unfortunately insomnia has struck, sapping my energy for another manic writeup but we loved the food. We took a food tour with Parma Food Tour with Taste Bologna, a well-reviewed company, and our guide Lisa did a fantastic job explaining how food has shaped Parma’s history and architecture. Each stop was delicious, with the highlight being a tour of a local bakery’s kitchen. I suggested to the owner/head baker that they needed to name their starter and we brainstormed a couple of ideas 
Lisa also shared excellent restaurant recommendations and vetted a few of the places we had in mind.
This is definitely the town to indulge in platters of hot, freshly fried gnocco fritto with prosciutto and Parmigiano Reggiano.
We had our morning pastry and coffee at Caffè Cavour
Arguably, parma is home to the best gelato shop in Europe, Ciacco
and our favorite meal was probably at Officina Alimentare Dedicata Parma. We were lucky to get a next day reservation in feb, highly recommend booking ahead.
Mincilli’s book suggested staying at Palazzo Dalla Rosa. Maybe because it was February, they upgraded us to a room with a view of the Duomo, and we loved staying there. The room had a little kitchen, one night, tired of eating out, I went to a local grocery and took home prepared spinach manicotti, probably the equal of any I’ve had in NYC.
@SteveR spent a week in Parma and recommended the city to us, he may have additional suggestions.
My wife has an uncanny knack for finding these pictures:
