Audio guides

Here begins the journey of the raw material that will eventually become Parmigiano Reggiano.

In this section, we start with the farmers who brought their milk to the dairy in the evening and early in the morning, using small carts, shoulder yokes or milk churns carried on their backs.

To the right of the platform is a balance scale known locally as a “stadéra”. Its arm would once have been fixed to the dairy wall, and beside it is the milk bucket used for weighing. In the early nineteenth century, milk was still measured by volume, with the level checked using a graduated wooden rod. Scales were introduced later, allowing much greater accuracy.

Every delivery was entered in a small weighing ledger. You can see an example attached to the scales. Once the agreed quantity – approximately 450 to 500 litres – had been reached, the farmers received a wheel of cheese.

During the twentieth century, metal milk churns became widespread, particularly the more practical 52-litre type. Several examples can be seen here and in the next section.

The backdrop to this display reproduces a 1925 painting by the Parma-born artist “Daniele de Strobel”, originally displayed in the Council Chamber of the Parma Chamber of Commerce. It depicts the transport of milk, and the artist’s original preparatory sketch can be seen on the easel to your right.

Taking the milk to the “casello”, as the dairy was traditionally known here, was often a task entrusted to women or young people. The dairy therefore became much more than a place of work: it was also somewhere to meet and exchange information and the latest village news.

Across this section and the next, we are going to discover the secrets of butter. Where does it come from? And what transforms its raw ingredient into the familiar white block that has long been a staple of traditional cooking?

On the shelf at the front of the platform, to your left, you can see several shallow metal basins known as “piatte”. To the right is a structure containing three rectangular tanks, one above the other. These were all used to encourage the cream to rise naturally to the surface of the milk.

And this is where butter production begins – almost a companion process to the making of our main protagonist.

Parmigiano Reggiano is a semi-fat cheese, so some of the cream has to be removed. This relies on the natural properties of milk. Because cream has a lower density, it rises to the surface, carrying with it much of the bacterial load present in the milk. If left in place, these bacteria could cause unwanted fermentation in the cheese.

The evening milk was poured into the shallow basins and left there until the following morning, when it was skimmed. The morning milk was left to stand for a shorter period, depending on its acidity. It too was then skimmed and combined with the previous evening’s milk.

In the shallow basins, the cream was collected using a “spannarola”, the small circular scoop standing upright in the centre, in front of the milk churns. In the larger tanks, the milk was drained through an opening at the bottom, leaving the cream behind. The resulting partially skimmed milk had the ideal degree of acidity for cheesemaking and contained fewer bacteria.

The backdrop shows the interior of the “Dall’Olio” dairy at “Ronco Campo Canneto”, in the Parma lowlands, photographed in 1915. Many of the objects displayed in the museum come from this dairy.

The cream that rose naturally to the surface of the milk was used to make butter in three main stages: skimming, when the cream was separated from the milk destined for cheesemaking; churning, when the cream was worked; and finally shaping it into blocks of butter.

As we have just seen, most of the cream came from the fat that naturally rose to the surface in the skimming tanks. Some fat, however, remained in the whey left over from cheesemaking. Mechanical cream separators using centrifugal force were developed to recover it. You can see one mounted on the pillar to the left.

On the central plinth and on the floor to the right are four types of butter churn, used to work the cream and begin its transformation into butter: a plunger churn, a hand-cranked churn, a drum churn and a barrel churn.

The principle is straightforward. When cream is agitated at a relatively low temperature, what is known as a “phase inversion” takes place and the fat solidifies to form butter.

The small upright wooden churn is the oldest type known. Beside it is a small domestic hand-cranked churn with a glass jar. The third churn uses centrifugal force. The last, with its large horizontal barrel, is a type known as the “Reggiana”. It was powered by steam through a pulley connected to a wheel at the side.

Look towards the left of this section and you will see a continuous-screw machine dating from the 1950s, used to shape blocks of butter. Its interchangeable rectangular, square and cylindrical moulds hang against the backdrop, which once again shows the “Dall’Olio” dairy at “Ronco Campo Canneto” in 1915.

