Empty the bag of beans into a rimmed baking sheet and sort through the beans to get rid of any small stones or debris.
Rinse the beans and place them into a mixing bowl or a pot. Add enough water to cover the beans with extra 2 inches of water. Stir in a tablespoon and a half of salt until dissolved.
Cover and place the beans in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours.
Strain the beans.
Making White Bean Soup:
Prepare all of the ingredients before starting to cook: Dice onion, carrots, and celery. Dice cold bacon. Peel, smash, and mince the garlic cloves. For Swiss chard, you can take the leaves off the stems of keep the stems. Slice the chard into pieces or just rip it. In a small sauce pot, combine stock, bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper flakes. Heat it to simmer and take off heat.
Heat up a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add oil when it's hot. Add diced bacon and let is cook until bacon bits are completely cooked and the fat is all rendered. Take bacon bits out with a slotted spoon and set them aside. Leave the fat in the pot!
Add onion, celery, and carrots to the pot and cook until for a few minutes, softened. Stir in garlic and cook it for a few seconds, until fragrant.
Add beans and pour in the warm stock mixture. Stir and turn up the heat to bring it to boil.
Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and cover the pot with a lid. Leave a small crack for the steam to escape. Let the soup cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
Add Swiss chard, all of the diced tomatoes from the can, and the Parmesan rind to the soup. Stir to incorporated throughout and taste to see if you need to add more salt and pepper.
Cook another 30-40 minutes, until the beans are soft and tender. Make sure to stir from time to time.
When the soup is done, discard the bay leaves, rosemary stem, and Parmesan rind.
Serve topped with bacon bits and some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.