As we on our latest post, Barilla America celebrated last Saturday October 20 the grand opening of its second pasta plant in the U.S., located in Avon, NY. Academia Barilla and Barilla are celebrating this event with the New York Wine & Culinary Center with the Barilla Weekend, a gourmet event full of gourmet tastings and culinary workshops.

As a first opening event, the New York Wine and Culinary Center (NYWCC) offered three free tours of the new Barilla plant in Avon, open for a day for the general public to come and experience the culinary arts and Barilla’s dedication to the production of the highest quality Italian food products for consumers around the world.

After the plant tour, a series of culinary and gastronomy dates dedicated to the Italian food culture were scheduled at the NYWCC, in partnership with Academia Barilla and Barilla USA, who provided some of its top Chefs and Italian Culinary Specialists for the event.

Barilla America Corporate Chef Lorenzo Boni teached a hands-on class on pasta, preparing delicious dishes: Fettuccine with Italian Sausage and Leeks, Orzotto with Artichoke & Pancetta and Italian Style Pasta Salad with Tuna, Olives & Capers.

Academia Barilla Executive Chef Nicola Bindini teached a Pasta 101 and Cooking Demonstration workshop, in which he explained as pasta is an integral part of every authentic Italian meal, how to choose pasta, measure pasta, and of course cook pasta!

Chef Bindini also shared a few myths about cooking pasta and presented a cooking demonstration: Farfalle in Savory Guinea Hen Ragu with Pecorino Cheese and Orange Zest, and Pennette with Pumpkin, Bacon & Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Exclusive wine tasting sessions provided by NYWCC paired with Nicola Bindini’s scrumptious dishes. We will be soon proving you with some of these yummy recipes, promised!

After the cooking demonstrations, guests pulled up a seat to experience more on Italy and its extraordinary food products with Italian Culinary Specialist Italo Besseghini. Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary Specialist illustrated to the participants tasting techniques for Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, and shared gastronomy tips and recipes using these culinary delights.

Here is the full schedule of the NY Barilla Weekend at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, NY - the event was completely sold out!

Class: Barilla Plant Tour - Avon, NY
Date: October 20, 2007
Time: 11:00 am - 1:30 pm
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Time: 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Class: Pasta 101 and Cooking Demonstration with Barilla Chef Nicola Bindini
Date: October 20, 2007
Time: 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Education Theater

Class: Interactive Cooking Demonstration with Barilla Chef Lorenzo Boni
Date: October 20, 2007
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Time: 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Hands-On Kitchen

Class: Olive Oils & Balsamic Vinegar Tasting With Italian Culinary Specialist Italo Besseghini
Date: October 20, 2007
Time: 11:00 pm - 12:15 pm
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:15 pm
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:15 pm
Location: Exhibit Hall

The Barilla weekend at the New York Wine and Culinary Center has been so successful that we believe the NYWCC will ask us to plan more event with them soon. Stay tuned with us, or also inquire with the New York Wine and Culinary Center’s Information Desk at +1 (585) 394-7070.

Academia Barilla is proud to announce the official opening of a new Barilla production and distribution plant in the United States.

The plant, twin to the one previously built in the US, is also designed following the original plan of the flagship Barilla production plant in Parma, Italy; with the opening of a second plant in the United States, Barilla aims to serve in a more direct and capillary way the US and NorthAmerican markets.

The new US Barilla production plant is located in Avon, in the State of New York - Google Map here below.

Barilla, Academia Barilla and the New York Wine and Culinary Center celebrated together the grand opening with a calendar of gourmet events dedicated to Italian food and Italian gastronomy, held at the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, NY (Google Map below).

Among the several gourmet workshop and tours scheduled in the NYWCC calendar, last Saturday October 20 the New York Wine and Culinary Center offered a free tour of the new Barilla Plant - actually three tours in one day, all of them sold out as the entire Barilla Weekend.

We will soon talk more about the Barilla Weekend at the New York Wine and Culinary Center, so stay tuned with Italian food Lovers!

One of the most important cultural events of the Italian cultural winter scene, the Festival Verdi, opens today its 2007 edition.

The event is a must for Italian opera and lirica lovers, as the Festival dedicates the entire month of October to Giuseppe Verdi, the Italian opera Maestro, with daily concerts performed in some of the most prestigious opera theaters of Italy, such as Teatro Regio and Teatro Farnese.

The Italian opera Festival, as our Italian Food Lovers readers know, is held in Parma, Italy, home to Giuseppe Verdi. Teatro Regio, one of the major venues for the month-long event, publishes the entire schedule of opera shows, for those interested to the full calendar.

The Festival opens today, October 1, 2007, with one of the most famous operas from the Maestro, Luisa Miller. Check the details of the three-acts opera on Wikipedia, who dedicates an entire page to the famous libretto.

This summer we dedicated several blog posts to the Ultimate Italian Travel Experience, the perfect travel package proposed by Academia Barilla that put together two of the most important traditions of Italy, opera and food, framing them in the beautiful context of Parma and the surrounding Italian Food Valley area - also known as Terre Verdiane in honor to one of its most famous natives, Giuseppe Verdi.

Academia Barilla proposes a 5-days trip that includes accommodation in a 5-star hotel in the center of Parma, gourmet meals, two opera shows from the Festival Verdi, an hands-on cooking class at the Academia Barilla Culinary School (with typical menus from the 19th century, the era of Giuseppe Verdi), guided tours of Parma and some of the most beautiful locations of the Italian Food Valley to visit the land of Giuseppe Verdi, a castle, and local artisan farmers and producers of traditional gourmet food, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano - all of the above tossed with the style and the friendly but professional guidance of the Academia Barilla team in Parma.

This is definitely the best way to enjoy the Festival Verdi and discover Italy in style, a true Ultimate Italian Travel Experience. You can have a taste of this trip through the virtual tour we published on the blog, but we strongly advice all Italian food and opera lovers to go for the real thing, and check out all the booking information provided at this page of the Academia Barilla website.

Hurry up, the Verdi Festival already opened today, and will last for this month only, until October 31 - but be aware that Academia Barilla’s tour dates are only scheduled on the following October 2007 schedule:

October 6-10, 2007
October 10-14, 2007
October 16-20, 2007
October 21-25, 2007

Well, this Parma Google Map is technically the same Map we recently published.

Newly released functionalities on Google Maps now allow us to integrate our customized Italian Food Valley Google Maps, gourmet tours and itineraries on Italian Food Lovers, and you will be able to browse the photos and video we posted on Google Maps directly from here!

Check it out! Just click on the placemarks to discover Parma a little bit more!

View Larger Map on Google Maps

Remember also that the best way to visit Parma is discovering its cultural and culinary treasures with Academia Barilla. The Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma organizes gourmet tours and culinary learning vacations in Parma and the surrounding Italian Food Valley.

Check out also the Opera Verdi Tours we have largely introduced this summer on the blog - tour dates are approaching fast, and you can find all booking info here.

The Festival Verdi 2007, dedicated by the city of Parma, Italy, to the Italian Opera Maestro Giuseppe Verdi, and celebrated by Academia Barilla with the release of an Italian opera and gourmet cooking 5-days travel package, starts in few weeks on October 1st, to close on October 31.

Remember that Academia Barilla’s tours are limited to the duration of the Verdi Festival and for the month of October 2007 only, so we suggest making today your reservations for this unforgettable Italian gourmet cooking and opera experience.

The tour dates are scheduled upon the following calendar for this year’s Verdi Festival:

- October 6-10
- October 10-14
- October 16-20
- October 21-25

More details on the Italian opera and gourmet cooking tour, including booking info, are available at this link on the Academia Barilla website.