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| For those of you who follow our travels, you know that we have been all over Italy, and that we keep going back for more. We are always searching for a new region, or city, where we haven't been, and preferably, others haven't been either. That's the case with this trip. Emilia Romagna is the region of Italy among other places. Milan is to the northwest, Venice is to the northeast, and Florence is to the south. Bologna, its largest city, is right on the shortest route between Florence and Venice. It's also a big city (the third largest in Italy) with lots of traffic and highways, so who would want to stop there on the way from Florence to Venice? |
 CLICK ABOVE TO VISIT OUR MAIN PAGE |
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 TYPICAL BOLOGNESE FOOD STORE |
Bologna
is considered by many to be the culinary capital of Italy, and together
with the other main cities of the province, Parma, Modena, and
Regio Emilia, they can boast of being home to some of Italy's most
famous
foods. Everybody knows about parmesan cheese, and parma ham, and
balsamic vinegar, but who is aware of the pumpkin stuffed pasta, or the
long cooked donkey stew? As for the pumpkin filled pasta, every town
and region has a
different name for this delightful local specialty, and as for the
donkey stew, Alisa forbade me to order it, although I only saw it on
the menu at one restaurant. Despite all this, Emilia Romagna remains an
afterthought on the
standard tourist route. So, of course, that's where we decided to go. |
check out this web page called the "pasta laboratory" 25 best food experiences in emilia romagna |
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| We spent 4 days in Bologna, 3 days in Parma, 2 days in Ferarra, and 2 days in Mantova, a lovely town geographically in Lombardy province, but only an hour's drive from Parma. It rained a bit the first 3 days, but then the weather cleared up and overall, it was a great trip. We ate at lots of great restaurants, saw parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar being made, and drove all around the province. Outside the cities, it appears that this agricultural region is a bit depressed economically, with lots of abandoned buildings, but the cities were busy and booming. We didn't see a lot of tourists, and that was fine with us. Below are all the details. | bologna
in the states is... ...mortadella in bologna |
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 ALISA AND I AT CaSTELLO ESTE |
Our first stop was Ferrara, and we drove here directly from the Bologna airport. It's a lovely city with a beautiful medieval center, and lots of churches, convents and palaces. The palace we visited was the moated and medieval Castello Este, the largest and most famous attraction in the city. The palace is quite impressive with incredible frescoes all over the ceilings and walls. In addition, there are large mirrors strategically placed at various angles on the floors in order to provide a clear view of the frescoes, without spraining one's neck. To the left is a picture of me taking a picture of us in one of the mirrors, with a ceiling fresco in the background. | 9
top tourist attractions in ferrara wikipedia on castello este |
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| The
official name of the castle is "Castello
Estense di Ferrara",
and is the legacy of the Este family who ruled Ferrara for 300
years. Ferrara was a serious regional power in its heyday. The
castle is located right in the center of the city and is well worth a
visit. A tour in the castle even includes a section with an art
exhibit, where there is a selection of works of art by Giovanni Boldini and Filippo de
Pisis, two of the most representative artists of the last two
centuries. |
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Ferrara,
like many towns in Italy has a Palio (traditional festival and horse race in the
center of town), which takes place at the end of May every year.
The Palio in Sienna may be the most famous, but the Ferrarans will
explain to you how their palio is the oldest continuously running Palio
in Italy. In any case, we were in Ferrara about 2 weeks before the
Palio, so we couldn't take part in the festivities, but we did witness,
both nights that we were, rehearsals of the flag throwers and
marching bands in the center of town. Our hotel was close enough to the
center, so that, even if we couldn't see them, we heard them clearly.