In the centre is a weighing scale, also known locally as a “bàscula”, of a type used during the first half of the twentieth century, mainly to weigh butter and small quantities of cheese.

Once processed using the equipment you have seen, the butter was wrapped in special paper and packed as a single block into a crate. It could then be sent to customers, traders and distributors, eventually reaching the consumer.

To the left, inside the display case on a small cheese-store table, are two wooden butter moulds: one for a single block and another for several blocks, although the latter is unfortunately incomplete.

The last tool used by the cheesemaker was the “segnarola”: a flat, ridged wooden implement used to spread out the butter after it had been removed from the churn, helping to expel any liquid still trapped inside.

Our route now reaches the apse of the church, where the heart of the transformation from milk into cheese is revealed.

This is where the crucial process takes place: a precise sequence of actions, temperatures and timings that will ultimately produce a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Before we come to the vat itself, however, we need to understand one essential ingredient in the process: the whey starter.

Against the wall to your left are two containers once used to store it: a rare, truncated-pyramid-shaped copper vessel with two handles, and a glass demijohn protected by a wicker covering.

The whey starter is whey from the previous day’s cheesemaking, left to ferment naturally. Its use became widespread from around 1905 and significantly improved the quality of the cheese by enriching the milk with active lactic acid bacteria, essential for the proper development of the curd. The official production specification describes it as a natural culture obtained through the spontaneous fermentation of whey left over from the previous cheesemaking process.

A little further on, on the wall to the left of the door, you can identify some of the cheesemaker’s traditional tools: the “spino”, the “rotella” and the “pala”. We will see how they were used in a moment.

Towards the centre of the apse, your attention is immediately drawn to the two great copper vats, the undisputed protagonists of this section. The older one, on the right, dates from the nineteenth century and was heated over a direct flame. The other dates from 1949 and was steam-heated, bringing clear advantages in production.

Look towards the back of the apse and you will see the front panel of a horizontal steam generator, once used to supply the vat we have just seen. Fuel – coal or wood – was fed into the upper section, while the ash pan below allowed the ashes to be removed.

The machine turned water into steam, which was fed both to the vats and to a steam engine. The vats are still made of copper today because it is an excellent conductor of heat.

Close to the wall separating the apse from the nave, you can see a tool on the left that was used to pump out the whey remaining in the vats. To the right is the so-called “cavallino a vapore”, literally a “steam pony”: a steam-powered mechanism that transmitted motive power to the various machines in the dairy.

But it is inside the vat that the milk truly begins its transformation.

From the early twentieth century onwards, the process involved adding whey starter to approximately 450 litres of milk in the conical vat, followed by rennet, an enzyme obtained from the stomach of milk-fed calves.

Once the milk had coagulated, the curd was broken up. First came the “rotella”, which reduced it to pieces about the size of a hazelnut. Then came the “spino”, the traditional curd-breaking tool, which reduced it further to grains about the size of a kernel of maize. The Consortium’s English-language Historical Archive likewise retains the Italian word “spino” when describing this operation.

To help release the whey from the coagulated mass, the curd was kept moving with the “rotella” while the temperature was gradually raised to 55 degrees Celsius.

The cheesemaker judged the curd by touch. When it felt sufficiently dry and cohesive, he told the “sottocaldera” – the assistant responsible for tending the fire beneath the vat – to put out the flames.

After resting briefly on the bottom of the vat, the mass was lifted with the “pala” and gathered into a cloth. The curd was then placed inside a cheese mould, or “fascera”, where it rested while the remaining whey drained away.

On the right-hand side of the apse, beside the wall, you can see the draining table known locally as the “spersole”. The fresh wheel, enclosed within its “fascera”, was placed here and pressed beneath a weight. A groove running along the side of the table allowed the whey escaping from the cheese to drain away.

The whey was collected and fed to pigs, which were once commonly reared beside the dairy.

