Page 71 - Dreamscapes Magazine | Fall/Winter 2024

hour drive dine at acclaimed restaurants, visit award-winning suppliers like Antica Corte Pallavicina and tour home-grown bal- samic vinegar operations in neighbouring Modena as you enjoy cheese factory and tasting tours of Italy’s King of Cheeses—the Parmigiano Reggiano. The beloved title, while a marketing slogan, dates generations of a cheese tradition with production going back to the Middle Ages.
Cultural life is everywhere in Parma. See school buses transporting children in the ubiquitous “Happy Bus”—why would there be anything else in the land of Parma? Find a pair of theatres, one built during the reign of Maria Louise, Duchess of Parma (she intro- duced violet perfume in Parma) and an earlier Renaissance theatre built for a marriage that never happened. Ironically, my visit occurred at the height of truffle, pumpkin and chestnut season and a week prior to the release of the Michelin Guide Italy 2024.
Food Valley
Wedged between the River Po and the Apen- nine mountain range, humid, foggy winters and hot, muggy summers in this northern region provide ideal maturation conditions for a trio of products that are deemed as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) under European Union law: prosciutto (Parma ham), traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The latter was first produced by monks there in 1254 and has held the special PDO status only since 1992.
On a misty morning, fog blankets the valley outside the Azienda Agricola Bertinelli as Marco, a fourth-generation cheese master, muscles cheesecloth inside the
factory. Tightening the edges, he rhythmically shifts the curds in a
swaying cheese dance, oblivious to
the spectators watching the gruell-
ing task. “He does not take any
time to break from this pattern,”
says Giovanna Rosati, factory tour
guide and cheese expert with
Caseificio Bertinelli. Owner Nicola Bertinelli, whose family has manu-
factured the hard raw cow’s milk
cheese since 1895, is also the
current president of the Consorzio
del Parmigiano Reggiano.
Post tour, we huddle at the temple of Parmigiano Reggiano, the Bertinelli cheese shop, its seating area shaped as a cheese wedge, and dive into samplers. For a true taste test, the aging of
PHOTOS: THE CONSORTIUM OF PARMIGIANO REGGIANO | ALESSANDRO CARRA | ANDREA DE SIMON
PARMA SLEEPS
The Renzo Piano-designed district Barilla Center is home to the Grande Hotel de la Ville, a 110-room property that is across from the Parma Ham consortium HQ. Enjoy a full breakfast buffet with prosciutto and Parmigiano Reggiano on offer. The inde- pendently owned hotel has two spacious elevators, a fitness centre, free in-room Wi- Fi and is conveniently located in walking distance to the Old Town and shops.
FALL/WINTER 2024 DREAMSCAPES 71