The Sonoma Cheese Factory
Sonoma, Sonoma County, California
Marker Inscription
The Sonoma Cheese Factory This building is dedicated to Celso Viviani, an Italian immigrant who came to Sonoma, California in 1910. Celso began making cheese in 1921 and started his cheese making business in 1931. He constructed this building in 1944 and opened the cheese factory in 1945. It was a manufacturing plant and a retail store, as it is today. Celso hand made his jack cheese here in the rear of the building. The business is still operated today by the Viviani family.
Erected by Native Sons of the Golden West
The Story
Celso Viviani, an Italian immigrant who arrived in Sonoma in 1910, began making cheese in 1921 and launched his own business a decade later. In 1944 he built this factory, opening it in 1945 as both a manufacturing plant and retail store, hand-making jack cheese in the back. Still run by the Viviani family, it embodies the immigrant food traditions that helped define Sonoma Valley.
Why it matters
It preserves a living example of the immigrant-founded, family-run food industries that shaped California's agricultural identity.
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Related people
- · Celso Viviani
Themes & tags
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