A few hairpin turns far from the huge castle of Drena, at Garda Trentino, a small but super efficient farmhouse is waiting for you – La Quadra!
Have you ever heard of it? Its origins are ancient, dating back to four generations. At the beginning, they exploited it just for their survival, then they began to sell the milk produced… their passion did the rest. Now they produce seasoned and fresh cheeses, yogurt, cold cuts and “luganeghe”. Let’s discover this fantastic place together!
A special welcome!
Once you got there, you could hear the sound of “mooooo”! The dairy cows were in the stall, eating hay! Alice welcomed us at La Quadra heartedly, with her beautiful smile. She immediately brought us into the stall, the core of their company!
Here we meet the queens, the cows, divided into age groups – the youngest and the heifers at the entrance (to caress them was so thrilling, their fur is as soft as a stuffed animal), then the others.
Alice explained us they drive them to the mountain pastures at Malga Campo, where they can eat pure grass and breathe pure air.
After the visit at the stall, we said hello to the pigs that live in a large enclosure, then we went to the cheese production area. Yes, we tasted them!
Their cheeses and other delicacies
Fresh milk, cheese, salami, sausages, yogurt, apple juice and jams.
A real explosion of delicious food! We also visited their shop. Alice and her father – what a determined man! Explained that they produce their cheese only with freshly-milked milk as it contains a higher content of proteins and nutrients. Moreover, such cheeses are much more savoury!
Another milk-produced delicacy is their yogurt! At La Quadra they make plain, blueberry, cereal, apricot and other kinds of unbelievably creamy yogurt.
Their salami? They feed their pigs especially with the whey left from the cheese production – this way, the pork meat is softer, so they can produce salami and sausages (in their dialect, they are “luganeghe”) by adding salt, pepper and spices, as people did in the past.
Suppliers of… wholesomeness
In this farmhouse you can buy plum jam – the plums are from Dro and are PDO and De.Co., apple juice, e, of course, freshly-milked milk! You can also find the products of La Quadra at the milk vending machines installed in Dro, Arco and Riva del Garda.
A quick caress to calves and heifers in the stall, a caress to the many cats that wonder all around and to the joyful guard dog then… it was already time to go!
You will leave this place with the picture of the amazing views over the castle of Drena and the green mountains in your eyes, Alice’s contagious smile and Giuseppe’s everlasting passion in your heart. To come here means honouring their wholesome food and their humble personality. You will feel it, like a jump to the past. Believe us, it’s hard to taste such flavours nowadays.