Here's a picture to the right of the flag rehearsals. |
 FLAG THROWERS REHEARSING |
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| We stayed
at the Carlton
Hotel,
which is located right in the center. If you are in a car, you have to
enter the "forbidden driving zone" in order to get to the hotel. Each
driver has to provide his car';s details to the hotel, which the hotel
passes on to the police, in order to avoid getting an expensive
ticket. The hotel is either new or recently refurbished, and there were a couple of technical problems. The air conditioning did not work at all during our 2 night stay, and the shower wet the bathroom floor no matter how much we tried to prevent it. Fortunately the weather was cool, so we didn't need the A/C. Breakfast was fine, and all in all, this was a pleasant stay in this hotel which is about a 5 minute walk to the cathedral and the very center of the old town. Also, there are several restaurants and stores literally steps from the hotel. |
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| The
hotel has a very unique secured parking garage. The entrance is located
just a few steps from the hotel, and an elevator is required to descend
from the street to the parking levels. The driver stays in the car
during this process. The hotel attendant who was directing me didn't
speak a word of English and it took me a while until I understood what
he wanted me to do. I parked the car (15 Euros per night) and didn't
move it during our 2 day stay. |
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 ALISA IN DUE COMARI |
The Carlton Hotel is located on
Piazza Sacrati, and its neighbors include several restaurants. We ate
at 2 of them, both of which were literally steps from the hotel
entrance.
The first was Le
Due Comari (the 2 gossips). It was recommended by our hotel as a
good place for traditional food as well as fish and seafood. It was a
delightful surprise.
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 AT DUE COMARI |
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 SWORDFISH TARTAR AT DUE COMARI |
I had
grilled squid with fava
puree,
and cappalachi (pasta stuffed with pumpkin) with meat ragu. This dish
is the number one local dish. Each area has a different name for its
stuffed pasta, but everywhere in the area they use pumpkin as the
classic filling. Alisa had swordfish tartar (excellent), and a fresh pasta with anchovies. We don’t often order desert, but here, the food was so good, we went for dessert as well. We had “tenerina”, a classic Ferraran chocolate cake. Everything was delicious and the prices were reasonable. The name of the talented chef is Daniela Panico, and she also happens to be the owner. |
 TENERINA: CHOCOLATE CAKE OF FERRARA |
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The other restaurant Mordicchio la Piadina,
which is really just a sandwich bar, but it’s a very special sandwich
called “piadina” which is popular in this area. It’s literally 2
steps from the entrance of our hotel, so when we wanted a light snack
for dinner, it was an easy decision to try a couple of piadini.
(piadini is the plural of piadina.) Piadina
is a thin, flexible Italian flatbread, which is rolled and
filled with any kind of filling.
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 MORDICCHIO la PIADINA |
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 THE MENU AT MORDICCHIO |
At
Mordicchia, they have over 80
different combinations of fillings, from cheese to ham to turkey to
veggies, and all combinations and permutations. (see the menu to the
left.) The proprietress and "chef" was
very accommodating and friendly
as she explained the whole process. She even demonstrated the process,
and she spoke English very well. We had a couple of piadini, and soon
realized that one would have been enough for the 2 of us. I took my
remaining half back to the hotel and had a snack later. If you are
looking for a filling snack, this is the place. |
 OUR PIADINI |
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 GRILLED OCTOPUS AT del GHETTO |
The third
restaurant we ate at in Ferrara is called "Osteria del
Ghetto".
This place is the definition of an old school, authentic, local
restaurant.
