Balsamic Vinegar/Prosciutto/Parmesean Tasting

I would look for a restaurant in Empoli that can accommodate you.
Buy a selection of vinegars in Firenze.
Buy a selection of Parmigiano-Reggiano in Firenze.

Day trip to Bologna/Modena will be spent mostly in your car or train. Look at a map. You will need to stay overnight in that region. Use google maps or something similar to figure out travel times. Think Chianti and go to Greve in Chianti and look for a butcher and have a good lunch and take something home for dinner, think big T-bone steak. Now that is a day trip for 16!

Two important tips to be kept in mind:
1) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is made only at early morning. Usually at 9:30/10am the production is completed. Means that the best is being at the dairy at 9am to watch while the cheesemakers are still producing.
2) All food producers cannot be visited simply arriving there, because are not touristic places. You must book them in advance.
Said that, probably the best solution could be book with a tour operator and have a guide for the day, so to don't do the research of every single place. I suggest you Emilia Romagna Tours https://emiliaromagnatours.it/ .

If you want to do by yourselves
- here is the list of the dairies where can be done visits: www.parmigianoreggiano.com
- here you can find a list of the producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena: https://www.balsamicotradizionale.it/
For ham is much more tricky: Parma's ham is made only in the area of Langhirano, in Parma province, but is like 1 hour far (or more) from Modena. There is even the PDO Modena's ham, much closer to the other producers. Unfortunately very few ones do visits, but are easy to be found on internet.

Ricky,

Are any of the cheese places reachable by public transportation? We will be in Bologna in June.

If you don't get a chance to visit an actual producer of balsamic vinegar, Giusti of Modena has a shop in the center of Bologna that does an informative tasting. It is free and you can just walk in, at least when they are not busy. They also have shops in other towns such as Milan. Although not the same as seeing how it is produced, the tasting was nicely done with samples of different ages, prices, including flavored vinegars if you want, etc. with explanations of the differences, suggested food pairings. No pressure to purchase.

@BethFL
Ugolotti in Parma is reachable. They don't have the cows, so they are located in the industrial area of Parma. In front there is a bus stop, but I have no idea of the timetable.
All dairies who have cows (and other animals) are located in the countryside, so difficult to be reached by public transport. Are at least some kilometers from a town/village/hamlet.

Thanks Ricky.

I was also considering a tour out of Parma that you recommended.

I did wonder about the 9:30 meet time though when it seems that cheese process finishes early.

I promised my husband we would not drive this trip. We drove in Portugal and it was more difficult than we expected.

Depends by the dairy the time of production of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Is made at early morning, but the process takes 2/3 hours. So some ones at 8:30 they have just completed everything and washed the vats, others that at 10/10:30 are still working. And some bigger cooperatives at 11 have not finished yet.