What is Borgo Val di Taro known for?

European Protected Geographical Indication granted in 1996 to porcini from Borgotaro and neighbouring valleys, the first PGI for a wild mushroom. Member of the Cittaslow network of slow cities, recognized for the porcini trade and the working centro storico under seven thousand residents. Upper Taro valley sits where Emilia-Romagna meets Tuscany and Liguria, with the Apennine ridge defining all three borders.

Where is Borgo Val di Taro?

Borgo Val di Taro is a comune in the province of Parma, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 71 kilometers from Parma.

Emilia-Romagna · Parma

Borgo Val di Taro

The Cittaslow capital of the upper Taro valley, where the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP porcini has been protected since 1996.

71 km / 44 mi

Nearest hub (Parma)

6,716

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Cittaslow

Why come

Borgo Val di Taro sitsin the upper Taro valley, sixty-three kilometers southwest of Parma at the point where the province meets Liguria and Tuscany on the Apennine ridge. The town was a Roman waystation, then a possession of the Bobbio abbey, then of the Landi and Doria-Landi families through the medieval centuries. Modern Borgotaro built itself around the porcini trade: the Boletus mushrooms gathered in the surrounding chestnut woods were already famous in the nineteenth century, exported by emigrants to the Americas, and in 1996 the European Union granted the Fungo di Borgotaro Protected Geographical Indication status, the first European recognition for a wild mushroom. The Consorzio per la Tutela del Porcino di Borgotaro was founded the same year. The Cittaslow movement admitted the town in the 2000s. The September Fiera del Fungo di Borgotaro is the calendar event; population has dropped under seven thousand but the porcini trade still anchors the local economy.

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Gallery

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Known for

Centro storico
Medieval town center along the Taro, with the Palazzo Tardiani, the Piazza Manara, and the porticos lining the old market street.
Chiesa di Sant'Antonino
Sixteenth-century parish church with a Baroque interior, holding a fifteenth-century crucifix and a wooden image of the Madonna del Carmelo.
Palazzo Tardiani
Eighteenth-century palace on the main street, now housing the municipal library and the cultural offices.
Fiera del Fungo di Borgotaro
Annual porcini fair on the last two weekends of September, the largest mushroom market in the northern Apennines.
Faggeta di Boschetto
Beech forest in the surrounding hills, one of the gathering grounds for the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP, with marked trails for mushroom and chestnut season.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June brings the Taro at full water and the chestnut woods in early green. September and October are the working months: the porcini emerge after the autumn rains, the Fiera del Fungo fills the centro on the last two weekends of September, and the trade carries the town's economy into November. July and August touch thirty degrees and the centro empties between two and five, though the river is cold enough for swimming. Winter is quiet, with snow possible above five hundred meters and most osterie closed Monday to Wednesday from December to March. Mid-week stays in May and October give the centro storico and the porcini trails room.