Among the many curiosities related to Gorgonzola, there is one particularly fascinating and little known, which intertwines the history of this cheese with one of the most dramatic pages of modern history: the sinking of the Titanic.

On April 10, 1912, the most famous ocean liner of all time set sail from the port of Southampton bound for New York, for what would remain its first and only voyage. More than 2,200 passengers and crew were traveling on board, and for the lucky ones in First Class a table worthy of the best European restaurants was set up. The menus were elaborate, refined, consisting of numerous courses that reflected the taste and luxury of the time.

Well, in that First Class menu — an extraordinary document that escaped the shipwreck and was found among the ship’s papers — Gorgonzola is among the cheeses served at the end of the meal. An apparently small detail, but of great significance: it testifies to how already at the dawn of the twentieth century this Lombard cheese had gained such an international reputation that it was considered worthy of the most exclusive tables in the world.

On the evening of April 14, 1912, while the Titanic glided silently into the darkness of the North Atlantic, First Class passengers probably savored that dinner, unaware of what would happen in a few hours. The impact with the iceberg and the subsequent sinking would have turned that night into a tragedy, but the small menu that has survived today gives us a vivid cross-section of that era, in which Gorgonzola shines as a symbol of Italian gastronomic excellence already projected into the world.