GORGONZOLA

town, Milano provincia, Lombardy regione, northern Italy, northeast of Milan city. The town is famous for the making of Gorgonzola cheese, which is soft when freshly made; after being drained twice, it is then oven dried for 20 days and pierced with copper needles to promote the internal formation of the characteristic greenish blue mold (Penicillium roqueforti). This cheese is also made in other parts of Lombardy and in Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. Pop. (1991 prelim.) mun., 16,260.