It’s located in the neighborhood which was once the Jewish ghetto, and
has been run by the same woman for about 40 years. The food is simple,
but delicious. There are even a few Jewish dishes on the menu. We
had fried sardines, roasted octopus, seafood salad and vegetarian
tagliatelli. The lady who runs the place sat with us and chatted with us, as she knew we had come from Israel. She supplied us with some interesting printed information with local recipes and information on the history of the ghetto. |
 FRIED SARDINES IN THE GHETTO |
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| We
drove directly from Ferrara to Mantova (Mantua in English), as I didn't
find anywhere worth
stopping on the way, so we arrived well before noon. We checked
drectly into our
B&B, the "Residenza la Villa". This B&B is located a few
kilometers outside of Mantova. It's a beautiful house with a beautiful
garden. Anna
is the owner and the spirit behind this lovely B&B, and she is
clearly an artistic soul who has decorated and designed everything. |
 OUR ROOM IN THE B&B IN MANTOVA |
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 THE TUNNEL INTO OUR BATHROOM |
Our room was one of the biggest we have ever stayed in, with a very quirky “tunnel” leading to the bathroom. It’s kind of hard to envision the tunnel, so I have attached a picture on the left to help "visualize". Breakfast was adequate, and everything in the house worked properly. As an added feature, especially useful if you are into wine, Anna has a winery in the cellar where she conducts occasional tastings. All in all, we had a nice stay here. |
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| Regarding Mantova, it's a lovely well preserved city with a medieval center and a population of about 50,000. Its old town center (together with neighboring Sabbionetta) has been declared a UNESCO "World Heritage Site", and in this article from the British newspaper The Guardian, it is called "Italy's sleeping beauty city". During the middle ages it was ruled by the Gonzaga family and it was a regional power for some time. During its heyday, and up until the end of the 18th century, it was an island, surrounded by 4 artificial lakes which were constructed for defensive purposes. At the end of the 18th century, 1 of the 4 lakes dried up, so it is left today as a peninsula with only 3 lakes, and several bridges. |  SBRISOLONA CAKE IN MANTOVA |
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| The
drive to Mantova from the B&B takes only a few minutes and there
are many possibilites for free and unlimited parking, if you know where
to look. We parked several times on Viale Mincio, the road on the
shore of Lago di Mezzo,
but there are several more possibilites, and they are explained on this
web site. |
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 ALISA AND LORENZO AT PALAZZO TE |
The web
site I linked to above (for parking in Mantova) is called Visit Mantua and
is owned and maintained by one Lorenzo Bonoldi, a tour guide in Mantova
and the
general area. Through the web site is how we found Lorenzo, and we
decided to use his
guiding services during our visit to Palazzo Te. He was easy to book
with via email, and he also provided me with invaluable information
during the planning process. |
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When we arrived at Pallazo Te
at 4 PM, Lorenzo was there waiting for us. The Palazzo is quite amazing
and Lorenzo was an excellent guide. His detailed knowledge and stories
of the Palazzo were most entertaining. His English is excellent, and
his price was in line with other guide services. Booking with him via
email was simple and we paid him only after the tour.
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 AT PALAZZO TE |
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 AT PALAZZO TE |
As for the Palazzo Te, it is quite an experience, very well preserved and maintained, with vibrant colorful frescoes on all the walls and ceiling. It includes many beautiful rooms, a moat and walls, and a "secret cave". At Lorenzo's suggestion, we did the tour at 4 PM , in order to be there after all the school groups have gone home. It was a good suggestion, although there was still one small group there during our visit. Lorenzo said that during the mornings in May, the noise and congestion are intolerable. | |||||||||||
 INCREDIBLE FRESCOS ON WALLS & CEILINGS AT PALAZZO TE |
As
we had arrived early to Mantova on the day of our arrival there, we
pretty much saw the entire old town on that first day, including
Palazzo Te. So, on the second day, we ventured away from the city and
visited a couple of small towns - San Benedetto Po, and Sabbionetta.
There is a big beautiful (so they say) monastary in San Benedetto Po,
which we saw from the outside but didn't venture inside, as we were
confident that it couldn't compete with Palazzo Te which we had visited
the
day before. What we do remember from San Benedetto, is the coffee we
had at a non-descript bar. It was the best coffee we had on the entire
trip. |
mantua & sabbionetta world heritage sites SABBIONETTA, THE IDEAL RENAISANCE CITY |
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After San Beneddetto, we drove
to Sabbionetta. Sabbionetta, as noted above is a UNESCO World Heritage
site. It
has a large palazzo which is free to visit, and is filled with many
empty faded rooms. The palazzo and the other town center buildings
surround a large grassy square, which was filled with visiting school
kids who, after their tour of the palazzo, were busy chasing each
other around, screaming and playing soccer.
