook them in capon broth and then roll them down so that he who got the most had the most". Cooks, gourmands and intellectuals spoke of it. Full-blown declarations of love can be found scattered over time, up to the twentieth century. For example, the writer, Giovannino Guareschi, who seems to have understood everything, not just about Parmigiano, but also about our land itself: “If you observe the texture of Parmigiano under a very strong magnifying glass, it is revealed to be not just an unchanging mass of granules linked together into cheese but a panorama. It is an aerial photograph of Emilia taken from a height similar to that of the Eternal Father". The ageing process is crucial, as this is when Parmigiano changes character and transforms into that unique, universally coveted cheese. The minimum ageing process foresees 12 months but we sell up to 120 month selections. At 36 months and beyond, this crumbliness is further accentuated, accompanied by spicier flavours, where fresh fruit aromas give way to more intense dried fruit nuances.