Food Tours from Parma and Bologna

Hi Joy,
I live in Parma and find it to be a beautiful, charming city with great food and clothes shopping and excellent people watching! I live in the centro storico (historic center) and find I can walk to most everything within 10 minutes. It is very flat so the walking is easy or you can rent a bike. We ride our bikes around town as do lots of other people that live here. There is a ZTL in the center so you may want to walk or bike. The pace here is relaxed and the area doesn't see a lot of tourists; some but in the short time I have lived here I haven't seen a lot. The city is small (I think around 160,000-180,000 people) so some may not find a lot to do but I think there are several interesting churches and museums and markets in addition to the food tours you were thinking about. I haven't been on any of the food tours yet but it is high on my list. I tried to include the info I found out about food tours in a post but for some reason, it didn't work. I'll private message you with the info. There are several castles in the area around Parma as well. Depending on what month you come, you may catch some of the events. If you let me know what you are interested in, I can post additional information. The tourist information office is helpful and the lady I spoke to had fluent English. It's only a few minutes from my apartment so I can stop by and ask for any info you need. One thing to keep in mind is that in italy, some things are closed on Monday's in the smaller cities and that is true in Parma. The churches and the beautiful baptistery and some of the museums are open on Monday but not all of the museums are. Anyway, if you decide to come to Parma let me know what info you need and I will be happy to try to find it. There are so many beautiful towns in Italy that wherever you choose will be a winner!

Thanks so much! We don't have a lot of time to spend in Parma but I think it will be well worth our trip. We are thinking of doing the food tour on Monday for the very reason you state, lots of other things are closed on that day. Can you tell me about the bike share program? One of my friends who will be traveling with us is really into cycling. While I know he's not going to have time (or energy after touring) to go ride a Giro stage route, I'm sure he'd enjoy spending a morning on a bike. Again, thank you so much for your kind reply.

I'll find out about renting a bike on Monday. We have our own bikes so I have never done that but I see places around town where you can rent. And as I mentioned, Parma is flat as can be my husband biked all around town, up and down every street, for probably an hour and a half one day and didn't even break a sweat. Definitely easy riding. if you want a leisurely activity, go to the Parco Ducale and stroll or ride your bike on the wide paths and have a treat in the outdoor cafe in the center of the park. Very relaxing. There is another park called the Cittadella where you can ride bikes but it is further from me so I don't go very often. Or just ride all around the center and see the town! Parma is an easy town to see in a day. The duomo and baptistery are in the center, open on Monday, and I have never seen them crowded. They offer a free tour but it is only in Italian. Entrance to duomo is free. The baptistery costs 6 euros or you can get a combo ticket for the baptistery and Diocesan Museum for 7 euros. Directly behind the duomo is the church and cloisters of St. John the Evangelist (open Mondays, free entrance). The old pharmacy that is next to St. John's is not open on Monday and costs 2 euros. One of my favorite gelaterias is immediately to the right of St. John's and is called Gelateria K2. I think the gelato is 2 euros for a small cup or cone and you can ask for 2 flavors in one (due gusti). Let me know if I can help with anything else I'll send bike info after I find out on Monday.

Joy,
Here's the information I found out from the very helpful tourist office in Parma. Bike rental costs 0.90 euros per hour. They said to go to the Parma Punto Bici on Viale Toschi, 2. Telephone number: 39 0521 281979. Hours: Monday through Saturday from 9:00am-1:00pm and 3:00pm-7:00pm; Sundays 10:00am-1:00pm and 2:30pm- 7:30pm. I think you have to show ID to get a card that will allow you to use the automated bike racks around town. Looks like there is also a bike office at the train station. The website www.infomobility.pr.it is in Italian but if you click on Bike Sharing and then google translate it, you can get a general overview of the program. There is also a picture of what the bike racks look like. The city of Parma's tourist info office (located in the city center at via Melloni 1/A) gave me a map of Parma and circled the Viale Toschi location and they also gave a map of bike lanes and places to return/pick up bikes (total of 15 places around town). By the way, if you don't know Italian, Toschi is pronounced like "toe-she". I mispronounced it for the first month until some kind person corrected me! Have a great trip!

thanks so much for all the great detailed info!