You can find all the ingredients you would ever need for a hearty winter feast in Parma: prosciutto, culatello, Parmigiano-Reggiano, porcini mushrooms, and fresh-from-the-forest truffles, as well as plenty of quinces and butternut squash, not to mention the fundamentals for some classic pasta recipes: Mutti tomato sauce and Barilla also call Parma home. I could go on — the list is a mile long. The city of Parma and its eponymous province is one of Italy’s richest “mother lodes” of unforgettably delicious food, nicknamed Food Valley as it contains the greatest number of traditional Italian products with quality certifications. The local cuisine is best savored via a satisfying winter meal.
A flavorful touch of tradition
A brief digression: here, fumära, fog in the local dialect, is considered godsent, a gift that helps cure the meats and adds flavor to the mushrooms — chef Massimo Spigaroli is a fan. Originally from Umbria, Spigaroli transformed an old farm in the town of Polesine Parmense into Antica Corte Pallavicina, a multipurpose complex complete with a Michelin-starred restaurant and bis- trot, a relais with frescoed halls and guest rooms, an organic vegetable garden, and a farm that raises pigs, ducks, and hens.
Spigaroli also owns a culatello museum and hosteria, which fellow chefs, such as Alain Ducasse and Massimo Bottura, have visited, as have notables like the Prince of Wales. He serves paper-thin cured meats before the tasting of “gastrofluvial” dishes, like his hallmark frog legs with mashed sweet potatoes and legumes.
The people from in and around Parma cling to tradition — in fact, osteria menus haven’t changed in decades. At Osteria Ardenga in the town of Diolo di Soragna, you’re sure to find anolini in brodo (a local beef-filled pasta in meat broth), punta di vitello (a typical veal brisket preparation) and sparkling, semi-sweet red Lambrusco wine.
Book weeks in advance to dine at Trattoria Ai Due Platani in the town of Coloreto, recently named “Italy’s best trattoria” by Italian food magazine Espresso. Otherwise, you’ll be left dreaming of the pumpkin tortelli and the mountain of vanilla gelato that’s rolled in on a dessert cart carrying an array of toppings.
Parmigiano and prosciutto: the local claim to fame
Parmigiano and prosciutto are stalwarts of the local food canon. Of the 330 cheese factories, Bertinelli and Gennari, two historic producers, are among the few with a complete supply chain. Bertinelli also specializes in kosher Parmigiano and has a rabbi supervise the entire process, from the milking of the cows to marking the cheese wheels with the Star of David. It’s exhausting work, from five in the morning to midnight, seven days a week.
Sporting overalls, Paolo Gennari is always on the job and always churning out innovative ideas. Of his three shops, two are in the center of Parma. In addition to his prestigious Vacche Rosse and 48- and 60-month Riserva, he’s crafting a new table cheese. He even teaches “Parmigiano lessons” and sends the students their wheel after it has aged.
The history of prosciutto recounts tales of bold entrepreneurs, such as Fratelli Galloni. In July 2016 a fire at the local factories burned 85,000 legs of prosciutto to a crisp, but the disaster didn’t slow the family down for a minute — they sent out the morning deliveries while the firefighters were still putting out the flames. Suppliers to Bottura and Bastianich, they made a name for crudo di Parma in the United States and introduced the process of aging prosciutto in oak barrels originally used for fine wines, which gives the meat a delicate fruity fragrance — you can taste it for yourself in the restaurant beside the factory.
Rediscovering nature
Knowing how to modernize tradition is the secret to the territory’s success, which has also preserved its agricultural identity. Rural is the visionary project by Mauro Ziveri, owner of the Rosa dell’Angelo prosciutto production center in the hills of Rivalta. The black pigs from which he makes his 36-month-aged prosciutto crudo are part of an ancient local breed.
Each enjoys an average of 10,760 square feet of woodland to graze freely on fresh grass, roots, tubers, berries, and acorns. Ziveri’s big passion, though, is protecting the area’s agricultural biodiversity, from ancient grains to Romagnola hens to the now-rare gray Apennine cows. Rural also hosts a producers’ festival every September to exhibit Lamborghini and Landini tractors for which they set up six huts in the orchard for overnight accommodation. The bathroom is a bit far, but the place is a veritable suite, with a sauna, chromatherapy, and wardrobe stocked with overalls and boots for anyone who wants to help out in the fields. They also own a shop in downtown Parma that sells seasonal products.
Even music plays a part. As you stop at Tra L’uss e L’asa paninoteca for a la vecchia panino (horse meatballs with sweet bell peppers), the notes of Aida fill the streets of Verdi and Toscanini’s city. As you enjoy an aperitivo at Tabarro, you might hear someone in a nearby home singing an aria from Rigoletto.
Music is everywhere, even in restaurants. At Cortex Bistrot, music by famous singer-songwriters delights the ears while the menu delights the palate: egg al Parmigiano and Jerusalem artichokes with nori as well as beef tongue, bok choy, Jerusalem artichoke chips, and grilled bread, which together form a sort of bollito whose ingredients are served separately. Chefs Diego and Simone, along with Simone’s wife Mikako — the couple met in London while he was cooking at Locanda Locatelli, she at Nobu — wanted to come up with a family project. In fact, the team also includes Simone’s sister Ottavia in the dining room and her husband Tommaso Granelli on social media. The convivial atmosphere, casual interior, well-organized kitchen, and generous dishes showcase how the traditional trattoria can evolve.
Fine dining welcomes the new
Chef Marco Parizzi’s Michelin-starred namesake concept is a school, online shop, and suites, while Terry Giacomello is the star of the moment with Inkiostro at Hotel Ink. Roberto Conti now graces the Ristorante Parmigianino at the Grand Hotel de la Ville, where he has one clear goal: winning over the city while implementing ingredients and recipes from outside the Food Valley.
He knows it’s not easy to lure people to a hotel restaurant in a city brimming with exquisite trattorias. But judging from how his restaurant is often booked solid, his Lombard-style risotto and veal cutlet undoubtedly please the locals. He also studies Emilian cooking and spends a lot of time at the Academia Barilla’s library, which is filled with endless forms of inspiration, from magazines to 5,000 historic dinner menus to landmark texts about Parma-style culinary arts.
Chef Amalia Maria Anedda, who studied under Ducasse, won’t do without tradition either. At Ristorante Les Caves in the town of Sala Baganza, she serves passatelli pasta in a mushroom-flavored dashi broth inspired by her travels in Asia. And breakfast at Carlotta Campari’s La Terrazza sul Duomo B&B is complete with antique porcelains, silver platters, moka-fresh espresso, pastries and, of course, Parmigiano and salumi. At this point, it must be clear why Parma was the first Italian city designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and the 2020 Italian Capital of Culture — yet Parma’s bounty isn’t limited to its tabletops.
Impressive works can be found in the Duomo, Teatro Regio, and Palazzo della Pilotta, a monumental complex that’s home to Teatro Farnese, the Bodoni typography and printing museum, Italy’s leading archeological museum as well as paintings by Parmigianino, busts by Bernini, Leonardo da Vinci’s La Scapigliata and a Canova sculpture of Marie Louise of Habsburg, duchess and benefactress of Parma. “They’re a miniature of the Vatican museums, and no one knows about them,” says director Simone Verde. He came to Parma from the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and it’s thanks to him that they’re dusting off this jewel, shining a new light on Parma’s priceless heritage and the efforts being made to promote it.