Prosciutto and Cheese Please!…read more As a tourist visiting Parma looking for good eats, I was not disappointed with my experience at La Prosciutteria. Friendly staff that understands and speaks English was so helpful. We got to sample quite a few cheese and prosciutto before purchase. I love free samples! Worth dropping if you wanting to try some of local delicacy.

This was such a tasty and visual stop in downtown Parma to pick up some treats to take home. Upon…read moreentering, the staff was very friendly, eager to share samples and answer questions. The facade alone is worth a visit. Inside you'll find dozens of hanging Parma ham legs, plentiful cheese, local honeys, jams, pickled veggies and so on. You could build out a really nice gift basket or Parma round up from this one stop. Try the cheese when they offer a generous sample! Note that like many other bizs in Parma, they close for a few hours in the afternoon. Traveling with your meat/cheese? They'll graciously vacuum pack your purchases for save travels! Enjoy an extra sample on my behalf when you stop in!

Parmesan cheese ..... real Parmesan cheese. The factory tour was super informative and they took…read moretheir time to answer questions and make sure we really understood how their cheese was created. The freshness and level of perfection that goes into the production and approval process is almost mind blowing. We got to see almost every stage of the process minus the milk coming from the cows and resting overnight so they could remove the fat for butter. The second round of milk they add in the afternoon and mix it with the milk that had the fat removed and then they start the cooking and cutting and stuffing the cheese into the cylinders to get them ready for the next stage. The workers were friendly and willing to let us watch them do their job.

We visited this factory during a Bologna day long tour and were amazed.A surprisingly small amount…read moreof people crank out tons of cheese wheels each day and allow them to age in a giant room. We were also able to sample a few types of various ages. Worth the time to see.

This facility is where Parmesan Cheese is made! As soon as you walk in, it smells like cheese. A…read moregroup tour for about 15 people was pre-arranged; we took a day trip from Milan and met our tour guide on the way. She also gave us a tour of Parma. Making cheese appears to be a simple task, but there is a lot for a cheese master to know and our group found this to be a fascinating tour. Approximately 120 facilities like this one are located in the Parma area. If you are a foodie, and have a chance to visit one, I highly recommend it. We had to arrive quite early, and had already missed two steps in the cheese making process. The milk is delivered very early in the morning and pumped into large table like vats where the only additive, rennet, is mixed in. Next the milk is moved into large kettles where the mixture is heated and the curds formed. The curds are left in the kettles to cool, and sink to the bottom where they form a solid mass. This is where we began our tour. The next step was to 'scoop' up this huge mass of curds, cut it in two and get it into the 'forms' where it will rest as excess liquid drains. Getting the curds up and into shape takes two men and a couple of very large pieces of, what else, cheese cloth. We are told by our guide she has never seen a woman do this job; this is a mans job. Once the cheese has rested for several days, and the cheese is a solid mass, they take a salt water bath. After which, they rest again for up to 36 months. The cheese master determines how long they rest, take a bath and so on. Our tour included stops in a variety of rooms with explanations of the many processes. For example, how does the rind get that printing on it? What happens to cheese that does not 'make the grade' to be sold as Parmesan? Why is Parmesan cheese only from the Parma area? Did you know the cheese master hits the cheese wheel with a mallet and can hear if there are any cracks inside? Cheese wheels with cracks are NOT sold as Parmesan! The last room on the tour is a vast room full of floor to ceiling wheels of cheese. I have never been more excited about cheese as I was to be in this room! Each wheel must be turned often as it ages and the cheese master keeps an eye on all the wheels to determine when they may be sold. And the smell! Breathe in that aged Parmesan! After this very interesting tour, we stopped in to their shop which included tastings of Parmesan cheese at 12 months, 24 months and 36 months. Wow! What a difference! You can buy Parmesan here, as well as hams (from Parma of course), balsamic vinegars of different ages, jams (that pair well with cheese), gift and household items, sparking wine and the like. Even if you are unable to get into a tour, stopping by the shop is well worth a short trip into the countryside (about 20 minutes) to purchase cheeses, hams and other tasty treats. You could make a tasty picnic with the products sold here! Find this location on a map under Consorzio Produttori Latte Soc. Coop. RL just north of Parma. Give them a call to arrange a tour, or contact a local guide and ask for this option. Buon Apetito!

We stumbled upon this gem while walking through the financial district 10-09-2014. We were hungry…read moreand saw business people inside standing at counters eating. Various vegetable and cheese salads were being spooned into bowls for patrons. 6 Euros for a good sized portion is affordable. The cashier urged me to eat first, "Mangiare, mangiare!!!" and then pay. Servers were very friendly. The salad had unfermented green olives, cherry tomatoes, prosciutto, chunks of soft crumbled rustic bread, and chunks of cheese of unknown variety. The salad was moist. Sandwiches are also offered. Many people ate here on their lunch break. They must be regulars. We walked 2 kilometers the next day to eat here again passing by other cafes. Enjoy!!

This is by far the most amazing place I've ever been. The food blew my mind over and over and was…read moreless expensive that the average burger. The service was immaculate and the vibe made me feel at home. Would give 10 stars if I could, highly recommend.

Say Cheese with a big smile as you taste and love this amazing, freshly prepared beautiful…read moreFormaggio served with even more love and kindness in Modena. So you find yourself 253 miles north of Rome and you just enjoyed the Modena Olive oil factory tour and shopping spree. It gets better! The Ferrari Museum is the next stop but you are famished. Perfecto! I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend this fantastic amazing, beautiful tour of this cheese factory and the store that comes with these generous samplings, ( more like a all you can eat and then some cheese fest), the wine pairings w huge pours and the very big gift bags all for just the equivalent of $69 US. The factory is immaculate, just huge and very well organized. The tour in English is about an hour long and covers the lovely 1000 plus year history, the science behind the production( as viewed through the big microscopes), the patience of the process and the magnificent end result - 150,000 eighty eight pound individually annually produced packages of the one of the most fresh and delicious cheeses .... Ever! The Parmigiano Reggiano. There are five regions that produce this; we got to enjoy 20% of that. Definitely will be back to enjoy the individual taste in each one. I just love that for all of us eggplant parm and chicken parm lovers and fans back in NY and all over the US, this is a fantastic opportunity to see, taste and experience the source and the real deal!

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I booked a cheese tour in Modena. Getting to learn the…read moreprocess and then see it happening and then being able to taste some before we left. Well worth the money. Highly recommend it.