Nestling in the centre of Parma, in Italy, the imposing building of the Academia Barilla stands out as a model of contemporary architecture against the historical buildings surrounding it, and this theme continues once through its doors.

The academy was set up in 2004 with investment from parent company Barilla, but it says it is not part of its pasta meal solution business. The enterprise has its own line of products and its mission is purely to spread the word throughout the world about authentic regional Italian food and how to cook it – quite a task when there can be hundreds of recipes for the same dish.

But it has become the “business card” of Barilla, says marketing manager Lucien Ducrey, particularly in the US where it is said to rate among high profile brands such as Armani and Ferrari. “It's all about the acknowledgement of Italian food and its sensory nature. The difference between Barilla and the academy is product and services, but without mixing the services you can't sell the products.

The academy's facilities include a 90 seat amphitheatre for demos, state of the art 16 station professional practice kitchen that can hold up to 60 people, multi sensory tasting laboratory, pastry and baking facility with a wood burning oven for pizza and focaccia, plus an extensive gastronomic library (see panel pg63).

There is also an executive chef and assistant on hand at the academy every day, and with its partnership with equipment supplier Electrolux in Italy, it has the opportunity to trial any new products.

Ducrey differentiates it from an ordinary cookery school because it offers so much more and, in any case, there are already 1,872 cooking schools in Italy, so it follows another path. “All the cooking activities are tailormade. We arrange courses for one person up to 100 people. We take them out to get the food, and all the chef jackets are tailor made and personalised with their name.”

He adds that there are opportunities for chefs to switch roles as well, from sous to executive chef and vice versa, and what they learn in three days can help them plan a menu for six months.

Academia Barilla's main objective is to teach people how to recognise authentic products and understand traditional production processes, plus tasting techniques that will help them to understand better the flavours of Italian regional products.

On its gourmet tours, it's not enough just to go to a cheese and ham factory. Their trips involve making your own wheel of cheese or parma ham and then later having it delivered to you personally, and for truffle hunting, you choose your own dog. Ducrey says it's about “having the whole experience”.

The products that its experts select for its brand are distinctive premium cured meat, regional aged cheese, estate bottled extra virgin olive oil, and accompaniments such as natural sea salt and artisan compotes – and being in the heart of Italy's food valley there is a whole larder to choose from.

In the academy's sensory laboratory, the flavours, aromas and textures can be explained in detail by its development team. For example it offers five different types of extra virgin olive oil made exclusively with olives from southern Italy that has a very low acidity level, and eachoil has its own flavour.

Among them Riviera Ligure has floral undertones with a hint of fresh almonds and pine nuts; Chianti Classico gives off green pepper, artichoke and olive pulp aromas; and Monti Iblei gives a very fresh smell of green tomatoes

Regional pecorino cheese from Tuscany and Sardinia is made from sheep's milk. Among the range is Pecorino Gran Cru, aged 20 months, which has a sweet taste and the aroma has a direct link to the typical herbs of Sardinia, which the sheep eat. The recommended use for this cheese is cubing or flaking over pasta.

Pecorino Dolce is one of its newer cheeses. Aged for just 60 days, it has the aromas of milk, butter and honey and has a fresh, sweet “yogurty” taste that appeals to children.

But its Parmigiano Reggiano is its premier cheese. Aged 18 months on the recommendation of the experts at the academy, it has a milky, fresh taste that makes it perfect for eating on its own or with salads.

A tradition in the region is combining Parmigiano Reggiano with the aged balsamic vinegar of Modena. The academy's range is distinguished by the use of high quality grapes, the different wooden casks in which they age and timing of the transfer from one type of cask to another.

Its balsamic must is aged in oak, cherry and chestnut bar- rels that give it a dark density. Aged eight years, it gives a sensation of sweetness and softness and the smell of fruit. Its traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena is aged 12 and 25 years, which are distinguishable from the outside by specially designed curvaceous bottles. The 25 year old will also carry a gold top and be labelled with the words “extra vecchio” [very old]. The latter has more sweetness and therefore can be used with sweet dishes.

The academy says the different wood of the barrels gives different qualities to the vinegar. For example oak barrels gives it saltiness, while cherry wood gives it sweetness.

Its compotes have been created from traditional recipes and given a modern twist. Hand cut fresh pears with balsamic vinegar is made from William pears and oak aged balsamic vinegar; while spicy fig compote is made from fresh green figs and natural mustard essence to give a balance of sweet and spicy flavours.

New additions to its range are its natural sea salts, hand harvested from Trapani in Sicily and blended with unusual ingredients. The salt is not washed therefore the minerals stay in the salt, and the academy maintains that you would use 35% less than alternative salts.

It offers this Sicilian sea salt containing the zest of fresh blood orange. There is also a variant with black olives that it recommends for all kinds of dishes.

Another of its specialities is Sapori Italiani all natural salt. This contains a mixture of capers, olives and oregano, that the experts say makes an ideal topping for pizza, pasta, bruschetta and barbecues.

But, says the academy, the common denominator of all these products is their true Italian roots.