Overview
Emilia-Romagna Food Tour: what to expect
A Parmigiano dairy at dawn, a family acetaia under the roof tiles outside Modena, hams curing in the hills of Langhirano and a hands-on class rolling sfoglia in Bologna. Three nights in Bologna, two in Parma, and lunch is never short.
Emilia-Romagna is a strip of flat, fertile land between the Po and the Apennines, and it produces more of the foods Italy is known for than any other region: Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, culatello, mortadella, traditional balsamic vinegar, Lambrusco and fresh egg pasta. Most of it is still made by families and small cooperatives, and most of them are happy to show you how.
This tour follows each product to where it is made. In Bologna you shop the Quadrilatero and learn to roll pasta with a sfoglina, a woman who rolls it by hand for a living. In Modena you climb into an attic where vinegar has been aging in small barrels for decades. On the plain near Parma you watch cheesemakers lift curd out of copper vats before the sun is fully up, and in Langhirano you walk through the long, airy rooms where hams cure in the breeze from the mountains.
Giulia Montanari, who grew up in Bologna, hosts. Distances are short, most transfers are under an hour, and there is time each day to sit down and eat properly.
More on the destination: Emilia-Romagna: Bologna, Modena and Parma food tours. Tour categories: Farms & Producers, Cooking Classes, Wine Regions.
Read first: Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto and balsamic labels explained
