As some of you had read i went to Italy a couple weeks ago. The trip was with a dairy club at school, 96 students went total. We focused mainly on seeing the agriculture industry, and mainly focusing on dairy. We went to 16 farms, most were dairy cows, but also two water buffalo farms and a sheep farm. We also went to a few processing plants and saw a few different cheeses being made. We saw Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (parmesan, but what we have in the states isn't the same cause it doesnt come from the parma region) get made and visited some aging rooms where we saw about 60 million Euro worth of parmigiano reggiano. We also saw some Parma ham get aged (very good ham). Since we spent most days on farms and such (plus lunches that took 2 to 3 hours), we didnt always get a chance to see the cities in the day, and had to visit Florence and Pisa in the dark and werent able to go inside some of the basilicas. However we went to Venice one afternoon and spent 2 days and 3 nights in Rome. It was amazing to see Rome, there are so many ruins and sites to see. I toured the colosium, the vatican, St. Peters Basilica, the forum, the typewriter (a monument built by Mussolini), the spanish stairs, and saw lots of other small things. Thats my brief summary, just ask if you want to know any more.
Pics:
- a few cows at a diary
- some water buffalo
- parmigiano reggiano aging room
- parma ham aging room
- the view from the sheep farm
