The aim of this study was to develop a general procedure for routine estimation of breeding values in the Italian Simmental cattle population for several innovative FTIR-predicted traits, using a direct prediction method, where breeding values estimation is directly conducted on milk FTIR spectral variables instead of FTIR-predicted traits. Breeding values for all new traits are then derived from the genetic component of the spectra. The investigated traits were: detailed milk fatty acid composition measured by 2D-GC, milk coagulation properties assessed by renneting meter analysis, pH, contents of major casein and whey protein fractions measured by RP-HPLC, cheese yield, curd composition and recovery rates of protein and fat in the curd, measured in individual micro-cheese making procedures, contents of major minerals by ICP-OES and of lactoferrin quantified by ELISA. FTIR calibrations were developed using more than 1,000 milk samples for all traits, with the exception of minerals (820 samples) and lactoferrin (635 samples). The calibration set included approximately 90% Simmental and 10% Holstein Friesian cows. A total of 100,272 milk spectra from 11,216 Italian Simmental cows were collected during the routine milk recording and stored. Principal component analysis of the unprocessed spectral data resulted in 8 latent traits that explained 99% of the total spectral variability. Restricted maximum likelihood was used to estimate (co)variance components of the latent variables. Heritability for these 8 latent traits ranged from 0.09 to 0.40. Variance ratios of the permanent environmental effect were between 0.10 and 0.25 and residual variance ratios ranged from 0.39 to 0.81. Variance components and the breeding values of original spectral transmittances were obtained by back transformation. Breeding values for the new milk traits were then predicted through FTIR calibrations as values correlated with the genetic component of the FTIR spectra. The procedure yielded estimates of breeding values for all the investigated traits for more than 10,000 Simmental animals.