Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
salumeria is outstanding, with a stunning
array of prosciuttos, salamis, mortadellas,
cotechinos, Parma hams, and stuffed pigs'
feet. The artfully decorated little cakes in
the pastry shop can be taken right to the
upstairs cafe, where freshly roasted coffee
is also sold. The service is generally
haughty and even rude, and don't attempt
to comparison shop—of course you can
buy the same products elsewhere for less.
But somehow this place makes you feel as
if it's worth paying extra just for the Peck
experience.
Naturally, the store has spun off a cou-
ple of eateries—there's the sleek Italian
Bar around the corner, which offers a
selection of roast veal, risottos, porchetta,
salads, aspics, cheeses, and pastries, and
then there's the full-fledged restaurant
Cracco-Peck,
at Via Victor Hugò 4 (
&
02-
876-774
). Like the store, they're both
absurdly high priced, but for stylish, cre-
ative cuisine, they deliver the goods.
Via Spadari 9 (
&
39/2/802-3161;
www.
peck.it; closed Mon).
(
Milan's
Aeroporto di Linate
(internal
European flights; 16km/10 miles) and
Aeroporto Malpensa
(transatlantic flights;
48km/30 miles).
L
$$$
Four Seasons Hotel Milano,
Via Gesú 8 (
&
39/2/77088;
www.four
seasons.com). $$
Antica Locanda Leon-
ardo,
Corso Magenta 78 (
&
39/2/463317;
www.leoloc.com).
Gourmet Emporiums &
Specialty Shops
26
Salumeria Garibaldi
The Prosciutto Pros
Parma, Italy
It's hard not to eat well in Italy—but even
in context, the city of Parma is a standout.
Parmesan cheese, Parma ham, sparkling
red Lambrusco wine, the balsamic vinegar
of nearby Modena—the list of regional
specialties goes on and on. Eating locally
here is dead easy: Corn grown in the Po
Valley feeds the region's heirloom-bred
dairy cows, whose milk is turned into Par-
migiano-Reggiano cheese; local pigs are
fed on the whey cast off during the cheese-
making process, and then slaughtered to
make the region's famous pork products.
(Parma even hosts a prosciutto festival
every Sept.) Po Valley corn also feeds the
local chickens, whose eggs are combined
with Po Valley wheat flour to make such
fresh pasta as
tortelli,
Parma's characteris-
tic stuffed pasta.
For one-stop shopping for all these
local specialties, you can't do better than
Salumeria Garibaldi, a sleekly handsome
large shop conveniently located near the
train station.
Salumeria Garibaldi
has
been in business for over 50 years and in
this location since 1986. The shop's core
business, of course, is its cured pork prod-
ucts, which include
culatello
(pig's buttock
cured in a pig's bladder, but delicious),
cotechino
(coarse pork sausage),
fiochetto,
raw prosciutto, salami, mortadella, and
copa di Parma (cured shoulder of pork). The
shop touts the sources of its pork products
as only the best and most traditional local
artisans, and their production processes
are carefully monitored at every step in
order to qualify for controlled appellation
status. Huge pale-yellow wheels of granular
