Here people speak their own dialect originating in Northern Italy and the cheeses are unmissable.
Just 15 kilometers from the city of Puebla is a town like no other in Mexico. We are talking about Chipilo, a place where people communicate in a dialect originating in northern Italy. They learn this language before Spanish and each one writes it differently in the absence of grammatical rules. It is a place surrounded by the maximum Italian essence and where dairy products are unmatched.
How did this Italian town arise in Mexico?
The origin of this town dates back to 1880, when the Pave River devastated the Veneto region in Italy. The people who lived there lost everything, so they did not hesitate to cross the Atlantic when they heard that the Mexican President, Porfirio Díaz, would provide land and animals to Mediterranean farmers who wanted to emigrate to their country. Of course, the condition was that they modernize the Mexican countryside and that they pay for the land offered within a period of 10 years.
Thus, on October 2, 1882, 38 families from Segusino set foot in Mexico and founded the most Italian Mexican town of all. The newcomers dedicated themselves to agriculture and livestock but, above all, they specialized in the production of dairy products, a tradition that they have kept until now. During a visit to Chipilo it is essential to try its varieties of Mexican cheeses such as strand or panela, as well as Italians: Parmesan and provolone.
Chipilo is not just cheese
The quality of its cheeses is not the only thing that remains from the founders of Chipilo. This community of just five thousand inhabitants still preserves its original customs and traditions. The merger between Mexico and Italy can be seen from the sign announcing the arrival in town , which is decorated with the flags of both countries.
Unlike any other typical Mexican town, there is no main plaza here (with a fountain or kiosk in the center) surrounded by the market and the municipal palace. What we can find is a church, although it is far from the Baroque or Churrigueresque style of some cathedrals in the country . The Parish of the Immaculate Conception is distinguished by the simplicity of the style of the region of Northern Italy.
The best view of the town can be obtained from the top of Cerro de Grappa , where in addition to a surprising panoramic view, it is possible to observe a sculpture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, another in honor of the Virgen del Rosario, as well as a rock that pays tribute to the Italians who fell in 1914 during the First World War.
The inhabitants of Chipilo
The inhabitants of Chipilo are characters that live in an Italy from the end of the 19th century: they eat polenta and speak an archaic Veneto (dialect of northeast Italy ), which they fight for to be recognized as an indigenous language .
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Source: travesiasdigital.com
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