Chipilo

Chipilo, about 6 kilometers south of Cholula, is one of the more surprising towns in Mexico. It was founded in 1882 by Italian immigrants, most of them from the Veneto region around Segusino, who came under a government colonization contract and turned to dairy farming. Many of their descendants still speak Chipileño, a form of Venetian, and the town keeps a strong identity of its own.

The hill above town is called Monte Grappa, after the mountain in northern Italy. In 1917 a small group of armed settlers held off a much larger revolutionary force there, an episode the town still remembers. Some of the houses and the general look of the place recall an Alpine village more than the Puebla valley around it.

For most visitors Chipilo is about food. The town is known across central Mexico for its dairy, and its shops and restaurants sell cheeses, cream, butter, cured meats and Italian dishes, along with furniture made in local workshops.