Emilia-Romagna food, in production figures

Three protected names carry this region and all three publish their own numbers: Parmigiano Reggiano turned over €3.96¹ billion in 2025, Parma branded 6,750,000 ha⁴ms, and balsamic vinegar exported more than €380⁵ million.

Parmigiano Reggiano: €3.96 billion, half of it abroad

Parmigiano Reggiano reached €3.96¹ billion at consumer prices in 2025, with exports accounting for 50.5%³ of sales and 74,980³ tonnes leaving the country. It is the Italian protected food with the largest turnover.

Output that year was 4.19² million wheels, up 2.7% on 2024. Grana Padano makes more cheese by volume, but no primary source publishes its consumer value, so the ranking above is about money rather than tonnage.

The name entered the EU register on June 21, 1996. The production zone crosses a regional border into Mantova, in Lombardy, on the right bank of the Po, so the map of the cheese and the map of Emilia-Romagna are not the same shape.

Prosciutto di Parma: 126 producers, 6.75 million hams

Parma branded 6,750,000 ha⁴ms in 2025, worth €810⁴ million at production and €1.6 billion at consumer prices, from 126⁴ producing companies, with €315 million of exports.

126⁴ companies for 6,750,000 ha⁴ms tells you these are curing houses on an industrial calendar, not farms. Visits are arranged directly with the producer and follow the curing calendar.

Careful with a figure circulating in 2026 press coverage: "over 7.1 million legs sealed" counts a different stage of the process from the branded hams above. The two numbers are not interchangeable.

Aceto Balsamico di Modena: an export product

Balsamic vinegar of Modena exported more than €380⁵ million at production value in 2025, up 2.6% on 2024, for an estimated consumer value of around €1 billion, from 59 certified producers.

The IGP dates from 2009, later than the other two names on this page, and the product is overwhelmingly made for markets outside Italy. Tasting rooms exist because visitors ask for them, not because the trade depends on them.

What this changes about a food trip

Three registrations, three towns, three completely different scales of operation: a dairy works before dawn on a daily cycle, a curing house works on a calendar of months, and an acetaia works on one of decades.

Every figure on this page comes from the relevant producers' consortium, which is a primary source and an interested one. None of them has been cross checked against an independent count, and we would rather say so than round the numbers.

For the itinerary that visits all three, see five days in Emilia.

↑ Contents