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 TRIO OF SMOKED FISH AT DISPENSA |
We
asked one of the merchants for a restaurant recommendation for lunch,
and were directed to one called "Osteria
la Dispensa". It seemed so
simple, but as often happens in Italy, the simplest restaurants can be
very good. We had a trio of smoked fish (to the left),
a salad with strawberries, agnoli (another name for stuffed pasta) in a
beef and chicken broth (to the right), and tortini, a baked pasta dish
with bacon. It was all delightful. |
 AGNOLI AT DISPENSA |
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 ROASTED QUAIL AT AQUILA NIGRA |
We ate at a
fabulous restaurant in Mantova called Aquila
Nigra,
a restaurant with 1 Michelin star. Our meal made us feel that the star
was well earned. The restaurant is lovely, and all the dishes were
excellent. The restaurant is located on a small side street right in
the center of Mantova. Our standout dish was a tartare of shrimp with sorbet and a bit of fennel (picture to the right). It was beautiful and had an interesting combination of flavors. Other dishes we had were a plate of cold veal slices, with asparagus, a quail egg and a giant caper, a dish of ravioli filled with quail, roasted quail with leaves and egg (picture to the left), and a dish of turbo with delicious mushrooms. The only fault was that one of the dishes was a tad salty, but not so much that it marred the flavor. |
 TARTAR OF SHRIMP WITH SORBET AND FENNEL |
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| I should
also mention the toasted parmesan leaves, which were delicious
and prepared perfectly. They came as an accompaniment to the
bread. The surprise of our meal here was our waiter, Ziad. He is from Tunisia and has worked at the restaurant for 10 years (that’s a long time in any restaurant). My wife and I speak a little Arabic, and Ziad was delighted to speak Arabic with us. I should also mention that he was a very professional and excellent waiter. Finished our delightful meal down with a 2007 Sauterne. All in all, a great meal! |
 ALISA WITH OUR WAITER ZIAD |
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 AT LATTERIA SOCIALE SAN GIROLAMA |
I expected the visit to Parma to be the highlight of the trip, as it included a visit to a parmesan dairy, a prosciuto factory, a winery, and a wine festival, not to mention a couple of good restaurants. We started out with the visit to the parmesan making dairy. We chose Latteria Sociale San Girolama, located in the small village of San Girolama for several reasons. It was directly on our route from Mantova to Parma, the time they suggested we visit suited our plans, and they were very prompt in responding to our emails. |  LOUISA EXPLAINING ABOUT THE PARMESAN AGING PROCESS |
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 ALISA WITH LOUISA AND fabio AT THE DAIRY |
There
are many dairies to visit in the Parma area. Most give tours 7 days a
week, because the process of making the parmesan goes on 7 days a week.
Most of the tours are free, although some take a nominal fee.The dairy
we visited doesn't have its own web site, and I found it through the
web site of the Consortium
of Parmigiano Producers,
which is a wonderful source of information.
It has explanations on the history and the process, a long list of
producers, with maps of all of them. There are lots of
expensive packaged tours available to visit a parmesan dairy, but, if
you have a car, don't waste tour money.As noted, most give free tours,
and all they expect is that you will buy some cheese at the end. |
 AGING PARMESAN IN GIROLAMA |
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my youtube videos parmesan making: part 1 parmesan making: part 2 |
In
any case, we were escorted on our tour by Luisa and her 3 year old son
Fabio. It was a Saturday, and his nursery is closed on the weekend.
