Parmesan Dairy Tours Near Parma

Dairies You Can Reach by Bus

Caseificio Ugolotti

Via Marco Emilio Lepido 72, on the eastern edge of Parma. A 90-minute tour in English with a tasting or light lunch costs €23; children under 6 are free. There is a restaurant at the dairy, though it cannot cater for gluten-free diets. Announce yourself in the shop when you arrive. The nearest stop is Park Est on bus 23. No visits in December.

Latteria Sociale San Pier Damiani

Strada Gazzano 35/A, San Prospero. The tour begins at 9am, and the dairy asks you to be there at 8:50 to catch the wheels being lifted out. It takes in the brine room and an ageing store of more than 1,000 wheels, a small tractor museum, and a tasting of three ages with wine, for €25 (free up to age 12). There is also a €10 vertical tasting at 11:30 Monday to Saturday, and a €55 weekend tour combined with the Parma Ham Museum. The visit is not suitable for strollers or for visitors with reduced mobility, and dogs are not allowed. Bus 23 stops nearby.

Giansanti di Muzio

Strada Traversetolo 228, Pilastrello, about eight minutes by car from the centre. A small dairy making eight wheels a day. Shared tours of up to 10 people last 75 minutes and cost €20, or €9 for ages 5 to 13, with three ages of cheese and balsamic vinegar to taste. Take TEP bus 11 from the station to the Pilastrello Casa Bruciata stop (lines 2730 and 2735 on Sundays and holidays). Parking is free.

Dairies in the Hills and Lowlands

Montecoppe, Collecchio

Via Montecoppe 19, Ferlaro, inside the Boschi di Carrega park southwest of Parma. The complete tour covers the farm, the dairy and the ageing warehouse, then three ages of cheese with local products: two hours for €35. Wear flat shoes.

Bertinelli, Noceto

Strada Pedemontana 2. A one-hour tour of the dairy and ageing room ends with Parmigiano aged 15, 24 and 36 months, Parmigiano cream and a glass of Lambrusco or Malvasia for €22.50. The three-hour version adds lunch at the farm's osteria: Parma cured meats with fried polenta, a seasonal pasta and gelato made from the farm's own milk, for €50.

Caseificio Sociale Soragna

Strada per Diolo 118, Soragna, a cooperative making cheese only from its members' milk since 1930. A 45-minute tour in Italian or English is €18 and ends with three ages of cheese, house cured meat, bread with olive oil and wine. Phone +39 0524 599073.

Saliceto, Lesignano de' Bagni

Via Toscanini 3, Mulazzano Ponte, south of Parma towards Langhirano. Tours of about 90 minutes cost €20, with a full experience at 8:45 and a second tour at 10:30, in English, French or Italian. The U12 Langhirano bus stop is a three-minute walk away.

Butteri, Salsomaggiore Terme

Strada Provinciale 109, 193. A family farm that turns all its milk into Parmigiano: the visit goes from the cowshed to the dairy and ageing room and ends with a tasting. Book on +39 347 715 9355.

Practical Tips

Plan one dairy per morning; the cheese is finished by midday, and afternoons suit the city or a museum. Pack a cool bag for cheese bought at the dairy shops. Parma's tourist office at Strada Garibaldi 18 can book dairy visits for you.

Nearby

The Parmigiano Reggiano Museum is in Fontevivo, west of Parma. Dairies around Reggio Emilia are the next province east, and the Caseifici Aperti weekend opens 19 Parma dairies at once.