Italy is a country with an amazing mix of things to excite the imagination. One of its most fascinating qualities is the variety: variety of landscapes, variety of language and dialects, variety of ancient invaders and descendants, and variety of cuisine that is so closely linked to landscape.
It is said that if you discover the cuisine of a region you discover the people and how they think and what they believe. Each community has its own gastronomic emblem, the celebration of that emblem linked to the rhythm of the seasons and the time of harvest.
Parma in Emilia Romagna towards the north of Italy is a little off the main trunk of Italian tourism but for the culinary tourist, Parma is at the heart of it. For anyone who seeks to explore the links between food and culture this is the place to come.
I think it is a blessing that it misses out on the hordes of people who invade Italy to soak up the extraordinary antiquity of art and culture. Most of Parma's churches and places of artistic and historical significance are free. You can even see the stunning Correggio fresco on the ceiling of the duomo for next to nothing.
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