Food tours/independent in Parma/Bologna?

I found these companies in my research but have no personal experience: Italian Days, Parma Golosa and Food Valley. No need to have your own car.

Thanks. I'd seen the last two and they did look good. I'll check out the first one. I don't seem to find anything where I could just visit a producer, like walk-in wine tastings. I prefer not to do tours, but maybe it will be necessary for this. Either way, I can't wait to try some prosciutto at the source!

OMG, out of Bologna, the BEST tour for food. Italian Days Experience. Alessandro is amazing, and you will find that the money you pay for this full day trip is totally worth the experience. My son and I did this tour in October, and my son (31 years old) said it was the BEST day of our entire trip.

you won't get the experience trying to do it independently. I think you'd have a lot of planning to make to each location, and I'm not entirely sure you can book a tour for just one person.

Here's the website, check it out. They offer a couple of different options, we took the full day experience at 150E. http://www.italiandays.it/

They pick you up at your Bologna hotel around 7AM, and you don't get back until 4PM. We saw Parmiggiano being made ( you have to be there early to watch), then went to a balsamic vinegar producer, then to see how prosciutto is made.. Tasting at each stop...DON'T eat breakfast before you go! After the food tours, we went out into the country to an organic restaurant and had a "light" lunch. Hahahaha! Wine was flowing, food never stopped coming. The location is beautiful, peaceful...and you are out there with Italians, not American tourists (except the ones on your tour)

Alessandro will tell you, "It's by law" that you have to taste and eat SLOW food".

FTW, they come for you in Mercedes Benz vans, totally clean, the driver will be with you the entire day, and even helps to serve the food at each stop. (we tipped him at the end of the day - the people in our van took up a collection, about 10E each person)

Total people on the tour was 16 or so, so not a huge group, and you have plenty of time to ask questions of Alessandro. He is beyond passionate about Italian Food.

Super! Just the kind of first-hand info I was looking for. I will definitely check it out, and I think you're right, I would get more out of it with a guide. Your guy sounds great. :-)

We did the Italian Days tour with Alessandro in September and would second everything the previous poster said. We loved it!

Thanks for the help.
I think I will do a Ferrari test drive on my first half-day there, then do the full-day parmiggiano, prosciutto, balsamic tour the next day, then take an evening train to Venice or Padua. I fly out of Venice the next midday - would you feel comfortable staying in Padua overnight before leaving from Venice at 130 pm, or do you think I should play it safe and stay nearby in Venice? I will have been to Venice earlier in the trip.

I do not, and it's unlikely I ever will, hence the fun whirl in Italy.

You can now tour the Ferrari test track on a guided bus tour during their lunch hour, departing from the museum. Reserve ahead, no photos, no getting off the bus, bus drives on the test track, tour does not enter any buildings.

You can actually drive them...

http://www.timesofitaly.com/det-tour.asp?ID=61&IDcategoria=1

I can take a 10-minute drive or longer, depending on how poor I want to be afterward!
I won't pay the big bucks to drive on a track, but I can tool through town and look cool for a few minutes.

What's the excess if you are unlucky enough to have an accident or scrape the carbon fibre spoiler on a slight bump in the road?

Another vote for Alessandro's food tour.

Also you could check out
http://www.motorstars.org/
- they run tours of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati and have a driving option for some of those cars.

I've done Alessandro's tour twice and my friends did the Motorstars tour and enjoyed it.