Ham & Cheese

I said I would write about Easter in Italy, but to be honest, it wasn't all that different than Easter in the US. (Just subtract the Easter Bunny and add a few more Catholics.)  The church services weren't different at all, less impressive if anything. There weren't even Easter Lillies on the altar!  I thought Easter Sunday would be a day where everything would be closed here, but turns out, Italians just do what they do on other days- sit at the cafe or bar and eat/drink.  The Monday after Easter was a double Italian holiday being that it was Easter Monday and Liberation Day.  I've been told that this is the equivalent of our Memorial Day- the "unofficial start of summer".

Parma hams stamped and good to go!

So fast forward to the weekend after Easter.  We had the opportunity to enjoy a free ride and tour of the city of Parma.  Normally, we don't jump at the idea of being on a bus load of Americans in an Italian city, but we can't argue with free.  Plus, we figured this was a place we probably wouldn't think to go to on our own.

Look at all that cheese!

After a lovely two-ish hour bus ride, we arrived at our first stop- a Parmesan Cheese Consortium on the outskirts of town.  Here, we got to see some of the process of the famous cheese-making.  The most impressive part of this operation was the size of said factory.  We were told this was one of the larger consortiums and it was nothing more than a two level ranch-style home.  Although they only make the cheese early in the morning when the milk arrives and we missed it, we did get to see all the equipment, molding, salting and storing of cheese.  (Fun fact of the day- the cows whose milk is used for true Parmesan cheese are ONLY fed certain grass that comes from the region of Italy between Bologna and Parma.) After the tour, we got to test taste...and I probably ate my weight in Parmesan cheese.

Making the cheese

From the cheese factory, we headed to the city of Parma and got a quick tour of the main sites- the Baptistery, the Duomo and the Pilotta.  We were then free for lunch and a bit of site-seeing.  Apparently, Parma is the food capital of Europe and well known for some of its local delicacies.  We found a nice place to eat and, unbeknownst to us, it was the #1 rated restaurant in the city!

Inside the Duomo in Parma

The streets of Parma

From the city center, we headed to the small village of Quinzano (sounds like the Italian form of Quincy!) up in the hills to a Parma Ham factory.  (Again, factory is used loosely here because it was a house run by Carlo and his family.)  We got to view all the stages of drying pigs legs to make the famous prosciutto that this region is known for.  While interesting, the tour was half-English/half-Italian, so all I really know is that the legs arrive (only the legs....other pig parts go elsewhere) and they are dried out for a long time and tested for quality.  We got to sample some of the prosciutto along with Salame Felino (not cat Salami, just from the nearby town of Felino) and culatello.

The various stages of dried pig legs

Almost prosciutto time

Not bad for a free trip!