Factory Barilla (Academia Barilla)
Parma, Emilia-Romagna
Academia Barilla was founded in 2004 in the spaces of the 1910 former Barilla pasta factory, redeveloped by Renzo Piano, on the edge of Parma's historic centre. The centre houses the Auditorium Paganini, a multisensory lab and sixteen professional kitchens hosting cooking courses and tastings open to fans of Italian gastronomy. The Biblioteca Gastronomica holds more than 17,000 volumes from the sixteenth century to today and around 5,000 historic menus, a unique collection on food culture. Organised tours also take visitors to meet, up close, the producers of Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, balsamic vinegar and culatello who safeguard the area's culinary traditions.