Cheese 2025: The Alumni Association of the University of Gastronomic Sciences brings former students from all over the world back to Pollenzo

Pollenzo (CN), September 2025 – On the occasion of Cheese 2025, on Friday, September 19, the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo (UNISG) will host the first Alumni Homecoming organized by the UNISG Alumni Association in collaboration with the University.

For UNISG alums, Cheese is not only the international event dedicated to raw-milk cheeses, but a true homecoming. Homecoming was created as a gathering moment for the community of gastronomes, a virtuous opportunity for networking and sharing, and from this year it has become an institutional event promoted directly by the Alumni Association of the University of Gastronomic Sciences. An opportunity to meet again, but also to celebrate a shared identity and show the world how education in Pollenzo has generated projects, ideas, and enterprises capable of changing the world of food. The goal is to strengthen the global network of over 3,000 UNISG alums in 100 countries and create new professional connections.

The day’s program

It will be a day for gastronomes designed by gastronomes, with moments of in-depth discussion, reflection, and synergy without neglecting conviviality, tastings, toasts, and shared meals, of course.

The day will begin at 12:30 p.m. with lunch at the Tavole Accademiche curated by Antea Farm. From 2:30 p.m., the Plenary will take place, during which the Association will present its first year of activity and future initiatives, including the presentation of the new digital platform that will allow former students around the world to stay in constant contact, even from afar.

Two thematic forums will follow this:

4:30 p.m. Gastronomy and the Challenges of Social Innovation – Curated by Carlo Boccazzi Varotto, Co-Founder of WeCo Impresa Sociale, a social innovation design agency.

5:30 p.m. Communication you can sink your teeth into – with Aurora Cavallo (Cooker Girl), Luca Martinelli (journalist), and Francesca Mastrovito (Topic Edizioni), moderated by Greta Contardo (Cook_inc.).

At 6:30 p.m., time for conviviality with Cheese and wines, a journey across Italy: a journey across Italy from Valtellina to the Piana del Sele with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO from Caseificio Il Casolare in Alvignano (CE) with Mimmo La Vecchia; cheeses from La Bersagliera in Campana (SA) with Antonino Cerrone; Storico Ribelle from the Orobie Prealps with Carlo Mazzoleni; and wines from the Consorzio Vini Oltrepò Pavese guided by alumnus Riccardo Binda, director of the consortium. This will be followed by a final toast with Alta Langa DOCG and a tasting of some products from UNISG Alumni.

What distinguishes the UNISG Homecoming is not only the variety of offerings and the organizations involved, but the deep sense of community. Alums do not consider themselves simply former students, but part of a global family that shares values, visions, and concrete commitments. A community that returns to Pollenzo not just out of nostalgia but because it knows that new ideas, new connections, and new projects are born there. Cheese 2025 thus becomes the seed of a tradition that will grow over the years, strengthening the bond between the Alumni Association of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo and the University itself, creating new opportunities for future generations of students. A tradition that carries a different narrative, but with a common thread: conviviality as a tool for building community.

Homecoming 2025 is exceptionally open to current UNISG students as well, to amplify the reach of the network of today’s and tomorrow’s gastronomes and to present the Association’s activities to the Alumni of tomorrow.

Complete program and details: https://unisgalumni.raklet.com/unisgalumni/Events/Home/Details

Contacts: info@unisgalumni.it

UNISG Alumni at the events of Cheese 2025

In addition to the Homecoming day at the University in Pollenzo, many other Alumni will bring their projects to Cheese 2025 from September 19 to 22, 2025. A kaleidoscope of initiatives ranging from bread to wine, from chocolate to agriculture, from consultancy to digital Communication. These alumni will take center stage in the three main hubs—UNISG stand, Casa Battaglino, and Sigaro Toscano stand—in various activities, including breakfasts, workshops, conferences, aperitifs, and dinners.

The protagonists:

Forno Brisa (Bologna), Choruba – carob chocolate (Milan), Società Agricola Alba (Campolieto, CB), Azienda Agricola Antea (Trana, TO), Fòla (Milan), Tone Milano – Bread Lab, Meat Japan (Milan), Osteria Lagrandissima (Milan), Tondo Forno Radicale (Milan), Ristorante Spore (Milan), Emporio Vegetale (Turin), Brodo di Giuggiole (Avigliana, TO), Bottega San Francesco (Modena), Birrificio Artigianale Sagrin (Calamandrana, AT), Sfusobuono (Alessandria), Conza Food Lab (Leonforte, EN), Marlena Buscemi, Santaromero Coffee, Cacao Disidente (Colombia), Wilden.Herbals (Milan), Hanna Morrow (USA), Cascina Lago Scuro (Stagno Lombardo, CR), Corte Raffetta (San Giorgio Bigarello, MN), Consorzio Tutela Vini Oltrepò Pavese, Consorzio Alta Langa DOCG, Aurora Cavallo – Cooker Girl, Francesca Mastrovito, Alessandro Di Tizio.

For further information on the activities of UNISG Alumni:

• UNISG stand
• Casa Battaglino
• Sigaro Toscano

UNISG and the Alumni Association of the University of Gastronomic Sciences

Founded in 2004 by Slow Food, with the support of the regions of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna, the University of Gastronomic Sciences is a unique institution worldwide. Located in Pollenzo, on a former Savoy royal estate, UNISG was created to redefine the concept of gastronomy as a cultural and political act: no longer just culinary art or food science, but a complex system that interweaves agriculture, economics, sociology, anthropology, and ecology. Today, more than twenty years after its founding, the University counts over 3,000 Alumni across more than 100 countries, working in every field of the food and wine world.

The Alumni Association of the University of Gastronomic Sciences (founded in August 2024 to keep this community active) now gives substance to that thread, turning it into a global network of mutual support, collaboration, and positive impact. The Association’s goal is to strengthen ties among members of the Alumni network and build bridges to enable the launch of projects and collaborations; to carry out cultural initiatives, including those of professional interest and lifelong learning; and to foster the reciprocal exchange of knowledge, to enhance the role of the gastronome so that the unique skills and food-based knowledge of UNISG graduates are universally recognized and valued. All of this is pursued with care and commitment to generate a positive impact on all systems connected to the food and wine sector, as well as their political, social, and economic implications.

Cheese 2025

Cheese is the meeting point for shepherds, affineurs, cheesemakers, artisans, and enthusiasts from every corner of the planet. Born in Bra (and organized by Slow Food and the City of Bra, with the support of the Piedmont Region), this international event, held in the heart of Piedmont, has transformed a small town into a cultural and gastronomic crossroads of global scope. Every two years, thousands of visitors fill the streets of Bra to discover, taste, and discuss cheeses and dairy products. But Cheese is not just a market fair: it is a cultural and political laboratory, a place where biodiversity, sustainability, the right to food, the future of agricultural supply chains, and above all, people are discussed. This year the theme “C’è un mondo intorno” (“There Is a World Around”) invites us to look at cheeses as a cultural and economic expression of a vast and articulated world that has to do with the landscape and with a fabric of knowledge linked not only to the transformation of milk, but also to the management of meadows, pastures, and animals; the processing of meat and wool; the management and working of wood; chestnut cultivation; and forest management.

In this scenario, the University of Gastronomic Sciences and its Alumni find their natural place: because cheeses are a symbol of cultural and territorial identity, and because Cheese perfectly represents the dialogue between past, present, and future that has always characterized Pollenzo’s holistic educational journey.