On the “spersole” you can see a “fascera” made of willow wood. Inside it, the curd would have been wrapped in a hemp or linen cloth. You can also see the thermometer used by the cheesemaker to monitor the temperature as the milk was heated.

Just outside the apse, on the left, a metal “fascera” stands on a small cheesemaker’s stool.

We now move into the former sacristy of the church. On the wall to your left is a valuable series of photographs taken in 1944, documenting the different stages of cheesemaking.

This collection, of considerable historical importance, introduces the section devoted to representations of Parmigiano Reggiano.

As far as we know, the cheese first appeared in a work of art in a painting by “Annibale Carracci” around 1600. The earliest known film footage showing wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano dates from the First World War, between 1915 and 1918.

The different stages of production first appeared together in a painting in 1890, in a work by the Reggio Emilia artist “Cirillo Manicardi”.

For the first film documenting the entire production cycle, however, we have to wait until 1948. This remarkable film was produced by “Cittadella Film” of Parma, directed by “Antonio Marchi” and based on a screenplay by “Attilio Bertolucci”.

Thanks to the generosity of the “Marchi” family, a version restored by the National Film Archive in Rome can now be viewed here in the museum, on the central screen in this room.

Our route now brings us to this small room at the base of the church bell tower, dedicated to the role of Parmigiano Reggiano in gastronomy.

The gastronomic history of Parmigiano Reggiano begins with Boccaccio’s famous description in the “Decameron”, dating from the mid-fourteenth century, in which he imagines macaroni and ravioli served with Parmigiano. We heard about it at the beginning of this audio guide.

On the panel to your right you will find numerous recipes taken from some of the most important cookery books published between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. The display also tells the story of the cheese grater, the kitchen utensil perhaps most closely associated with Parmigiano Reggiano.

The display case on the left is devoted entirely to this object. It contains a selection from the museum’s extensive collection of graters, arranged according to type and operating mechanism.

Notice the usually flat graters where the cheese itself is moved across the grating surface, and compare them with the typically hand-cranked rotary graters, where the grating mechanism moves instead. Mechanically, it is an important distinction.

And there is still more to discover. The collection includes the oldest, simplest graters; graters with a drawer or container to collect the grated cheese; rotary models; examples created by celebrated designers; and, finally, electric graters.

The grater has a remarkably long history. It was already known to the Etruscans and is depicted in tombs at “Cerveteri”. It has survived to the present day without any fundamental change in its purpose or usefulness, and it continues to inspire designers. This collection bears witness to that enduring creativity.

As we return towards the nave, the first chapel on the left is devoted entirely to “San Lucio di Cavargna”, an Alpine herdsman and cheesemaker. Here he is shown offering a piece of cheese to the poor.

According to tradition, he was martyred beside a mountain pasture pool on the border between “Val Cavargna” and “Val Colla”. His feast day is celebrated on 12 July.

He later became the patron saint of the “Arte dei Lardaroli”, the guild that brought together sellers of cured meats and cheeses.

In the chapel you can see a fine painted scagliola statue of “San Lucio” dating from the second half of the nineteenth century, depicting him in seventeenth-century dress.

The panel includes a glazed maiolica devotional plaque dating from 1959 and originating from the “Palanzano” dairy in the Parma Apennines, together with engravings and other representations of the saint from Lombardy and the Parma area. Among them is a 1762 painting by Abbot “Giuseppe Peroni”, now in the National Gallery in Parma, but originally displayed on the high altar of the city’s Confraternity of the “Lardaroli”.

On the shelf is a georeferenced survey of all known representations of “San Lucio”. Parma marks the southernmost evidence currently known of devotion to the saint, whose image can still be found in several dairies across the area.

This section explores the quality of Parmigiano Reggiano in its broadest sense, from checks on the raw milk to certification of the finished cheese.

An important part of production is the control and analysis of the milk, together with hygiene in the dairy. The wall-mounted display case on your left is devoted to this subject.

