The northern Italian town of Parma is described to visitors as the heart of "food valley" - home of prosciutto ham and flaky Parmesan cheese.
Now, the maze of narrow streets and coloured facades is also known as the home of stricken dairy group Parmalat and the centre of a multi-billion euro fraud probe.
"We just cannot believe it," said Leandro Pessina from his kiosk outside the stadium housing Parma's soccer team - still owned and sponsored by Parmalat.
"There is a lot of anger over what has been done to the city's prestige," said Pessina, a life-long Parma supporter.
Parmalat's cash helped the club become one of Italy's top teams of the 1990s, buying some of the world's best players who helped the side to two UEFA Cup triumphs.
But the Serie A side now risks collapse if it cannot go ahead with a mandatory capital increase to cover its losses.
Parmalat's financial crisis exploded into one of the world's biggest ever corporate scandals two weeks ago when the Bank of America said a document purportedly showing billions of euros in cash and securities with the bank was in fact false.
From a blue chip stock with investment grade credit status, Parmalat plunged into insolvency and the value of its shares and bonds has now been almost completely wiped out for investors.
Just as the dairy group's crisis unfolded in December, Parma was picked to house the new European food safety agency, at least in part because of the fame of the region's 8,000 farms and food business, including Parmalat.
For many of Parma's residents, Parmalat's crumbling finances could have direct consequences.
"Some of the workers have received their holiday pay, some haven't," said delicatessen owner Silvio Ghieretti, several of whose family members work for the food group.
"We can only hope they will not get to the point where they have to close the plants. That would be a disaster," Ghieretti said from behind the counter of his shop packed with Parmesan cheeses and hams.
DECLINE AND FALL: The Tanzi family's dairy conglomerate was for years one of Parma's greatest success stories, no mean feat in a town which is also home to the pasta and sauce-making Barilla family.
Calisto Tanzi built his global food empire from his father's delicatessen near the city's railway station, moving swiftly from salamis and preserves to highly profitable long-life milk.
He was generous with the city of 170,000, bankrolling his favourite causes - the church, music and soccer.
In the city's unassuming 12th century cathedral, art-loving Tanzi helped pay for a multi-million euro restoration of several thousand square metres of dazzling 500-year-old frescoes, covered for years in dust and dirt. The dairy group was also due to fund further work.
"The restoration of the nave was sponsored by Parmalat, and the efforts underway in the crypt were also supposed to be sponsored by Parmalat," said guide Tommaso Ronchi, shepherding tourists round the cathedral.
"But under the current circumstances, I imagine we will be looking for another sponsor."
Streets away, the Parmalat name and its blossoming flower logo still adorn posters for the opera season at the Teatro Regio. The group had also sponsored a summer Verdi festival in honour of composer Giuseppe Verdi, born near Parma. But neither Tanzi nor his family turned up for the start of December's opera season as Parmalat's crisis erupted.
"We all felt we knew them. Tanzi gave so much to the city over the years," Ermes Cocco, 72, said, standing in Parma's rain-soaked main square. "We are devastated."