The second day of our magnificent stay on the Italian countryside in Castelvetro di Modena at the phenomenal B&B, La Vedetta, our gracious host, Annalisa, organized a tour of Hombre Farms, a farm that specializes in Parmigiano Reggiano.  At home, Espen eats shaved parmesan like it’s chips, and in Italy, he consumed his weight in grated parmesan on each of his pasta meals.  So I knew this would be right up his alley.  You can read all about our incredible stay at La Vedetta and how we chose it by checking out the post here.

Hombre Farms is about a thirty minute drive away from La Vedetta, and our tour began at 9:00.  The tour begins with entrance into the area where the process begins, the milking of the cows.  Their philosophy is a happy cow makes happy cheese, so they pride themselves in caring for their cows with the highest of standards.  The cows are milked twice a day and seemed to be pretty happy when I took their photo, despite the fact that I interrupted their breakfast.  The tour went on to describe the process of making and storing the cheese.  I was pleased to hear none of their byproducts go to waste as they donate all excess skim milk to local farmers who give it to their pigs.

One thing I didn’t realize is that Parmigiano Reggiano is similar to Champagne in that only cheeses produced in specific provinces are permitted to call their cheese as such.  Only the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, the portion of Bologna south of the river Po, Mandua, and Modena are privileged to do so. Here is a picture of the permissible region.

Espen really enjoyed the tour and of course, the best part was tasting the cheese!  As always, he had lots of questions and became best friends with our tour guide, Valentina.

But the tour didn’t end there.  Sigurd, in particular, was pleasantly surprised to discover the owner’s private Maserati Museo.  Housed there were also vintage motorcycles and other fun vehicular-related memorabilia.

This was a tour I had been excited about since I heard it was a possibility, and it didn’t disappoint!  It was a nice, easy morning that didn’t consume much time, but got us out and about and able to experience something very few have had.  I highly recommend booking this tour!

Ciao!!

XOXO

Elisha