Here you can see several simple but effective analytical instruments that came into use before the Second World War: a 50-cubic-centimetre glass measuring vessel; a burette for checking the acidity of milk or whey starter; a hydrometer used to detect whether water had been added to the milk; and a test-tube holder used for milk fermentation tests.

In earlier times, cheesemakers had nothing but their own senses with which to judge milk quality – and they used them remarkably well. When estimating temperature with the arm, for example, the margin of error was only about one degree Celsius either way.

The first analyses of milk and cheese began in 1883 at the School of Animal Husbandry in “Reggio Emilia”. By the 1950s, testing extended to every dairy.

In the nineteenth century, hygiene in dairies left much to be desired. Floors were made of beaten earth, and interiors were blackened with soot because wood fires had no proper chimney.

Conditions improved considerably during the twentieth century thanks to steam power, the availability of whey starter and improved technical training for cheesemakers.

In the display case on the left you can see a group photograph from a cheesemakers’ training course in the 1930s, together with a series of valuable technical manuals. Some were published as early as 1910 in the well-known “Hoepli” manuals series and were used to train dairy workers.

In the case on the right you can also see a “mazzerino”, used for cleaning the vats, and a scraper for cleaning the tanks in which the cream was left to rise.

Now let us look at another essential stage: salting.

On the display column in the centre of this section you can see several images. Parmigiano Reggiano was originally salted dry. It was only towards the end of the nineteenth century that the much more effective method of immersion became widespread.

Sea salt was dissolved in large tanks of water until the solution became saturated. When the fresh wheels were immersed, osmosis caused the whey still present in the cheese to move outwards while the brine moved into the cheese.

Salting lasted for about three weeks. Salt was – and still is – used not so much to flavour the cheese as to draw out moisture from the wheel and thereby control unwanted microbial fermentation.

By now, it should be clear why Parmigiano Reggiano is such a unique product, famous throughout the world. Unfortunately, that fame has also led to imitations.
The display cases to the right of the emergency exit contain a selection of Parmigiano Reggiano imitations found abroad.

Recognition as a Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO, provides protection throughout the European Union, but not automatically in every country elsewhere in the world. In the absence of specific agreements, products can therefore be found in many countries – from the Americas to Asia and Australia – that exploit the reputation of Parmigiano Reggiano through so-called “Italian sounding” names and imagery, imitating its name or geographical origin without actually being Parmigiano Reggiano.

The next chapel contains the equipment traditionally used for ageing and inspecting the wheels.

Parmigiano Reggiano must be aged for a minimum of 12 months, although 24- and 36-month cheeses, and even longer ageing periods, are common. Before receiving its selection mark, every single wheel undergoes a rigorous manual quality inspection, with no exceptions. The Consortium describes the process as a detailed inspection carried out with the traditional cheese hammer at 12 months.

Here you can see a block used during inspection, a cheese trolley, a movable workbench once used for the periodic cleaning of the wheels, and a tall warehouse ladder. Arranged on it are models showing how wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano have gradually increased in size over the centuries.

Notice in particular that the oldest wheels, on the left, are relatively shallow because they were dry-salted. With the introduction of the more efficient immersion salting method towards the end of the nineteenth century, the wheels gradually became deeper.

To the left of the platform is one of the earliest automatic machines for cleaning the wheels, while a rudimentary rotating mechanical cleaner stands on the pedestal at the far right.

One of the most distinctive methods of assessing quality is the traditional “battitura”, or hammer test. Experts tapped – and still tap – the surface of every matured wheel with a special small hammer, listening carefully to the sound. This allows them to detect any internal cavities caused by unwanted bacterial fermentation, as well as cracks. The Consortium’s Historical Archive likewise describes the “battitore” as the expert who checks every wheel by striking it with a hammer and listening to its response.

Wheels with fractures or cavities are downgraded and cannot be sold as Parmigiano Reggiano.

To assess the cheese’s aroma, experts use a screw-shaped needle known as the “gòccia”. It is inserted beneath the rind and smelled as it is withdrawn.

