We devise and experimentally realize a procedure capable of detecting and distinguishing quantum discord
and classical correlations as well the presence of factorized states in a joint system-environment setting. Our
scheme builds on recent theoretical results showing how the distinguishability between two reduced states
of a quantum system in a bipartite setting can convey important information about the correlations present
in the bipartite state and the interaction between the subsystems. The two addressed subsystems are the
polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of the signal beam generated by parametric down-conversion, which
are suitably prepared by the idler beam. Different global and local operations allow for the detection of different
correlations by studying via state tomography the trace distance behavior between suitable polarization subsystem
states.