Festival del Prosciutto di Parma – Parma Ham Festival: 2019 Programme

Three days, from 6 to 8 September, will be dedicated to discover the Prosciutto di Parma PDO and the land giving birth to it in Langhirano, on the hills of Parma.  The Cittadella del Prosciutto di Parma will come to life with tastings, cooking lessons by the Chefs of the Parma Quality Restaurants Consortium, wine pairings, hand carving shows.  Furthermore, Edoardo Bennato’s concert.

The highlight of the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma will be “Finestre Aperte – Open Windows”: thanks to this initiative, for four consecutive weekends (7-8, 14-15, 21-22, 28-29 September), foodies and tourists will have the possibility of discovering the secrets of the PDO by visiting the ham factories in the production area.

From 9 to 15 September, Prosciutto di Parma will be the star of the Bistrot set up in the Piazza Garibaldi square in Parma during the “Settembre Gastronomico” events.

Friday 6 September will see the opening of the 22nd Edition of the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma: three days to talk about a PDO that is the symbol of made-in-Italy food excellence worldwide, to promote ancient traditions and a know-how handed down generation after generation, and to discover a land that is not very well known yet but that hosts beauties like the Castle of Torrechiara, with its amazing frescoed Golden Chamber, and the Renaissance Benedictine Abbey known as Badia di Santa Maria della Neve. All this in the context of the UNESCO MAB Reserve of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.  The programme of the 2019 edition of the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma is extremely rich: here are some of its highlights.

FINESTRE APERTE – OPEN WINDOWS

The true highlight of the Festival del Prosciutto di Parma is “Finestre Aperte – Open Windows” that in 2019 grows from two to four weekends in September: the appointment is for 7-8, 14-15, 21-22 and 28-29 September. “Finestre Aperte – Open Windows” is an original way to spread the knowledge of the ancient traditions and know-how for making Prosciutto di Parma to a large audience: the roots of the forerunners of the PDO date back to the 3rd century b.C. In his “De Rustica”, Cato the Elder described an appetising way of preserving pork haunches via salting and drying; rubbed with a bit of oil, haunches underwent a maturation period. On occasion of “Finestre Aperte – Open Windows”, every weekend in September, the ham factories of the Parma area will welcome tourists and food lovers with the possibility of following a processing cycle.  Exceptional guides will be the producers themselves who will explain and show how pork haunches can turn into Prosciutto di Parma PDO thanks to a very unique combination of climate, tradition and passion.  The list of ham factories that have joined “Finestre Aperte – Open Windows” and any useful information to reserve and plan visits will be available on the website:  www.festivaldelprosciuttodiparma.com.

CITTADELLA DEL PROSCIUTTO

From 6 to 8 September, Langhirano will host the Cittadella del Prosciutto: an area where 18 producers of the PDO will talk about their history and will organise tastings of Prosciutto di Parma PDO of different lengths of maturation, starting from 12, to 24 and even 36 and more months.  Shows of how to hand-carve Prosciutto di Parma PDO are scheduled: it is a true art that requires practice to be mastered, and it is a combination of rapidity, precision and choreography in the presentation of slices on the dish.

PARMA QUALITY RESTAURANTS AND OTHER PARTNERS

The Festival del Prosciutto di Parma will also feature exchanges and collaborations. From the gastronomic point of view, the Parma Quality Restaurants Consortium – gathering 28 local restaurants – will be involved as the highest expression of Parmesan cuisine.  Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September, the Chefs Maria Amalia Anedda (“Les Caves” Restaurant, Sala Baganza), Filippo Cavalli (“Osteria dei Mascalzoni” Restaurant, Parma), Mariano Chiarelli (“I Du Matt” Restaurant, Parma) and Nico Tamani (“Vecchia Fucina” Restaurant, Traversetolo) will stage two cooking lessons: cooking aficionados and foodies will have the possibility of learning secrets to enhance in an original way Prosciutto di Parma PDO in food preparations.
The Consorzio di Tutela dei Vini Colli di Parma will organise events dedicated to wine pairing: tips on the best local wines to be paired with Prosciutto di Parma PDO will be given by Maura Gigatti, sommelier of the “I Du Matt” Restaurant, who has been recently awarded the prize as Best Sommelier of the Emilia Romagna region by the Italian Sommelier Association (AIS). The Festival del Prosciutto di Parma will also propose refined combinations of savoury ice-cream and Prosciutto di Parma PDO: these will be signed by the Ciacco gelato chain of master gelato maker Stefano Guizzetti, tireless supporter of the artisan method and known all over Italy for his unusual gelato flavours made without using any additives.

EDOARDO BENNATO LIVE

Saturday 7 September, from 9:30 pm, the stage of Piazzale Celso Melli in Langhirano will host the performance of the songwriter Edoardo Bennato, one of Italy’s most popular rock stars.  The singer of best selling singles like “L’isola che non c’è”, “Un giorno credi”, “Il gatto e la volpe”, “Viva la mamma”, “Il rock di Capitan Uncino” will perform a live concert of two hours.

BISTROT UNDER THE PORTICI DEL GRANO

The Festival del Prosciutto di Parma will have a true city version from Monday 9 to Sunday 15 September: the appointment is in Parma, in Piazza Garibaldi, under the Portici del Grano, where a Bistrot will be opened as part of the “Settembre Gastronomico” events. Some highlights: Thursday 12 September from 6:30 pm appointment with Bruno Vanzan, world champion of flair bartending and mixology, who will propose the cocktails of the 2019 summer paired with finger foods made with Prosciutto di Parma PDO; Friday 13 September from 12:30 noon, gastronomic proposals and pairings with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO; Sunday 15 September from 7:00 pm, gourmet pizzas proposed by the newly established Gruppo Parmense Pizzerie di Qualità that gathers 9 professionals of the pizza making art sharing the same approach in the selection of excellent raw materials, preferably local, and in artisan preparation methods.