The Bassa and the Po

Antica Corte Pallavicina is a castle and farm on the Po at Polesine Parmense, home of the Marchesi Pallavicino from the 13th to the 19th century, now restored by the Spigaroli family, who run a restaurant, a relais and a farm there. The river moved over the centuries until the court was left inside the floodplain and flooded regularly.

The Museo del Culatello e del Masalén runs through maps, documents, film and tools of peasant life down to the old ageing cellars. Practical details:

• Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., last entry 5:30 p.m.
• Tickets: €7 with an audioguide in Italian, English or French. €5 for over-65s and groups of 10 or more. Ages 6 to 18 €3. Under 6 free.
• The castle rooms: €3 on top of the museum ticket.
• Po Forest: an outdoor extension where the family's black pigs are raised; the pig display is temporarily suspended, the circuit notes.

For a cellar visit with a tasting, see culatello tasting. For the restaurant and rooms, see Antica Corte Pallavicina and its relais.

Zibello, 6.6 km from Polesine, is the village that gives culatello its name. A short walk covers it:

• Palazzo Pallavicino on the main square, the old seat of the podestà, with Gothic terracotta and a tourist information point under its arcades.
• Teatro Pallavicino inside the palace, a small late 18th-century horseshoe theater with 12 boxes added in 1827. Entry is free.
• Il Cinematografo, a museum of more than 600 pre-cinema devices, from an 1827 praxinoscope to magic lanterns. Open Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; to book another time call +39 0524 99388.
• The Museo della Civiltà Contadina, on farm life, with a Po riverboat built in Zibello.
• The church of Santi Gervaso e Protaso, Lombard Gothic, and the little chapel of the Madonna delle Grazie, known as "la Cisiòla", the oldest building in the village.

Two events fill the Bassa. In June, Zibello holds the Festival del Culatello. In November, November Porc runs over several weekends in different towns, with pork, beer and Fortana del Taro wine in large heated tents. Both bring crowds and fixed menus; come on an ordinary weekend if you want quiet.

Winter brings the fog that the culatello makers depend on and drivers do not. On a foggy day the embankment roads are slow and the views vanish. For the landscape, come in spring or autumn. See the best time to visit for the months.

By car, Zibello is 37.3 km (23 miles) from Piazza Garibaldi and Polesine 40.4 km (25 miles), about 45 minutes each. From Busseto, Polesine is 6.9 km. From Colorno, Zibello is 29.1 km along the Po, about 41 minutes.

By bus, TEP lines 2106 (San Secondo, Roccabianca, Polesine, Busseto), 2115 (Busseto, Zibello, Fidenza) and 2116 (Polesine, Busseto, Fidenza) exist, but they run mainly for commuters and schools, and TEP flagged diversions on the Po embankment road at Santa Franca when we checked. A car-free Bassa day does not work well; our Food Valley without a car page suggests alternatives.

Driving in fog, drinking at lunch: plan for both. A designated driver or a room at the relais solves the second.

1. Leave Parma at 9 a.m.; the culatello museum at Polesine opens at 10 a.m. (not Monday).
2. Lunch at 12:30 p.m. Book ahead: this is the point of the day. Order culatello; read our culatello price verdict first.
3. Afternoon: Zibello on foot, or 6.9 km to Busseto for the Verdi sites, which close on Mondays too.
4. Drive the embankment road back towards Colorno before dark in winter.

Our Food Valley in 2 days puts the Bassa on day two, after a dairy morning.

Culatello of Zibello Private Tour with Lunch and Farm Visit

Only 6 reviews. Meets at Avis, Largo Maestà del Taglio, Parma, or pickup within 15 km. Not for vegetarians; minimum two.

5 hours

5.0★★★★★★★★★★(6 reviews)

Reserve

Rating as shown on Viator

Booking through these links supports this site at no cost to you. Prices move by date, so we do not print them here; the official prices we checked are in the page above.