ALMA educates the Next Generation of hospitality professionals.
Students at ALMA will benefit from an outstanding team of experts in food services and food industry and academics.
ALMA is the world’s leading international educational and training centre for Italian Cuisine and Hospitality.
ALMA educates chefs and pastry chefs, bakery chefs, gelato and pizza artisans, assistants restaurant & bar managers and food & beverage managers coming from all around the world with training programs performed at the highest level by the most renowed teachers.
The Headquarters of ALMA lie in a gorgeous ‘Reggia’ equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, in the heart of Italian Food Valley, an area where you can find the most important Made in Italy products, such as Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma, which make Italian food renowned throughout the world.
The International School of Italian Cuisine infact is hosted inside the Ducal Palace of Colorno gazing out to a beautiful 18th-century garden. Parma, core of the Italian food valley and seat of the European Authority for Food Safety (EFSA) and awarded by Unesco as “Creative city for the gastronomy”, is only 10 kilometres away from ALMA.
ALMA covers an area of 5,000 square metres and its classrooms are fully equipped for professional Training.
Since 2004, ALMA has undergone a process of constant growth and innovation. Conceived as the “home of cooks”, the School has gradually become a home for pastry chefs, sommeliers, restaurant managers and bakery chefs as well. This is why ALMA has decided to collaborate with key figures in the profession, becoming a model for students, a benchmark for graduates and an inspiration for the gastronomy and hospitality sector. In the pictures Mariella Organi, Ezio Marinato, Paolo Lopriore, Davide Comaschi, Andrea Grignaffini and Davide Rampello represent the following sectors respectively: hospitality, baking, cuisine, pastry, wines and culture.
ALMA has always promoted Italian agri-food heritage through high formation. The School’s commitment is to safeguard, protect and disseminate Italian products in the world. It can happen through its own teaching methods and through shared governance plans with international institutions and organizations.
ALMA constantly updates its teaching with great attention and sensitivity towards the new needs of the catering and hospitality world. The culinary arts School builds training experiences on the knowledge of tradition but interesting to face the new challenges of the modern era.
The School, in its activities and its objectives, works by guiding principles, integrity, fairness and confidentiality. It also seeks to facilitate the pursuit of market competitiveness with respect for competition laws; furthermore it aims to promote, from a social responsibility and environmental protection perspective, the correct and efficient use of resources.
The school’s signature course for international students.
The Italian Culinary Program is a 1 year diploma course dedicated to those students wishing to become professionals of Italian Cuisine. The course is organised in 2 units corresponding to 2 different levels of preparation: the foundation level, welcoming students with no or little experience in the sector, and the advanced level, dedicated to those students who are looking for a further qualification in the field of culinary arts. Furthermore, the course includes 2 internship phases.
Gualtiero Marchesi had a vocation for cooking. His inspiration came from his parents, who owned the hotel restaurant Al Mercato, in Via Bezzecca, Milan. The passion for drawing and music, particularly opera, and the sensitive, professional approach adopted each day, set the restaurant apart from others in Milan. In 1977, Marchesi opened his first restaurant in Via Bonvesin della Riva.
Twenty years later, Gualtiero Marchesi moved to Franciacorta, to Albereta di Erbusco. In 2008, he opened ‘IL MARCHESINO’ Restaurant at La Scala Theatre in Milan. He has earned countless awards and prizes over the course of a career spanning more than sixty years.
From 2003 to 2017, he has been the Dean of ALMA.
Since 2004, ALMA has constantly expanded and innovated its educational offer.
First by introducing, among the professional ones, courses aimed vertically at individual areas of hospitality: after cuisine, we added pastry, the world of hall, sommellerie and management, and finally that of the bakery art.
From 2019, our School has also opened its doors to professional updating with specialisation courses aimed at those who already work or those looking for a new opportunity: Pizza Gastronomica, Gelateria Contemporanea, Pasta Italiana are some of the programs of these modules rich in operativity, technical skills and gastronomic culture.
ALMA also offers courses dedicated to Italian cuisine to foreign students. The complete course to become a “professional of Italian cuisine” is the Italian Culinary Program, consisting of a first phase of basic techniques and a subsequent professionalising phase.
The Italian Iconic Courses are instead short modules dedicated to the most representative products of our tradition, such as pizza, pasta and pastry. They can be attended by those with no experience as well as by those who, already inserted in the gastronomic world, want to specialise in one of the representative pillars of our tradition.
ALMA is also able to create tailor-made courses and programmes based on the needs of the foreign market, in particular of the International Culinary Schools with which it already has important collaborative relationships and for which it structures dedicated joint programmes.
For those who choose to work in the fascinating world of food and beverage, ALMA represents a valuable investment for the future as well as an extraordinary educational experience.
Since 2004, ALMA has undergone a process of constant growth and innovation. Conceived as the “home of cooks”, the School has gradually become a home for pastry chefs, sommeliers, restaurant managers and bakery chefs as well. This is why ALMA has decided to collaborate with key figures in the profession, becoming a model for students, a benchmark for graduates and an inspiration for the gastronomy and hospitality sector. In the pictures Mariella Organi, Ezio Marinato, Paolo Lopriore, Davide Comaschi, Andrea Grignaffini and Davide Rampello represent the following sectors respectively: hospitality, baking, cuisine, pastry, wines and culture.
The ALMA library is one of the most important in its field, with over 12.000 volumes and a complete collection of food and beverage specialty newspapers and magazines divided into 100 subjects to simplify the research and to help study topics in depth. In support of students’ cultural education, texts are available on gastronomic literature, art, cinema and theatre, history and culture, ancient people’s cuisine, wines and sensory analysis, classical books on cuisine and gastronomy, dietetics and food education, and recipe books of the greatest Italian and International cooks.
Within walking distance to the School, comfortable residences called ‘ALMA Housing’ are available with 2, 3 or 4 bed apartments, including living room, kitchen and bathrooms.
ALMA is always at students’ disposal to find alternative housing solutions in the area.
The best stories of ALMA’s graduate students. Stories of young people who have choosen the International School of Italian Cuisine: memories, perspectives, friendship and love. Stories of lives changed thanks to ALMA. A selection to give space of life experiences between ALMA and restaurants throughout Italy and Europe:
ALMA has created a network of great educational centres all over the world. With these renowned schools ALMA organizes Courses of Italian Cuisine, structured on periods of study and practical training in Italy during in-school periods and traineeship periods at the most renowned Italian restaurants. At the end of the program, ALMA and the partner school issue a joint diploma.
ALMAlink actually helps graduates in finding their way into the working life by linking them to restaurants, hotels and all companies where the high competencies acquired in ALMA can be a precious added value.
All of this is possible via the portal www.almalink.it.
A ‘virtual notice board’ is restricted to ALMA graduates of the advanced courses and is also accessible to companies looking for qualified professionals. It is a fundamental opportunity for graduates to stay up-to-date with the best job opportunities for their professional growth in Italy and all over the world and is a unique tool for companies looking for well-trained staff.