Italy's female trailblazers and their dairy business

DW (English)

In the Italy of the 1950s, three women opening their own business was considered revolutionary. The Latteria Bera - still famous for its cream and cheese - is now run by a granddaughter, who advertises the pioneering business on Instagram.

Transcript

00:00It's Friday, 10 a.m., and the Latteria Bera in Turin is open for business.

00:08All kinds of top-quality dairy products are on offer here.

00:11The women of the Bera family have been crafting them for generations.

00:17Chiara grew up here and is successfully carrying on her grandma Romola's tradition.

00:25Our family has been running this business since 1958, and only the women.

00:35Today it's nothing special, but back then, in the fifties, it was unheard of in Italy

00:43for a single mother and her sisters to open a store.

00:54The homemade cream is a best-seller.

00:57It's based almost entirely on grandma's old recipe and whipped with the original fifties-era

01:02machine.

01:03It's a real hit, even on social media.

01:08The aroma coming from this machine is wonderful.

01:12Is that enough?

01:13It's not very much.

01:18Evelyn has been a saleswoman at the Latteria for over 35 years.

01:22She works alongside Chiara's mother, Bruna, and has become part of the family.

01:32Chiara's grandmother and great-aunt were exemplary in training me for this job.

01:36I learned a lot from them, and today I learn just as much from Chiara.

01:41Mama Bruna has only been working regularly in the store since she retired.

01:48Back then I wanted to do something other than work in a store.

01:52My mother let me, under the condition that I would always help out when necessary, at

01:57Christmas or Easter, when there was a lot to do.

02:06Almost everything comes from local suppliers.

02:09Chiara stocks nearly a hundred different types of cheese, which she selects herself.

02:14She knows most of the producers personally.

02:16Alessandro Tassone supplies a very special type of cheese.

02:21What have you brought me?

02:22A Piedmont ricotta.

02:23I'm the fourth generation producing this cheese.

02:30This ricotta is made only with whole milk, salt, and rennet.

02:35Without specialty stores like Latteria Bera, small businesses like his could hardly survive.

02:42I'm off, guys.

02:43Bye-bye.

02:44Thanks, Ale.

02:45Good work, and have a nice weekend.

02:51The crucial part of Chiara's job is just beginning.

02:56Now I have to visit a supplier from Piedmont.

03:00She regularly sets off from Turin to travel throughout northern Italy in search of the

03:04best products from small dairies and cheese producers.

03:08On the agenda today is Cascina Roselletto, an organic farm known for its milk and specialty

03:14cheeses.

03:15This is a Piedmont Toma cheese.

03:19I had one of those from you before, pasteurized milk.

03:22It's from January 3rd, 2025.

03:34Tasting the cheese myself and talking to the producers, that's the only way for me to know

03:38the real quality of the products I'm selling my customers.

03:45Time for Chiara to share a post about her expedition to the Masera family on Instagram.

03:54Then it's back to Turin.

03:57Chiara majored in drawing theory, but at some point the smell of cream lured her back to

04:02the Latteria.

04:04She wanted to continue what her courageous grandmother and great-aunts had founded.

04:09My roots are here, and this store is now my life mission.

04:15And so this temple of tasty treats remains firmly in the hands of a strong woman.

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