Acataia Leonardi of Modena On our way to Tuscany we stopped…read morehere to learn and taste there amazing balsamic vinegar products. Per our wonderful tour guide the farm was founded around 1870 with has been producing 4 generations of this wonderful balsamic vinegar. The process begins and ends here at this site from growing their grapes to the consumer. The place was incredibly beautiful and immaculate and our tour guide was amazing and very informative of every step of the process of switching barrels and let us taste different 100 year old tradition( absolutely amazing). After tasting this I will no longer buy that "grocery store" version after trying this. They do sell there products on line so check them out. As our guide said if it's not from Italy it's not real. Enjoy as I had!!!

I bought some Acetaia Leonardi basalmico (balsamic vinegar) from Enoteca Ducale. I then go curious…read moreto see where Acetaia Leonardi was located so I looked up their website. I noticed that they had tours (three different types) and that they weren't far from the main part of Modena. I emailed them requesting a tour the night before I wished to visit, realizing it might have been a long shot, last minute request. I was delighted to receive an email the next day (the day I wanted the tour) from Chiara, stating that they could do a tour! I was having lunch when I received the email and replied saying I could be there around 1630. When we arrived, we were greeted by Chiara herself. Things weren't really clear about the tour yet, since the website shows they had three types of tours, I was expecting them to ask which one I wanted and to let me know a price. Nothing was said except she asked if we were ready for the tour. The first part of the tour brought us to the barrel room where they store most of the balsamico. She showed us how huge some of the barrels are and taught us about the numbers of years (more correctly, transfers) when making balsamico. She then took us upstairs to where the really good stuff was. There, was the room where the 100+ year old (transfer) balsamico was. It was a room full of black gold. She then surprised us when she offered us to taste some! She gave us each a small spoonful (think of a Baskin Robbins tasting spoon size). IT. WAS. AMAZING. She then brought us to the storefront, as I assumed the "Basic Tour" would end. That's where I was wrong! She offered us Lambrusco AND Parmigiano Reggiano to sample. The two of us were offered pretty much a whole bottle of Lambrusco and quite a bit of cheese. She gave us several different types of balsamico to try with the cheese; 5 year, 10 year, 12 year, 15 year, 20 year, and even 30 year. Aside from the different ages, some infused with juniper, cherry, or even truffle! After all was said and done, she let us wander the store on our own without any pressure to buy. To end the story on a VERY happy ending, there was no charge to the tour! The website doesn't post any fees, so I'm not sure if that's normal, but she said it was free! If you look at the three types of tours on the website, it seems like my tour was a combination of the "Typical Tour" and the "Greedy Tour" I'm glad I was able to tour the place and buy several bottles to take home and give out. I am sad, though, that once I run out, I will have to either try to make it back or purchase online somewhere!

The food was amazing. Service was amazing…read more The ambiance was amazing with olive trees, a farm and the beautiful sun of Italy full of grape vines. The Bolognese was amazing. The meat sauce was perfect and with adding the extra olive delicious. Their fresh charcuterie and cheese was to die for. The service was world class and very calm.

We had an absolutely wonderful time here as a part of a Trafalgar tour. The food and wine were…read morefantastic. The setting is beautiful inside and out. We enjoyed the tour up to the vineyard. Definitely go here if you have the opportunity!

Such a fun day exploring the foods of Bologna! First we were picked up promptly, first thing in…read morethe morning (the sun hadn't come up yet) at our hotel in a passenger van, and drove to the first experience which was the cheese factory/farm. We actually got to see how the whole processing of making Parmigiano Reggiano,from start to finish, which was very enlightening. I have to say their Ricotta cheese is the best I have tasted from all over the world. Next we drove to a family owned DOP balsamic vinegar vineyard where we were able to see the process of making balsamic vinegar. Did you know it takes years and years to make just a small amount of vinegar. Very fascinating to hear and to taste. We got to compare balsamic venegar that isn't DOP and some that is. We were also able to taste the 25 year old, and 50 year old vinegar. This is tightly guarded as it is quite an arduous process, and very, very, time consuming just to get a few bottles out of the 25 and 50+ vinegar. Let's just say it's yummy. Make sure you buy a bottle while you are there. I didn't, and I could kick myself as it's more expensive is the USA from the same vineyard. Then it was off to the place where the prosciutto di Modena is made. That was interesting as well all these ham hocks hanging up, and the process of how the most tasty prosciutto is made. Final stop was to have lunch at a cantina on a sprawling estate. Great views. Did I say FOOD, lots, and lots of Italian food and wine. Very tasty and a good variety of Italian dishes. Then off to our hotel we go. We had our driver drop us off closer to city center so that we could enjoy the city before heading back to our hotel since this was or last night in Italy. She was very happy to oblige us. Such a fun day. I highly recommend this tour.

We had a fabulous tour with Italian Days! We saw how they make Parmegiano Reggiano, Prosciutto and…read moreBalsamic Vinegar. Not only did we get to taste the finished product, the process that goes into making them was very interesting. Alessandro, our tour guide, was excellent at explaining all the steps for each. We had a lovely breakfast after the Parmegiano Reggiano tour. After touring the Prosciutto company, we had a lovely five course meal including wine. I highly recommend Italian Days.