If you just call it cheese, vinegar, and ham you’d be taken out back to the shed
Thursday was our day for touring specialty food production plants, and it was worth every bite.
As explained in yesterday’s blog, this one is a day late because we were too tired to publish. Hope you understand. cmn.
The limo picked up Marie, Michael, and I for our food tour of the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 24, 2025 in front of our hotel.
Ugo, the driver, was the perfect gentleman, making sure to open the door and help us in and out of the van.
Mattia, our tour guide, was not only very knowledgeable, but very friendly and helpful with other tourist questions.
We had to ride through the Bologna countryside to reach our first destination, Cooperativa San Silvestro, a Parmagiano Reggiano cheese processing plant in Castelvetro di Modena.
After donning hairnets, foot booties, and full-bodied gowns, we entered a room with about 20 large copper vats cooking the unpasteurized milk from special cows the processing plant owner, Giorgio, raises. We watched as the workers pulled the heavy cheese balls out of the vats with cheese cloth and deposit it into a plastic circular form. This was only the beginning of the process.
The liquidity cheese forms are taken to another room where the water is allowed to drip out until it’s almost water-free. The plastic forms are exchanged for metal ones with thousands of tiny holes and a special type of stencil adds the month and year the cheese was produced. The producers’ factory number, and a distant seal indicating this is Parmagiano Reggiano, a protected DOP product.
The wheels are then taken to be soaked in a salt bath for about a month before being put in the drying room with strictly controlled temperature and humidity. This was an impressive sight to see.
After the tour, Mattie brought us into the dairy store for a tasting of a 12-month, 24-month, and 36-month aged Parmagiano Reggiano cheese. What a difference 12 months makes. The youngest cheese we tasted was creamy, but not as sharp. The 24-months bites were a little harder and sharper, but the 36-months sample was hard enough to grate and very sharp. My favorite. We also tasted ricotta cheese. It was so creamy and delicious.
Mattia explained that only cheese made in the Emilia-Romagna Region can use the name Parmagiano Reggiano. The DOP designation guarantees its quality because of the very strict rules used in the production.
Ugo then drove us to our next stop in Vignola, the Ca’ dal Non Traditional Balsamic Vine Acetaia in the home compound of Giovanna. Her husband’s grandfather started to make the specialty vinegar as a hobby in 1910, and Giovanna and her daughter, Mariangela, turned it into a business. They also own the vineyards where the grapes they use are grown. There were hundreds of barrels of the balsamic vinegar in what was the stables of the centuries old compound.
After the tour of the storage facility, Giovanna took us to the tasting room for a thorough explanation of the process and more importantly samples of the product.
Giovanna was very enthusiastic about her products and very animated. It was a joy to listen to her. Her balsamic vinegars are DOP products and can only be sold in special bottles.
Ugo then drove us to the Prosciuttificio Nini in Savignano sul Panaro to learn how Prosciutto di Modena is made.
Valeria, who runs the processing plant with her husband, David, greeted us before Mattia began the tour.
He first took us into the refrigerator room where the pork legs are stacked on their sides after going through a salting machine. They stay there for about 20 days before being moved to the first drying room where they are hung by the bone. Here the legs begin the drying process for another two months and are then taken to another drying room where the exposed meat is coated with a special fat compound. After three months they are taken to the final room for an another 9 months to finish the curing process.
We ended up where we started. Valeria had a table of thinly sliced Prosciutto di Modena for us to sample. The best prosciutto I ever tasted because it was the freshest I’ve ever had.
It was a long day of watching cheese, vinegar, and ham, being made. It certainly gave us an appreciation of the processes required to make quality products. After tasting their wonderful food, by the time we got back to our hotel at around 2 p.m. we were ready to eat.
Mattia suggested a restaurant about a 20 minute walk, Caffe del Rosso for Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. If you’re in Bologna you have to have bolognese sauce.
Michael walked back to his hotel and Marie and I went back to ours to rest. It was still early so we decided to explore the historic city center. It was another 20 minute walk but we discovered one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Italy, Basilica San Pedronis.
It fronted the main plaza, which was grand. (See the photo that was with yesterday’s blog).
Inside were the most exquisite paintings and sculptures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints and other religious ornamentation. It was awe inspiring.
About a 12-minute walk from the square was a gelateria Mattie suggested. Of course Marie and I had to try it out.
On our walk back to our hotel, we went through the main plaza again past the fountain with a giant statue of Neptune atop in all his naked glory. At the base of the fountain, were four mermaids, water squirting from their breasts. The medieval Catholic Church was not too happy with that fountain so near the cathedral.
We made it back to our hotel room, exhausted from the day’s activities and that was the reason for this delayed blog. Also, we had to get ready for our early train ride to La Spezia just outside of Cinque Terra.
It was an early rise on Friday, April 25, 2025, for Marie and I to catch our train. There were about 20 stops in small towns, and train changes in two larger cities. The trains were packed because Friday was a national holiday in Italy and everyone was taking a long weekend holiday. We were met at the La Spezia station by the hotel owner, Stefanie and her husband, who rode us to the hotel.
After Marie and I got settled into our room, we decided to get something to eat and explore La Spezia. There is a pedestrian-only walkway through the whole length of the city with many, many restaurants. We stopped at Bar Remo and had the best pizza so far in all our time in Italy.
We continued to walk to the city dock to ask about a ferry to Cinque Terra, and while getting that information we were told of a two-hour round trip boat ride to Isola Palmaria, a tiny island just off the coast. We took it just for something to do.
The island is mostly visited by hikers as it’s a national park, but there is one restaurant which looks out over the bay. Marie had a Ugo Spritz and I enjoyed a cafe latte. We were on the island for only about an hour. I didn’t get sea sick.
On our walk back to the hotel, we had to stop for our nightly gelato. Back in our room, we relaxed and got ready for our big day walking the famous Cinque Terra walk.
Sorry we are late with posting this blog. Marie keeps falling asleep and doesn’t do her edit job! We are having a great time. More to come tonight. Maybe!