From Florence to Vladivostok: How an Italian opened his own cheese factory (VIDEO)
Meet the Florentine who conquered the edge of Russia. After 10 years in Vladivostok, Marco Melpignano is no longer just a visitor — he’s the man behind the region's finest Italian cheeses.
Marco Melpignano was born in Florence and worked for a long time in Italian restaurants, where every recipe is a piece of the nation’s cultural heritage. One day he fell in love with a Russian girl, and without hesitation, dropped everything and followed her to the very edge of Russia — Vladivostok.
In a new country, Marco started learning Russian from scratch and did so without textbooks, he did it all on the fly by talking to locals as best he could. By 2014, against the background of the imposed sanctions and the growing demand for high-quality local products, he had an idea: to create various all-natural cheeses using Italian technologies but with only local Russian ingredients. With one bacterial starter set, a couple of pots, and a sincere belief that taste knows no bounds, he founded the Marco Melpignano Cheese Company.
Today, his cheeses are on the menus of top restaurants and on the shelves of premium shops in the 'Primorsky Krai' region. During his 10 years in Russia, Marco helped open several restaurants in the region, survived harsh winters, warmly embraced Russian traditions and travelled around Russia with great interest.