Luisa didn't speak much English and Alisa was our translator. Had
I requested, Luisa said they would have found a translator. Luisa
and her husband, Christian own the dairy, and it makes parmesan cheese
out of the milk of the local area farmers. We saw the entire process
and had a very nice visit. To the left are a couple of youtube videos I
posted showing a small part of the process. To the right is a picture
of Alisa, Favio, and Christian in front of the dairy store, where we
went after the tour. There, Luisa cut up a whole bunch of parmesan
cheese for us to taste, (some 12 months old, and some 40 months old),
and then we bought a couple of chunks. The 40 month aged
cheese is really fabulous. |
 ALISA WITH CHRISTIAN AND LITTLE fabio |
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| A day around Parma among ham, culatello and castles THE PARMA TOURIST OFFICE ONE PERSON'S BLOG ABOUT A VISIT TO A "HAMMERY" |
After the parmesan visit, we drove to Colorno, a small town in the heart of the Strada del Parma ham (the prosciutto route). Actually, the town was once the home of Marie Luise, Duchess of Parma and wife of Napoleon, and is well noted as a center of the production of culatello, the king of parma ham. Colorno is a picturesque little town and to the right is a picture of one of its narrow streets. The best known attraction here is the Ducal Palace of Colorno, which Marie Luise called her favorite residence for a few years. We were still full of parmesan cheese so all we had here was a cup of coffee. |  COLORNO |
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 CULATELLO PLATTER AT AL VEDEL |
From Colorno, we drove to our stop for lunch - Ristorante Al Vedel, which is part of Podere Cadassa, a ham and culatello producer. The restaurant is surprisingly upscale, and you can have a nice meal here and take a tour of the aging cellars after eating. Again, we picked this place because it was on our route, and allowed us to eat lunch, and then have a tour of a prosciutto producers aging rooms in the same place. We were there on a Saturday for lunch and the place was quite full. It is big, and is apparently visited by large groups. |  CULaTELLO FILLED AMERILLI |
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 ALISA'S FAVORITE DISH: COCOA FLAVORED PASTA |
Alisa had a mousse of asparagus, with mozzarella and a fresh tomato sauce, and her favorite dish of this trip – pasta cacao (pasta with a hint of chocolate). I had the house specialty – a platter of culatelli (culatelli is the plural of culatello). In this case the platter had on it 3 differently aged culatelli – 18 months, 26 months, and 38 months. Of course, the culatelli were made and aged on the premises. For my main, I had amarilli (another name for the local stuffed pasta), with a filling of culatello and on a puree of nettles. It was all yummy! | 9 TOP ATTRACTIONS IN PARMA |
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After lunch, we got a tour of the aging rooms from Giovanni, the chief prosciutto maker and, apparently, a member of the family. He explained the entire process, and showed us the different rooms with the different meats curing. Here's a nice site all about Podere Cadassa, its history, its culatello, and lots of great pictures. |
 PROSCIUTTO AGING ROOM AT AL VEDEL |
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 THE GARDEN AT VILLINO DE PORPORANO |
After our visit to Al Vedel, we headed to our B&B, the "Villino de Porporano" located just outside Parma. It’s run by Elena who is very well organized and has taken care of all the details. The house is lovely, and the garden is beautiful. Our room was quite large, and my wife’s only complaint was that there was no refrigerator in the room. That was no problem as we used the house fridge instead. | |||||||||||
 OUR ROOM AT VILLINO DE PORPORANO |
Elena
goes out of her way to satisfy her guests. We wanted to watch a
particular sporting event on television, and it wasn’t broadcast by her
cable service. She called all over town in order to find a bar where we
could watch it. Breakfast was prepared by a lovely lady who made eggs, or anything else to order. She made our omelettes exactly as we wanted. All the cakes and sweets were home made and delicious. |
 ALISA WITH THE BREAKFAST CHEF AT VILLINO |
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 AT THE MALVASIA FESTIVAL IN SALA BAGANZA |
The
following day, which was a Sunday, we went to Sala Baganza to attend
the Sala Baganza malvasia wine festival. Sala Baganza is a small town
located about 15 KM south of Parma. The festival runs on one weekend in
May and celebrates Malvasia,
the most popular grape in the province of Emilia Romagna. We were
surprised to find out that the most popular wines in Emilia Romagna are
sparkling Malvasia and other sparkling white wines. |
 AT THE MALVASIA FESTIVAL IN SALA BAGANZA |
