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History
The history of Virgilio begins in the nineteen seventies as the "Consorzio Latterie Sociali Mantovane". These are the years in which there are a great number of social dairies in Mantova, there are also many cooperatives between agricultural producers, small businesses for the collection and the initial transformation of milk.
on 1 April 1968 European Community regulations come into effect governing the dairy-cheese sector and allowing the exchange of products between the six countries of the European Common Market. One of the objectives of the Common Market was to increase the quality of food products, also achieved by improving the quality of raw materials used.
For butter in particular there was the need to find a structure that could guarantee competitive standards of quality and that could also make full use of the new community regulations, which the individual cheese producers were not able to guarantee.
In view of this need, the "Consorzio Latterie Sociali Mantovane" (CLSM) was founded in 1966, cooperative company of the second degree established by the union of 27 social diaries.
The CLSM was the best way in which to bring to the consumer's attention the outcome of fresh creams collected daily and obtained from milk used in the production of Grana Padano PDO and Parmigiano Reggiano PDO. This is how the company, right from the start was known as "la Cremeria".
The progressive increase in the number of associated cooperative companies and the creams collected led the company to also produce mascarpone cream cheese (in 1974) and milk as food (in 1976).
Over and above the products mentioned previously, CLSM was also involved in the aging of cheese on behalf of the associates, using the warehouses connected to the working plants in Viale della Favorita.
The end of the '70s saw the beginning of another important activity: the marketing of PDO cheeses Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano, initiated by the partners. This was then followed by UHT cream and yoghurt.
In January 1993 CLSM acquired the company branch that was to handle the slaughter of pigs from Consorzio Mantua, this was undertaken in the Bagnolo San Vito plant.
1996 saw the purchase of Bertana of Cremona (slaughter and working of pork meat), in association with the company Ghinzelli from Viadana (Mn), another leader in the sector. A company share in the Castelcarni from Castelvetro (Mo) was then purchased in association with Bertana: a structure which has its own organisation and is able to supply large distribution chains with meats coming directly from the Virgilio, Bertana and Ghinzelli slaughterhouses.
Thereafter the company bought into the registered capital of Brendolan Prosciutti Spa in Lonigo (Vi), a leading company in Italy dealing with the ageing of prosciutto and having 5 plants in S. Daniele, Parma, Lonigo and Carpegna.
The purchase of Brendolan, in partnership with Ghinzelli spa, falls within a development project fully financed by the production sector and which goes from the breeding of heavy pigs to slughter, ageing and marketing of top quality prosciutto under one of the most well known brands in Italy.
The more important associations undertaken in 2003 were the business agreements with Latteria Sociale Mantova sc, which provided the unification of the sales network under the Consorzio, and the participation of Latteria di Piadena Sc.
In 2004, also due to the changes to regulate the production of Parmigiano Reggiano concerning the grating and packaging process, the Consorzio purchased a 65% share in Antica Formaggeria Spa: a packaging centre in Carpi in the province of Modena and this guarantees Virgilio maximum autonomy in running this side of the business.
In 2004 CLSM changed its company name to Consorzio Latterie Virgilio Società Agricola Cooperativa. The company base has changed over the years and the province of origin of the partners has been extended, coming from far afield as Cremona, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Padova, Modena and Reggio Emilia.
In 2005 Atra srl joined the company, this company specialises in the marketing of prosciutti of foreign origin, Caseificio San Silvestro spa also joined that year.
The entry of the Virgilio group into the Euroformaggi Spa company – specialised in packaging and commercialising cheeses – was formalised in September 2006.
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