"During a short visit to the quaint town of Fidenza, near Parma, together with a group of 30 persons I had dinner at this establishment, just before attending the opera at the nearby Teatro Magnani. The set menu consisted of 1 freshly sliced cold cuts, 2 two kinds of 'primi ' pasta dishes , and 3 desert. 1 The waiters brought a few large platters with a selection of regional salami, coppa, cooked and raw ham prosciutto cotto and prosciutto crudo . Remember, Fidenza, like Parma, is in the Emilia, land of Parma ham, Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese, and so much more. It goes without saying, therefore, that the 'crudo ' literally melts in your mouth. It can get better than that. The cold cuts were served with freshly made 'gnocco fritto ', a traditional 'bread ' from the Emilia region, a dough made from flour, water and a pinch of salt, then deep-fried in lard. 2 If you ever visit Emilia and you don 't have the ubiquitous 'tortellini ', then you haven 't really been to Emilia. At this restaurant, they make their own pasta, every day. Like a bakery, you can see how they work the 'sfoglia ' fine sheets of fresh pasta dough and make the tortellini. The ones we had were served in traditional fashion: butter and Parmiggiano cheese filling was with ricotta cheese and chards, no meat . Like the butter, these tortellini melted in our mouths. I had two servings, but I could have had another two if it weren 't for the 'second ' primo... Yes, there was a second pasta dish, this time small pasta buds with baked beans in Italian, 'pasta e fagioli ' . This is a staple in many parts of central-southern Italy, but each region has its own variety. Here, the pasta and beans were 'dry ', not in a soup therefore very common in the south of the country . The beans were so good, they tasted like meat sauce 'Bolognese ', sort of . I was so full from the previous primo that I had only one serving of the second primo. I wish I had a container to bring them home! 3 This Trattoria makes their own deserts, clearly, but as we were short of time, we 'just ' had the home-baked tarts, one with fruit jam, the other a typical crumbly pie called 'Sbrisolona ' literally, 'big crumbler ' . If you ever go to Mantova, north of Fidenza in Lombardy, but on the border of Emilia you will find this tart everywhere. I don 't know if I will ever manage to go again to Fidenza, but if I should feel the urge to have some really good and genuine 'tortellini ', with no doubts I 'll visit the Antica Trattoria al Duomo again."