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| The festival included the obligatory general market on the town’s streets, and in what was a fairground type of setting, there was a big tent with quite a few producers of wine, and other food products. Most were from the local area, but there were producers from as far afield as Sicily. There was also a period costume parade in the village center.All in all, a pleasant visit. | |
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 AGNOLOTTI FILLED WITH EEL AT ANTICA CORTE |
After Sala Baganza, we drove north for over an hour to get to "Antica Corte", a very special restaurant and prosciutto producer in the tiny town of Polisine Parmense. This little town is located in the heart of the cullatello producing area very near the "capital" of culatello making - the town of Zibello, which is part of the full name of culatello - "culatello di Zibello". This place is really out in the boondocks. In other words, you have to really want to come here and is not the kind of place where you just drop in for lunch on the way from one place to another. Antica Corte is a Michelin starred restaurant, attached to a castle with a working B&B, a park, its own herb and vegetable garden, and its own prosciutto processing and aging rooms. We made a reservation well in advance, and after some navigational difficulties, we found this castle restaurant. The grounds are lovely and the restaurant is beautiful. | |||||||||||
 DUCK, GERMANA STYLE AT ANTICA CORTE |
On
the other hand, lunch got off on the wrong foot, as we were seated at a
very uncomfortable table. It was long and thin, and had wooden support
slats between all the legs exactly where my feet wanted to rest. I
attached a picture to clarify. Alisa and I had to sit about 5 feet from
one another, so it was very inconvenient to share food, or even talk.
We begged for another table, but they just didn’t have one for us. It
did have a lovely view, and fortunately, the food was excellent and
helped us get used to the uncomfortable table (and the long ride). |
 MY FEET, UNDER THE TABLE AT ANTICA CORTE |
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We had a
garden salad with
smoked carp and bottarga, trout with reduced balsamic dressing, eel
agnolotti, and duck, “Germana style”. Everything was delicious, and
beautifully plated, with the only flaw being that the duck was a bit
dry. It was beautiful, and delicious, but a bit overcooked, although
not enough to send it back. There was also a tasty amuse bouche of
ricotta cheese and pea sauce. On the other hand, service was terribly slow, even for a Michelin starred restaurant. After lunch, we were given a tour of the castle, and the prosciutto and salami aging rooms. After the tour, and on our way back to our car, we ran into the young chef in the garden (a totally chance encounter) and had a nice chat with him. He was very proud to show us the herb and vegetable garden where, he explained, the kitchen got all the greens it used. |
 ALISA AND THE CHEF AT ANTICA CORTE |
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 PARMA STREET FAIR |
After
Antica Corte, we headed back to Parma. It
was a Sunday afternoon and we arrived in Parma at around 5 PM. We
headed directly to a parking garage - in this case, "Parking Giotto"
which turned out to be a perfect choice.There are several parking
garages on the outskirts of central Parma, and you can park all day for
a reasonable price (depending on the garage,
10-12 Euros maximum). In any case, we parked at Giotto because it is on
the south side of town and is the closest to our B&B. |
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PIAZZA
GARIBALDI |
It was the perfect choice because it is just steps away from Strada Carlo Farini, one of the main streets of the center, leading directly to the epicenter of town, Piazza Garibaldi. There was also a Sunday street fair going on, most of the stores were open, and there were hordes of locals taking their Sunday constitutional (in Italian, passiagiata). The sun was out, the weather was perfect, and it was a delightful stroll. |  MORTADELLA TASTING IN PARMA |
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| The next day, we drove into the towns and hills south of Parma. This is generally considered to be the "road of ham and wines", although there are several areas which claim to be the real home of prosciutto and culatello. On the other hand, there is a selection of wineries to visit in this area. It's also a beautiful hilly area and is a nice break from the flatlands of the rest of the province. Here is a link to a map of the towns to visit in the hills south of Parma. | ||||||||||||
| We visited
the towns of Montechiarugolo, Traversetolo,
and Neviano degli Arduini, after which we arrived at the Lamoretti
winery where we had reserved a tour and lunch. Neviano degli
Arduini deserves a special mention, as it is a delightful little town
way up in the hills. It has beautiful views (like the one to the
right), and an old, old church, which was closed. It's quite a drive to
get up to it, but it was worth it.Its elevation is over 500 meters. |
 THE VIEW IN NEVIANO degli ARDUINA |
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 ALISA WITH CHRISTIAN AT LAMORETTI WINERY |
