Parma
Emilia-Romagna
The city that gave Prosciutto di Parma its name. Mid-sized Emilia-Romagna city; the DOP zone production center and the natural pilgrimage destination for serious cured-meat travelers.
Parma sits 100km northwest of Bologna in the southern Emilia-Romagna plain, where the Apennine foothills meet the Po Valley. The city is the namesake and historic center of the Prosciutto di Parma DOP production zone (which extends through 5 surrounding provinces but centers on Parma's ducal court tradition of pork curing). Modern Parma is a mid-sized city of about 200,000 people with a compact medieval center, the Romanesque baptistery and cathedral as anchors, and the Salone Boscoreale that historically served as the Bourbon court's pork-curing room.
The city itself is less dense with charcuterie shops than Bologna, but its surrounding villages (Langhirano specifically, 20km south) contain the actual production facilities — visitors interested in seeing prosciutto curing should base in Parma and day-trip to Langhirano. The local Galloni operation, founded 1960, offers tours and tasting of authentic DOP production. Parma is also the home of Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP cheese production (the region's other great DOP product) — combined cured-meat-and-cheese tours are popular for serious food tourists.
Notable shops & producers
- Salumeria Garibaldi (Strada Garibaldi)
- Salumeria San Vitale (Strada Cavour)
- Galloni production facility (Langhirano, 20km south)
Typical dishes to seek out
- Prosciutto di Parma sliced over melon (estivo)
- Tortelli di erbette (Parma's herb-stuffed pasta)
- Culatello di Zibello on grissini
- Coppa di Parma with mostarda