Top of the World
Of American origin, the tomato has found fertile soil in the province of Parma itself, starting as early as the second half of the 19th century. And the area has not limited itself to cultivation, it has also turned to processing, so much so that today, all over the world, it exports not only tomato products but also technology for the canning industry.The tomato thus stands in its own right in the museum itinerary that enhances the typical products of the Parma region.The museum is located inside the Corte di Giarola, in the municipality of Collecchio, in an agro-processing center dating back to medieval times. Home to a tomato canning industry for the first sixty years of the 20th century, today it is also the center of the Taro Regional River Park.The exhibit is organized into seven thematic sections. The first tells the story, with the arrival of the tomato in Europe in the 16th century and its subsequent spread in food culture. Existing varieties, nutritional properties, and production areas are explained.The itinerary continues with the second section that illustrates the development of the processing industry in the economic reality of Parma: from dry product to preserves, from concentrates to purees, from ready-made sauces to drinkable juices.The third section shows the development of production technologies: from proto-industry to factory with the reconstruction of a production line for tomato paste made with 14 vintage machines.Also very interesting is the fourth stage, which deals with the subject of the finished product and packaging, with the exhibition of more than one hundred original vintage tins, as well as the very rich communication and promotion material of the more than seventy brands active at the beginning of the twentieth century in the Parma region.The fifth section is devoted to the development of the mechanical industry, the sixth recounts the pioneering entrepreneurs and the different jobs in the factory, hosts a space dedicated to the Experimental Station of the Preserves and Food Industry established in 1922, and the Preserves Exhibition, an important showcase of the industry in Parma and progenitor of today's Cibus.Closing the museum tour is the culture of the 'Tomato World' with advertisements, quotations, paintings, sculptures and recipes based on tomatoes until arriving at gastronomy, with the marriage with pasta and pizza.
