THE WORLD’S LEADING CENTER FOR TRAINING IN ITALIAN CUISINE

ALMA - The International School of Italian Cuisine is hosted in the magnificent Ducal Palace of Colorno, located in a beautiful Italian-style garden. The school is 10 km from Parma, the heart of the Italian Food Valley, and awarded by UNESCO as Creative City of Gastronomy, where also EFSA - the European Food Safety Authority is located.

This outstanding historical location is equipped with the latest teaching and cooking facilities. It covers over 7.000 mq with: a conference room and an agora room with kitchens, 7 training classrooms, 4 demo classrooms, 2 pastry labs and 1 sommellerie room fully equipped with A/V system, a 17th century wine cellar, 1 sensory analysis lab, 1 R&D kitchen, 1 library with 13.000 culinary books, newspapers and dvd collections, a central kitchen, 1 restaurant seating 180 guests and 1 Fine Dining Restaurant seating 40 guests.
Since 2004, ALMA has educated in this location chefs, pastry chefs, sommeliers and F&B managers from all over the world with training programs performed at the highest level by the most awarded teachers.

ALMA’s dean is Maestro Gualtiero Marchesi, the most authoritative Italian chef and cooking teacher all over the world. Moreover, the school collaborates with more than 700 among the most renowned Italian restaurants to place internships for ALMA students, also relying on high-qualified teaching staff.

In the last year the demand for ALMA high education courses has considerably raised, so that today ALMA hosts about 2.000 students per year (between curricular programs and tailor –made courses) and a further increase is expected for 2017.
One of the reasons for this success is ALMA Alumni’s high employment rate. Out of statistics, 90% of t hem find a job within 6 months after their diploma and ALMA helps them accessing employment thanks to ALMAlink, a dedicated portal www.almalink.it allowing restaurants, hotel and companies of the catering industry get into contact with ALMA graduates.

ALMA TEACHING OFFER

Language: Italian

• ADVANCED COURSE OF ITALIAN CUISINE
• ADVANCED COURSE OF PASTRY
• CUISINE TECHNIQUES COURSE
• PASTRY TECHNIQUES COURSE
• ASSISTANT RESTAURANT&BAR MANAGER
• MASTER SOMMELIER ALMA-AIS
• F&B MANAGER COURSE

Language: English

• INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM OF ITALIAN CUISINE
• INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM OF MODERN PASTRY
• INTERNATIONAL COURSE OF WINE
• JOINT PROGRAMS WITH PARTNER SCHOOLS

ALMA INTERNATIONAL NETWORK

ALMA has a strong international vocation and this is the reason why it has developed a strong network with the top Culinary Schools all over the world. In collaboration with its partner schools, ALMA organises special Italian cooking courses and trains foreign chefs to become ambassadors of Italian cuisine and Italian products in their home country.

1. International Culinary Center - New York (USA)
2. Il Cuoco - Italian Culinary Institute – Seoul (South Korea)
3. George Brown College Chef School – Toronto (Canada)
4. ITHQ (Institut de Tourisme et d’Hôtellerie du Quebec) – Montréal (Canada)
5. Cessa Universidad - Mexico City (Mexico)
6. Ecole d’Art Culinaire de Miyagi – Sendai (Japan)
7. VTC - Vocational Training Council - Hong Kong (China)
8. Westminster Kingsway College – London (UK)
9. Senac - Centro Universitário - São Paulo (Brazil)
10. MSA – Culinary Arts Academy – Istanbul (Turkey)
11. NSI - Northern Sydney Inshttp://www.bic-lj.si/en/titute – Sydney (Australia)
12. Prue Leith Chef Academy - Centurion, Johannesburg (South Africa)
13. KDU University College - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
14. Mausi Sebes - Buenos Aires (Argentina)
15. BIC Vocationale Ljubljana College – Ljubljana (Slovenia)
16. Hungkuang University, Taichung (Taiwan)
17. AIMS Institute – Bangalore (India)
18. Kul In – Sisak (Croatia)
19. Tourism College of Zhejiang - Hangzhou (China)
20. Swiss Education Group - Montreux (Switzerland)

ALMA PARTNERS

Some of the school’s main partners are Parma Chamber of Commerce, majority shareholder, together with Provincia di Parma, which set the premises with Colorno Castle. Other partners are: Unione Industriali and Ascom Parma, Cariparma Crédit Agricole, FIPE, several Consortiums for the Protection of Typical Foods and Wines (Parmigiano-Reggiano, Lambrusco di Modena, Olio Toscano, Prosciutto di Parma, Vini Reggiani, Salumi Tipici Piacentini, Vini DOC Colli Piacentini, Vini Colli di Parma, Produttori di Aceto Balsamico, Vini Colli Bolognesi), APACOOP, ASSICA, Confcooperative Emilia-Romagna, Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano, Federalimentare, Assolatte and Federdoc.

ALMA also signed protocol agreements with the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), and with the Italian National Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE). It also has entered into agreements and collaborations with SDA Bocconi in Milan and Parma University. ALMA is accredited into Emilia Romagna Region education system and is ISO 9001-2008 certified.

In 2011 it signed a cooperation agreement with EXPO 2015 for a series of education and promotion activities during the EXPO under the subject of “Feeding the planet – Energy for life”, which will also involve its international network.