A 74-year-old man is dead after being buried by thousands of wheels of cheese in northern Italy.
Speaking with AFP, per a report from the Guardian, firefighter Antonio Dusi said a shelf broke in Giacomo Chiapparini’s warehouse in Lombardy on Sunday while he checked for ripening. The shelf break caused further collapse, ultimately sending thousands of wheels of grana padano downward, tragically crushing the man. The tallest metal shelf in the building reportedly stood at 33 feet at the time of the incident.
According to Dusi, responding to the tragic accident required officials to move the fallen cheeses and related materials, an endeavor he estimates took around 12 hours before a body was found.
RIP.
Grana padano, a hard cheese, is often compared to parmesan but boasts some key differences. For example, the wheels are aged for a minimum of nine months, as opposed to 12 for parmigiano-reggiano. As Pamela Vachon wrote for the Institute of Culinary Education last October, grana padano is an alternative worth consideration, "especially if its additional sweetness and body have something to contribute to your dish."
