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Giovanna Chen using Molino Colombo’s Opera flour.<\/p>\n
@pierogiacon<\/p>\n
Panettone season in Italy is not subtle. Since moving to the Veneto, I\u2019ve watched the tall, dome-shaped loaves take over every bar, grocery, and kitchen counter from November through January \u2014gifted, debated, and ranked. I now have my own opinions and favorites<\/a>. So when news breaks about a new flour built for large leavened products like the panetone, i\u2019m listening. <\/p>\n On the ridge of the Paderno plateau outside Milan, where Leonardo da Vinci found inspiration for the rocky riverscapes that appear in the background of Virgin of the Rocks, the first electrically powered mill in Italy was built in 1882. In the early 1900s, the Colombo family took over and more than a century later, Molino Colombo<\/a> is still milling here, still family-run, and still making history.<\/p>\n The latest is Opera, a new flour co-created with Giovanna Chen Shih-chieh<\/a>, a world-renowned Taiwanese panettone artisan, CEO of I Love Italy<\/a> (Taiwan\u2019s acclaimed Italian food importer), and head coach of the Taiwanese team that won the 2025 Panettone World Championship at HostMilano<\/a>. That title is no small feat as the panettone is Italy\u2019s most technically demanding holiday bread, requiring precise fermentation, obsessive temperature control, and a near-spiritual relationship with natural yeast. Chen came to it through the best possible teacher. She was also the first Taiwanese student of Rolando Morandin, one of the great masters of Italian pastry.<\/p>\n Launched globally on May 11 at TuttoFood<\/a> in Milan, Opera is already available in Taiwan, the United States, Spain, France, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It\u2019s completely additive-free, built around Molino Colombo\u2019s soft milling process, a slow grinding method that preserves wheat\u2019s protein structure and aromatic complexity. <\/p>\n Designed for large leavened products and sourdough refreshment, it delivers balanced, workable, lively doughs. \u201ca clean-label flour that can support everything from sourdough starter maintenance to producing perfect Panettone, Pandoro, and rustic breads,\u201d Chen says, on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cTrust me\u2014once you use it, there\u2019s no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n Opera is also the first flour in Molino Colombo\u2019s history to bear a female creative signature. “Opera has the grace of silk and the resilience of steel,” Chen says. The launch targets Asia strategically, where the request for premium Italian pastry continues to climb. <\/p>\n Chen\u2019s profile in this market gives Molino Colombo a credible cultural bridge into a region that isn\u2019t just importing panettone anymore, it\u2019s learning to make it. <\/p>\n Molino Colombo’s Opera flour. <\/p>\n @pierogiacon