Oops! (but not too bad)
The day started off great. We went to a really nice, bio/organic market right near us in Piazza Fontanesi. It had it’s own gentle rhythm and beautiful products. I am really sorry we didn’t buy anything.
These asparagus were so tall
As we walked around town we realized that each piazza had its own market—one with clothes, one with household goods and another with crafts. I found a handpainted scarf that I loved but didn’t part with the euros for it.
This statue is advertising a big museum show about Via Emilia:
We stopped at a busy store to buy some prosciutto, bread, vinegar, few sweets and a half bottle of, what turned out to be, delicious lambrusco. Then we came home for a nice little picnic in our apartment. This was our first local prosciutto (Prosciutto di Parma) and it is so different from the Tuscan variety; it’s softer and less assertive but equally delicious.
After naptime (wine at lunch will do that) we set off for this parmigiano reggiano “open dairies” event I had seen online. I imagined it would be like a fair. The walk was about 45 minutes heading out of town to the west. We walked through some nice parts but for a good while in an industrial zone—not too pretty. And finally we found the event. It was well…”dinky.” There was so little happening there except they had a brick structure with a fire and a large copper pot where they were actually making cheese the old fashioned way. One young guy had to keep feeding the fire while another brought him bundles of sticks. Two older gentleman were at the top of the pot, one stirring and another checking temperature and consistency. Finally it came up to the desired 45° C and they threw water on the fire which created so much smoke that everyone ran out of the building. 
At that point Ken, who had long since had enough of the heat from the fire, pointed up to the sky which was really looking threatening. We decided to walk back. Kinda disappointing.
We heard some thunder but never got more than a sprinkle on the walk.
By the time we got home we were really tired so we just ate stuff we had in the apartment and chalked it up to a great exercise day but not so great tourism.
Several years ago we spent the day with Italian Days Food Experience and it was wonderful! But pricey. We visited one of the Parmagiano Reggiano dairies, an acetaia in Modena (Villa San Donino), a Prosciutto facory — also in Modena, I believe, not in Parma, and then had a lovely country lunch. Loads of fun and food.
I like to make basic cheese at home, so the visit to the dairy was a highlight for me. We tasted samples, and Alessandro brought some of the whey ricotta to the acetaia as a treat to sample the various balsamic vinegars.
We saw Parmigiano being made on a farm outside of Parma, I do not remember white smoke so maybe it was orchestrated for the tourists. The cheese was lovely, but the prosciutto from their own pigs was sublime. That was a really long walk to took. Bravi!