Join Signora Anna, our English-speaking guide for our Food Tour featuring Parmigiano Reggiano & Aceto Balsamico and driver for a full day tour. Your driver will pick you up in Bologna city center and take you to the countryside and Parma for a private full day tour to the most respected artisan cheese and balsamic producers.
Anna explains the history, the procedure and answers questions throughout the tour. Tastings included of cheese and aged vinegar. Learn the story behind these foods and see the way they are produced. This full day tour is accompanied by Anna and includes all of the tastings, a delightful lunch and guide.
DOP Parmigiano Reggiano and Aceto Balsamico, balsamic vinegar, are important local ingredients in the cooking of the Emilia-Romagna region. During you will learn every aspect of the making of Parmigiano Reggiano, Often called the golden wheels of cheese and weighing in at about 85 pounds each, they are made the same way today as they were over seven hundred years ago. Their name is trademarked, and there is a legal exclusive control used over its production and sale. Parmigiano Reggiano is protected by the European Union and can only be produced in this area of Emilia Romagna. You will know an authentic wheel is branded with the words across its side. The cheese can only be produced in Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Mantova.
During the cheese tour, we visit a Master Grader at his workshop and see how this exquisite cheese is made. He leads you through the processing, first the milk is heated and then poured into molds. The cheese then sits in a brine for 25 days, next-it sits in an ageing room for 12 months, it is polished, cleaned and turned every 7 days by the Master, then is inspected after 12 months, and finally taste-tested by a cheese tasting by the Master Grader. Once the wheel is inspected and passes, it is branded with the words. Parmigiano Reggiano on its side. Parmigiano Reggiano is a very special cheese due to its long process and high quality milk used in its making.
After the visit, we enjoy lunch in a typical trattoria where you will sample some of the area’s specialties, including plump tortelli or ravioli, made by hand with seasonal fresh sauces, or a main course, dessert and toast of local red or white wine.
Following our delicious lunch, the tour continues and we visit our artisan balsamic maker. You will learn about the history of balsamic vinegar, how it has been produced for over 150 years by this family and how it is bottled and aged. Learn the story about aged balsamico and how it was first made in the 12th, and continued through the 13th and 14th centuries – making it one of the richest and most powerful trade guilds in central Italy. This trade also kept their secrets closely-guarded as the guild passed down the technique from generation to generation. By the 1800s it had become commonplace to enrich the dowries of local noblewomen with jars and little barrels of the precious pricy balsamico.
During your visit, see the maker’s own vineyard, how it eventually makes its way into those glorious glass bottles, and how it tastes. Aceto balsamico is aged for a minimum of 12 to 25 and sometimes up to 100 years. The longer it is aged the higher its price will be. This full day tour includes the cheese and balsamic tour, English-speaking guide, discussion, tastings and lunch. The tour is approximately 8 hours.
Program Includes
- Full Day tour through the beautiful countryside of Bologna to a prized Parmigiano Reggiano artisan cheese maker with tour and tastings with English-speaking guide and private driver.
- Visit to our artisan producer & balsamico, balsamic vinegar, with tour and tastings.
- A traditional full course lunch with a toast of local red or white wine, included.
- Private driver and English-speaking guide, included.
- Tastings included.
- Pick up and return in Bologna city center.
Program Prices
$1,595 group price for 2 guests.
For Single Guests: If you are traveling on your own, please call us for the best group price. We are happy to welcome you into an already scheduled group.
2023 Dates: This program is available throughout the year. You can reserve your cooking program for any day of the week. Rates are subject to change based on currency exchange. Call for updated rates. Airfare not included. Group transfers for any cooking tour or tours that include transfers, are for the group and are not private. Transfers before, after or to another destination outside of your cooking tour are not included in the program price. If you would like to add on a private transfer or transfers, let us know and we will send you pricing.