Lamoretti winery is located near the town of Langhirano, but is literally in the shadow of the Torrechiara castle, one of the landmarks of the area. The castle can be visited, but it is closed on Mondays, when we were there. To the right is a lovely picture of the view of the castle from the dining room of the winery. All the vinyards surround the winery, and you can see a small part of them in the pcture to the right. We were given a nice tour by Christian, and then given lunch by the chef of the winery, Marco, who didn't speak a word of English. |
 LAMORETTI WINERY AND THE TORRECHIARA CASTLE |
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 AT LUNCH AT LAMORETTI |
The winery has an attached B&B, and the restaurant is informal. Christian told Marco what he should serve us and then the wine started flowing.Lunch was quite tasty, and very cheap. We had a cheese platter (about a half a kilo of parmesan), a ham and salami platter (plenty to eat for me), and a dish of ravioli stuffed with cheese and spinach, and then a dish of beef cheeks. I begged off having the beef cheeks, but marco insisted, and suggested I have half a portion, which I did. One beef cheek was plenty! It was a lovely visit and I bought 2 bottles of red wine. |  |
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 AT COCCHI IN PARMA |
Now, why
didn't I want both of Marco's beef cheeks? We
had a reservation at a very nice restaurant in Parma in the evening. I
knew that that second beef cheek would not have been a good idea.
The restaurant was Cocchi, which is attached to the Daniel
Hotel, both of which have very good reputations in Parma.
The Hotel Daniel is located outside of the center, and therefore has
lots of avaiable parking. We were able to park right on the street
in front of the hotel and restaurant. |
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 MY DISH OF DUCK AT COCCHI |
The
restaurant is run personally by Daniel, the owner of the hotel. He
greeted us, recommended a few things, and took our order. He speaks
excellent English and was also very entertaining. There was also lots
of nice artwork on the walls. The restaurant was completely full by 8
PM, although part of this is due to the fact that it is attached to a
hotel. We had a wonderful dish of fried and stuffed zucchini flowers,
and then mains of shrimp and duck. Here we had one of the classic local
desserts – sbrisolona, a nut crumb cake which is best known
as the classic dessert of Mantova, but is also popular in Parma. |
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| The
following morning, we left our Parma B&B and drove in the direction
of Modena,
most famous for its balsamic vinegar, but also a center for several of
the many car museums in Emilia Romagna. I
have no idea why there are so many of these car and motorcycle museums
in Modena, and we had no intention of visiting any of them. We were in
Modena to learn about traditional making of balsamic vinegar. |
italy's motor valley a great blog on traditional balsamic vinegar making |
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 AT GEORGIO'S ACTETAIO IN MODENA |
We had a rervation at 11 AM to visit "Georgio's Acetaio", literally Georgio's vinegar workshop. Actually, it's not a workshop at all. It's Georgio's house, and his family has been making traditional balsamic vinegar for generations. The whole story is on his web site, linked above. The whole is a balsamic aging room, from the garage and all the way up to the attic - barrels, barrels and more barrels everywhere. |
 GIOVANNA EXPLAINING THE PROCESS OF MAKING BALSAMIC VINEGAR |
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 THE SELECTION OF BALSAMIC VINEGARS WE TASTED |
We did the tour with 3 other couples, and were escorted by Georgio's wife Giovanna, who is both entertainign and very knowledgable about the process and the history. Traditional balsamic vinegar bears little resemblence to what is sold in the supermarket. It is so rich and sweet, it is used drop by drop. It's also expensive, with a 100 ml (3.5 ounces) aged for 12 years costs about 50 Euros. The 25 year old version costs about 75 Euros. At the end of the tour, we tasted 8 different balsamic vinegars. After the tour, we met Georgio in his garden and took some pictures.This visit was one of the highlights of our trip. |  GEORGIO AND ALISA |
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 AT ANTICA MOKA IN MODENA |
Modena is famous for its balsamic vinegar, but it also has some of the best restaurants in Italy. Today, its most famous restaurant is Osteria Francescana. This restaurant was just voted number 2 on the list of the world's 50 greatest restaurants, and number 1 in Italy. So, if we were going to be in Modena, that's where we wanted to eat. Of course, it was no surprise when we couldn't get a reservation, even a month in advance. So, we looked, and looked, and found another great restaurant for lunch, called Antica Moka. | |||||||||||
 TORTELLINE WITH DUCK AND FOIX GRAS |
Directly
after our visit to Georgio's Acetaia, we drove to the other side of
Modena, and had lunch at "Antica Moka".
