Organized into eight sections, the visiting route starts with the region, with a description of Parma agriculture, and then goes on to the section dedicated to pig breeds and to the salt section, which tells the history of this very important food preservation tool that, thanks to the Salsomaggiore wells, favoured the development over time of the art of salami and cured meat production. The fourth room is dedicated to pork butchery and, in addition to numerous historical documents about the slaughter of pigs over the centuries, houses a wide range of ancient pork butchery objects. The remaining sections concentrate on the Parma region’s other local salamis and cured meats, on gastronomy, on ham processing techniques and on the Parma Ham Consortium, which guarantees the quality of this extraordinary product that is known and highly regarded throughout the world, on the region and on agri-food production. Info and bookings: www.museidelcibo.it

Museo del Prosciutto e dei salumi di Parma (Parma Ham, salami and cured meat museum)
C/o Ex Foro Boario – Via Bocchialini, 7 – Langhirano (PR)

Open to the public:
From 1 March to 8 December
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays: 10:00 – 18:00
From Monday to Friday: by booking for groups
From December to February
Open only by booking for groups

Ticket price:
Full € 4.00
Reduced € 3.00 groups (minimum 15 persons), adults aged over 65 years,
promotion of visitors to Torrechiara Castle at the weekend, agreements
Reduced for compulsory schools € 3.00 schools and children aged from 6 to 12 years
Free: disabled people and their attendants, group and student tour leaders, journalists, children under 6 years
Tasting of Parma Ham
Full € 3.00
Reduced € 2.00 (children up to 12 years)

Visitors also have the possibility of a tasting of local Parma products to be accompanied by a selection of Colli di Parma wines at the Prosciutteria (ham shop) of the Museum.

Guided visits
For groups of a maximum of 25 people: € 20.00 in addition to the entrance ticket. Booking is compulsory.

Museum Shop
During the Museum’s opening hours, publications, objects for the table and the region’s local products can be purchased from the Museum Shop situated in the exhibition rooms.

Information and Bookings (compulsory for groups and schools):
Museo del Prosciutto (Ham Museum): Tel. +39-0521.864324  Fax. ++39-0521.821139
e-mail: prenotazioni.prosciutto@museidelcibo.it
WEB: www.museidelcibo.it

A concert in the Verona's arena

Also next summer many important concerts will take place in the arena together with the famous Opera Festival.

The Turandot perfomed in the Arena

Season 2010 Calendar

TURANDOT

June 18 – July 01, 16, 24, 30 – August 13, 20

AIDA

June 19, 25 – July 3, 8, 13, 18, 22, 25, 27, 31 – August 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 26, 29

MADAMA BUTTERFLY

June 26, July 2, 8, 9, 14, 17, 21, 28 – August 6

CARMEN

July 10, 15, 20, 23, 29 – August 12, 18, 21, 24, 27

IL TROVATORE

August 7, 11, 19, 25, 28

The Verona's Roman Theatre

For music lovers there also is the Verona Jazz Festival and dance shows made by international companies. Recently all these performances take also place in other very striking locations of Verona like the Corte Mercato Vecchio.

The Corte Mercato Vecchio

The Piedigrotta Feast is a very ancient Naples event inherited from the Borbone family and it usually took place between the 7th and the 8th of September in honor of the Holy Mary’s Birth.

A characteristic of this feast was the competition among local singers and so these event became during the XIX century the cradle of the classical Naples song.

Now the local municipality is used to organize a new version of this feast made up by the illuminations placed in the Piedigrotta Street, by the firecrackers announcing the beginning of celebrations on the morning, by the allegorical floats parade on the seafront and by which one of children wearing paper cloths, by the concert in the Plebiscito Square and by the nightly fireworks show on the sea.

The illuminations placed in Piedigrotta Street

The parade made up by children wearing paper cloths

The nightly fireworks show on the Naples sea

However this also is a religious event that recalls the traditional September pilgrimage towards Santa Maria di Piedigrotta church.

The Church of Santa Maria di Piedigrotta

Even the musical show is now highlighted with a big concert in the Plebiscito Square that has been always characterized by the presence of important Italian and international singers like Massimo Ranieri and Bryan Ferry.

The Piedigrotta Feast 2009 has been dedicated to Futurism with ten allegorical floats and with an exhibition in the Royal Palace. This last edition has also been characterized by the presence of John Turturro (who was making in the city his last movie entitled “Neapolitan Songs”) and by the concert of Elton John in the Plebiscito Square.

An allegorical float dedicated to Futurism

Elton John in concert in the Plebiscito Square

On September there is in Naples the unique event called “Pizzafest” that is a festival dedicated to Pizza, one of the gastronomical symbols of this city.

The "Pizza Fest" billboard

This feast usually takes place in the “Mostra d’Oltremare” involving all the local population. Here you will find several meetings focused on Pizza and a series of concerts and of theatrical performances.

There will be many local companies and pizzerias that will invite visitors to taste their productions and, through the competition called “Vota la pizza” (“Vote for the best Pizza”), a special prize will be given to the best pizzeria in Naples considering both the quality of the offered product and service.

The Naples pizza

During that day all the faithful wait for the famous “miracle” to happen: the San Gennaro blood, preserved in two cruets, becomes liquid and then it is shown to the population between applauses and thanksgiving prayers. The punctual arrival of the miracle is considered as a good omen, otherwise a possible delay is negatively interpreted.

Surely one of the most intense moments is which one of the expectation of the miracle when the faithful meet together in the Cathedral Dome begging the miracle with prayers, pleas and local idioms litanies.

As soon as the miracle occurs, two cannon shots are fired from Castel dell’Ovo to announce the event to the city. If the miracle doesn’t happen invocations will go on until the moment of the liquefaction.

Then there is a striking religious parade (also called the “statues procession” for the presence of many silver religious statues) followed by many celebrations all around the city. 

The San Gennaro Feast placard

This festival (also called “Dei due Mari”) was created in 2001 taking place in two of the most striking archaeological places in the world like the ancient theatre of Tindari and which one of Taormina.

This festival occurs between May and June in Tindari and between August and September in Taormina.

During this festival actors will perform Greek and Latin classical works that, through music and drama, will make the audience live an unforgettable experience mixing together culture and tourism.

The ancient theatre of Tindari

The Greek-Roman theatre of Taormina

Every year the Palazzo dei Congressi and the famous Teatro Greco are the seat of the Taormina Film Festival that is a contest of international movies and short films. From this year the festival involves also Palermo, Siracusa and Palma di Montechiaro where there will be open-air screenings of particular movies belonging to the festival.

The special prize called “Taormina Arte Award for Cinematic Excellence” is given every night to deserving personalities of the international cinema industry and a special homage is dedicated to this winners by screening four of their films during this event. After this prize giving audience can have a sneak preview of a new films on the wide screen placed in the Greek-Roman theatre.

This festival is made up by two sections: the first one is dedicated to all the movies belonging to the Mediterranean area and the second one called “Oltre il Mediterraneo” involves productions belonging to other countries.

All the films are valued by an international jury that will decide the winners of the “TaorminaFilmFest Awards“. These prizes usually go to the best film maker, the best film, the best actor and actress, the best supporting actor and actress and to the best director of photography. There also is the “Award for the Best Short Film” dedicated to the best international brief movie productions.

During this week audience can also watch 8 films among the best productions of the guest country of the year.

 On the 19th of  June there will be the Gala in the Teatro Antico in honour of cinematography, of music and of culture. 

The wide screen in the Teatro Antico during morning

The wide screen in the Teatro Antico during the festival