The Cheesiest Posts by Olympian Giorgia Villa, the Italian Gymnast Sponsored by Parmesan
She won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics, but her partnership with Parmigiano Reggiano is getting all the attention.
There are a lot of things you can call Giorgia Villa: Italian gymnast, newly minted Olympic silver medalist, and probably the world’s most famous cheese ambassador.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Together with her five teammates in Paris on Tuesday, the 21-year-old secured Italy’s first Olympic medal in gymnastics in nearly a century during the women’s all-around artistic final, which Team USA won. But beyond her athletic accomplishment, it’s her unusual sponsorship deal that the internet is gushing over.
Villa began working with Parmigiano Reggiano—the official consortium of authentic parmesan cheese producers—in 2021, according to an announcement by Italian marketing agency Impresa e Sport, which hailed the partnership as “confirming how the combination of Parmigiano Reggiano and the world of sport is indissoluble in terms of authenticity, quality and energetic value, both in sporting activity and in correct nutrition.”
Parmigiano Reggiano says parmesan is “suitable for a sports diet,” and Villa is not the only Italian athlete it has sponsored—others include tennis player Jannik Sinner, fencer Matteo Neri, basketballer Nico Mannion, and paralympic swimmer Giulia Ghiretti. (Health experts agree that the hard cheese is “highly nutritious,” being protein-rich, energy-dense, and naturally lactose-free.)
Read More: What Olympic Athletes Eat to Have All That Energy
Villa, for her part, clearly dedicated herself to the (cheese) grind—or, should we say rind?
Across at least 20 posts on Instagram/Facebook and TikTok between April 2021 and December 2022, she’s posted sponsored content showing off wheels, blocks, and bite-sized packets of parmesan.
From posing in her leotard with her “best friend”:
To touting her love for it during the holidays:
“One of my favorite parts of the day is hands down snack time!” she wrote in an Instagram post of her carving into a big chunk of cheese.
She’s shared snaps of her snacking on a park bench and in a library:
And she even participated in TikTok trends to emphasize her passion for parmesan:
“I’m very happy to be a part of the great @parmigianoreggiano family,” Villa wrote in a post in April 2021 while announcing the partnership. “Since I was a child I’ve always loved this amazing product, a symbol of excellence and Italian culture.”
While it’s unclear if she’s still under contract with Big Cheese, two things are for certain: Villa has joined the ranks of the biggest social media stars to come out of the Paris Olympics, and with her silver medal, she too is now an icon of Italian excellence.