In the display case to the right of the platform are the tools used to assess the wheels, together with burners once used for branding.

On the lectern in front of the platform you can see several traditional Parmigiano Reggiano knives, used both to open the wheels and to break the cheese into its characteristic flakes.

In the centre are ten famous figures who shared a particular passion for the “King of Cheeses”. You can hear the words of “Leonardo da Vinci” and “Caterina de’ Medici”, “Giacomo Casanova” and “Giuseppina Strepponi”, Giuseppe Verdi’s wife. You can also discover the dreams of Ben Gunn, the marooned sailor in Treasure Island, and “Peppone”, “Don Camillo”’s eternal rival and friend – all united by the same love of Parmigiano Reggiano.

If you would like to hear their stories, simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.

The last chapel towards the façade is devoted to the marketing and sale of Parmigiano Reggiano.

After the long journey that has transformed milk into a perfect wheel ready to be eaten, we have reached the final stage: bringing it to the consumer.

Communication – and with it, the ability to recognise the producer – has always played a fundamental role in trade. Here you can explore a fascinating glimpse into its history.

On the lectern in front of the platform are several fine advertisements from the early twentieth century, together with the small round metal plaques once attached to wheels to identify individual producers.

At the centre of the platform are three-dimensional signs belonging to the “Pelagatti” company and to dairies producing Parmigiano Reggiano.

Nearby are several large circular plaques once used to close shipping baskets. In the small display case to the right is a cylindrical wicker basket of the kind formerly used to transport whole wheels, which until the 1970s were coated with lampblack.

Communication can also be art. On the backdrop you can see “Bertozzi”’s original 1930 poster, designed by “Achille Luciano Mauzan”, showing three large-nosed judges intoxicated by the aroma of the cheese. There is also a copy of “Gino Boccasile”’s 1940 poster for the “Tavella” dairy and the original “Pelagatti” trademark, designed by the Lombard painter “Osvaldo Ballerio”.

Finally, to the left of the platform is an ingenious lever-operated device that used wire to cut wedges simultaneously from half a wheel. Beside the entrance stands a large nineteenth-century scale designed to weigh several wheels at once.

We are back at the entrance, but our journey through the land, history, culture and gastronomy of Parmigiano Reggiano is not quite over.

The cheese as we know it today would not exist without the work carried out to protect it and control its quality – work in which the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has played a fundamental role.

The niche on the inside of the façade tells the story of the long process that eventually led to the Consortium’s creation, beginning with a significant episode in the seventeenth century.

In 1612, in an effort to prevent fraud, Duke “Ranuccio Farnese” issued an official decree establishing that only cheese produced and aged around Parma – and, more specifically, in the ducal dairy farms, including “Fontevivo” – could be called Parmigiano.

The concept of protecting its geographical origin therefore has centuries-old roots. Creating a formal organisation to safeguard the cheese, however, proved a long and complex process.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the need to protect the name from imitation and misuse was already clear, as Parmigiano had become enormously popular both in Italy and abroad.

After several attempts, during the severe crisis of 1934 producers set aside local rivalries and established the “Consorzio Volontario Interprovinciale Grana Tipico”. Most dairies in the production area joined the organisation, covering the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena, as well as the part of Mantua on the right bank of the River Po.

In 1937, the area of the province of Bologna to the left of the River Reno was added.
After the Second World War, following the 1951 Stresa Convention, which gave international recognition to cheese designations of origin, the cheese took the name Parmigiano Reggiano.

The Consortium was officially recognised in 1954 under the name “Consorzio del formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano”. Its role is to defend and protect the designation of origin, facilitate trade and consumption, and promote initiatives designed to safeguard the cheese’s distinctive identity and characteristics.

A particularly important part of this work is the technical quality inspection known in Italian as “espertizzazione”: the assessment of the wheels during and at the end of ageing, including the traditional “battitura”, followed by marking.

The Consortium also defines quality standards and production regulations, including rules governing cattle feed, and promotes Parmigiano Reggiano in Italy and abroad.

