ingredients themselves cultivated in a specific place and in accordance with techniques expressing local traditions and customs. Every gastronomic product embodies the contribution of human activity, local traditions, cultivation peculiarities, and the organoleptic and climatic elements of a given area. In other words, products of gastronomic excellence are the result of a positive interaction of heterogeneous elements. It is precisely this perspective that is protected by both domestic and EU legislators, in order to perpetuate these distinctive features and prevent their dispersal over time. III. CONCLUSIONS. TERRITORY AS A TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE ENTITY OF PROTECTION The present paper has sought to give concrete form to the topic under discussion by reference to a specific case—Parmigiano Reggiano—chosen for its significance as one of the most ancient Italian gastronomic products and among the most appreciated abroad, and not coincidentally one of the most imitated. As noted, its origins date back to the Middle Ages, providing both nourishment and income to the territory of Parma and later encompassing Reggio Emilia, Modena, and Mantua. Territoriality is co-essential to this dairy product, reflecting the qualities of the milk from animals reared in those lands, the particular climatic conditions, the availability of quality salt, the skills handed down by master cheesemakers, and so forth. Territoriality is also a manifestation of a co-essential element of protection, since it gives rise to the very reason for protection (without a spatial delimitation of the place of production, the need to activate a degree of protection and guarantee for the product would lose its meaning). It follows that territory—understood as the space within which a food product is made—possesses not only a tangible dimension but also an intangible dimension, forming part of the protection itself. In other words, from the perspective here formulated, territory, typically a material element, may also be understood as an intangible element of protection, identifiable as a legal space to which the law accords specific safeguards. This is exemplified by Parmigiano Reggiano, where territoriality has had legal significance even prior to the emergence of the modern legal order. 414 STEFANIA VASTA
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