Piacenza and Parma

We arrived in Milan early in the morning and packed ourselves into a spacious 9 seater minivan, perfect for the 6 of us. The aim was to reach La Spezia by sun down, but between our arrival and then, we had no plans. So we decided to stop by Piacenza for morning tea and Parma for lunch.

Piacenza, I now remember as a quiet town, pervaded by a yellowy tinge of nostalgia. There we had Italian hot chocolate (for morning tea), which was more like a warm chocolate pudding.

We had a frightfully tasteful lunch of pasta, Parma ham and red wine for lunch; for what better to eat in Parma than Parma ham? Here we tasted what pasta cooked to "al dente" was like. I began to realise that Italy, with the rich variety and quality of cuisine, was going to grow us horizontally.

Unsurprisingly, lunch was followed irresistibly by gelato.