The Parmigiano Reggiano designation of origin received recognition throughout the European Union in 1996. The Consortium’s Historical Archive confirms that the name was registered as a PDO in June 1996.

In the table display case you can see original historic marks, printed production specifications and regulations, as well as objects and publications belonging to the Consortium.

The final stage of our visit brings us back to the centre of the nave, behind the reception desk. Here, the panels and the large-scale model reveal a lesser-known aspect of Parmigiano Reggiano’s history: dairy architecture itself has changed over the centuries, developing different characteristics in different parts of the production area.

In the Parma area, one of the oldest forms was the freestanding quadrangular dairy, which remained widespread until the nineteenth century.

Alongside it was another quadrangular type, attached to other buildings. This arrangement is documented as early as the seventeenth century and can still be recognised in many surviving structures.

There were also more unusual experiments. In “Soragna”, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, a rare circular dairy was built for Prince “Casimiro Meli Lupi” to a design by his architect. It is the only known example of this type documented today.

Moving eastwards in our imagination towards the “Reggiano”, the Reggio Emilia area, the shape of the building changes too.

During the nineteenth century, polygonal dairies became widespread, initially as freestanding buildings and later – particularly towards the end of the century – attached to other structures. Their distinctive form was also linked to the need to organise the working spaces and different stages of production as efficiently as possible.

With the modern dairy, the organisation of space changed once again. Processes that had once taken place in separate buildings were brought together under a single roof, from the milk and cheesemaking rooms to the salting room and ageing warehouse.

These buildings were created in response to very practical needs, yet function and form often combined to produce architectural features of considerable interest: true “architecture of work”, which the panels in this section will help you identify.

At the centre is a large model at a scale of one to ten, made by the Parma branch of the “Associazione Italiana Amici del Presepio”, the Italian Association of Friends of the Nativity Scene. It allows us, finally, to step imaginatively inside one of these buildings and see the interior of a traditional polygonal dairy from the Reggio Emilia area during the production of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Our journey through the history of Parmigiano Reggiano has come to an end. But before you leave the museum, there is one more way to bring together the images, gestures and transformations that have accompanied us along the way.

On the wall above the apse, a large video-mapping projection brings the Parmigiano Reggiano production cycle to life: from fields to cowshed, from milking to the arrival of the milk at the dairy, and then through cheesemaking to the long ageing of the wheels.

The images contrast traditional production, when the fire beneath the vats was fuelled by wood, with the techniques used today. They show just how much tools and technology have changed over time, while preserving an unbroken heritage of knowledge, skilled gestures and experience handed down through the centuries.

It is almost as though we were retracing, in just a few minutes, the journey we have made through the museum – this time allowing images and movement to tell the story – right through to the final stage, when Parmigiano Reggiano reaches our table.

So far, you have looked, listened and discovered the objects, gestures and stories behind Parmigiano Reggiano.

But there is still another way – perhaps the most immediate of all – to truly get to know it: by tasting it.

At the end of your visit, you can also taste Parmigiano Reggiano at three different stages of ageing and let your senses guide you as you discover their differences.

Your eyes reveal changes in colour and structure; your sense of smell picks out the aromas; and on the palate, different nuances, textures and intensities emerge as ageing progresses.

Three tastings, three different moments in the cheese’s maturation – and, in a single flake of Parmigiano Reggiano, a chance to rediscover much of what you have encountered during your visit.

But the journey of discovery does not end inside the rooms of this museum.

Beyond these walls, it continues through the landscapes where Parmigiano Reggiano is born; in the dairies where it is made afresh every day; and among the abbeys, castles and communities that, over the centuries, have helped shape the identity of this land.

The Parmigiano Reggiano Museum is part of the “Musei del Cibo”, the Food Museums of the province of Parma: a network created to tell the story of the Food Valley through its products and, through them, the people, places and knowledge that have made them expressions of this land.

Our visit ends here. But the story can continue beyond these rooms, as you set out to discover “the finest land in all the world”.