With our two travel companions, my husband and I had the delightful privilege of experiencing Parma and its surrounding countryside with Michelle Costa of Artemilia Guided Tours. With her deep knowledge of the area, fluency in English, and totally charming personality, Michelle created a truly memorable Parma experience. Expertly guiding us all the way, Michelle showed us how delicious Parmigiano Reggiano is made, aged, stored, and certified. Fascinating -- especially because Michelle provided us with detailed information about each stage in the cheese-making process. We also had the opportunity to visit a facility that prepared, aged, and stored Prosciutto di Parma (Parma Ham). Once again Michelle's expertise enabled us to understand and appreciate the process. When she later took us on a walking tour of the city of Parma, Michelle's knowledge of the city, its history, churches, and art brought Parma to life in a way that would have been impossible without her professionalism and insight. We are grateful for the opportunity we had to visit Parma and appreciate its treasures accompanied by so skilled a guide. Molto bene, Michelle!

Michelle from Artemilia Guided Tours took us on a tour of a Parmigiano Reggiano (the cheese!) and a Parma Ham "cellar" (the ham!). She knows so much about both. We were able to see the making of the cheese (pictures attached), the aging process, the storage of the cheese and how the cheese can become certified as the real thing. We also saw how some of the whey was turned into ricotta cheese. Michelle explained all of this and answered our many questions professionally. At the Parma ham "cellar" we were able to observe room upon room and row upon row of hams that were aging. Again Michelle gave us a running commentary about everything involved. After lunch with her, we returned to Parma where we took a walking tour of this town. Again, Michelle helped us fall in love with everything about it with her commentary about the town today and her historical knowledge. It was a truly memorable day. Thank you Michelle.

Andrea met us at our hotel at 8:15 in the morning, and came in our rental car with us. We spent nearly 8 hours together and had the best day, starting with spending a couple of hours at a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese-making plant. It was absolutely fascinating to watch and learn how this fabulous cheese is made (and of course, to taste it, too). Next was a tour of a Prosciutto plant, and then we went for lunch at a beautiful Agriturismo. The pasta we had for lunch is some of the best I have ever eaten.

Andrea is a delight, and so knowledgeable. A real plus for this company is that the guide comes in your car with you (whether your rental car or a hired car), so we were able to talk and ask questions (about anything and everything) all day long.

Our day with Andrea was perfect in every way, and a highlight of our trip. Don't miss this.