Parma Food Tour: Cheese, Ham & Balsamic Vinegar Tasting

Options for this experience

2 options

Up to 8 per booking · Guide in English or Italian09:00

Up to 7 per booking · Guide in English or Italian09:00

You pick the guide language when booking.

You see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates & prices

Taste Parmigiano Reggiano straight from the aging room, then follow it through ham curing and vinegar fermentation.

A private full-day food tour of Parma with an expert gourmet guide takes you inside three production facilities: a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factory, a Parma ham curing house, and a traditional balsamic vinegar acetaia. You taste each product directly from its maker, learn how aging transforms the raw ingredients, and sit down to a three-course lunch of local specialties paired with Lambrusco and Malvasia wines. The tour runs eight hours and includes pickup and drop-off in Parma. You choose whether to add private vehicle transport or arrange your own.

Step-by-step itinerary

Parma food and culinary traditions tour

• Visit cheese factory and learn cheese making
• Taste Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• Visit Parma ham curing house
• Taste Parma ham
• Enjoy 3-course lunch with local wines
• Visit traditional balsamic vinegar acetaia

The Experience

Parma's three signature foods each have their own logic, and this tour walks you through all of it in sequence. You start at a cheese factory outside the city where milk becomes Parmigiano Reggiano. A process that takes months or years to complete, with no additives at any stage. An expert guide walks you through the aging rooms and teaches you to recognize the difference between younger and fully mature wheels by taste. The tasting is led by someone who knows the product inside out, not a sales pitch.

Next is the ham producing house, where you see the full curing process from raw meat to the finished product. Parma ham's flavor comes from time and precision, and the producer shows you both. Then you move to a local restaurant for lunch: cured meats from the region, tortelli d'erbetta (a local pasta stuffed with ricotta and herbs), sbrisolona cake, and desserts. The menu is built around what Parma actually eats, and it comes with local wines (Lambrusco and Malvasia) plus water and coffee. This is not a tasting menu. It is a full meal.

The final stop is an acetaia, a traditional balsamic vinegar workshop where a member of the owner's family explains how the vinegar ferments over years in wooden barrels. You taste the result and understand why the process cannot be rushed. The whole day is eight hours, and you're back in Parma by evening.

What’s included

• Expert gourmet guide in English or Italian.
• entry and tastings at the Parmigiano Reggiano factory, ham producer and balsamic vinegar acetaia.
• three-course lunch with local cured meats, pasta, dessert and coffee.
• local wines including Lambrusco and Malvasia.
• pickup and drop-off in Parma.

Days and timesDaily · 09:00

Ages18 to 59 years · Seniors (60+) · 5 to 17 years · Under 5 — No ticket type: can't be added to a booking

Meeting point and pickupPickup optional · ends where it starts2 pickup points to choose from.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24h before the start. After that, no refund.It may be canceled due to bad weather or if the minimum number of travelers isn't reached. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund.

Prices and times updated 4 days ago

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyNot for heart conditions

Operated by Maestro Travel Experience

Is this one for you?Choose the option with transport included if you want the guide to handle all movement between the city and the three factories, leaving you free to focus on the tastings and the meal. Book without transport if you have your own car or prefer to meet the group at each stop.

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Top questions

What languages is the guide in?

Live guide in English and Italian.

Can children come?

5 to 17 years. Under 5: no ticket type, they can't be added to a booking.

What happens if it rains?

It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24h before the start.

What exactly happens at the Parmigiano Reggiano factory?

You see how milk is transformed into cheese and watch the aging process in the storage rooms. An expert guide leads a tasting that teaches you to recognize the different stages of maturity by flavor, so you understand what years of aging actually do to the cheese.

Is lunch included, and what kind of food will I eat?

Yes, a three-course lunch is included at a local restaurant. The menu features cured meats, tortelli d'erbetta (a round pasta stuffed with ricotta and herbs that is a Parma specialty), sbrisolona and other dry cakes for dessert, plus local wines like Lambrusco and Malvasia, water and coffee.

Do I need to arrange my own transport to the factories, or is it included?

You can book the tour with private vehicle transport included, or without transport if you prefer to arrange your own way to each stop. Either way, pickup and drop-off in Parma are included in the booking.

How long does the whole tour take?

The tour runs eight hours from start to finish, including all three factory visits, the tastings and the lunch.