It's a lovely restaurant, outside of the city center with plenty of
attached parking. We really had a great meal here. We started with thin
noodles with black cuttlefish, scallops, bottarga and cream of
shellfish; turbo with asparagus and sorrento lemons; tortelline with
duck and foie gras, and long cooked port with vegetables and
balsamic vinegar. There was an amuse bouche, but it was bland and not
worth mentioning. At the end of the meal we met the chef, "larger
than life", Anna Maria. This was definitely one of the best meals
of the trip. |
 WITH ANNA MARIE, THE CHEF AT ANTICA MOKA |
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| Directly after lunch at Antica Moka, we continued on to Bologna. Modena is supposed to be a nice town to visit, but that just wasn't in our plans. We had tasted traditional Modena balsamic vinegar, and had a great lunch, and that was it for Modena. We drove straight to our B&B, Antica Residenza d’Azeglio, which is situated on the edge of the city center, but literally steps away from the limited traffic zone. This means that you can get to the entrance of the B&B building with your car, drop off your bags, and then take care of the car (parking or rental return). That doesn''t mean that it's easy, as there is precious little place to stand with your car while you are trying to get your suitcases upstairs in a building with various gates. Agostino of the B&B came downstairs and took care of everything. |  THE BREAKFAST ROOM AND PUBLIC AREA IN BOLOGNA |
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 OUR ROOM IN BOLOGNA |
The residenza has 5 rooms, and is about a 10 minute walk to Piazza Maggiore, the center of the center. There is also a bus which will take you to the center if you prefer, with a stop right near the B&B. The B&B is located on the second floor of a typical old building in Italy. It has an old fashioned elevator, and a huge wooden door and a locked iron gate inside. It seems complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, and figure out which key opens which door, everything becomes simple. | THE BEST BOLOGNA MARKETS A BLOG ABOUT A VISIT TO BOLOGNA WITH LOTS OF PICTURES THE BEST OF BOLOGNA |
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This is my favorite kind of
B&B – one where breakfast is served around a central table where
you can get to know the other guests. And, the best part is the host,
Agostino. He is absolutely a perfect host. He is almost always
available, and will go out of his way to provide his guests with
whatever they need or want – from breakfast eggs, to restaurant
recommendations and reservations, and even ironing a shirt if need be.
The room was huge, with a refrigerator and a safe. The bed was huge and
firm, and our window looked directly out on to the street, but we
weren’t bothered by noise. We stayed in the “red room” for 4 nights. We
would happily stay here again, if we were to return to Bologna.
|
 AGOSTINO AND ALISA ON THE B&B BALCONY GARDEN |
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 BOLOGNA PORTA GALLIERE |
Bologna
is a lovely city, and not inundated with tourists like Venice, Florence
and Rome. We
loved strolling around the city on the beautiful days we had during our
time in Bologna. The city is probably best known for its university,
and its 25 KM of porticoes, but it has lots more to offer beyond that.
Some call it the culinary capital of Italy, and we did eat at some
great restaurants. It also has some of the most beautiful churches we
have visited in Italy. Here are just a few of the things we did while
in Bologna. |
 BOLOGNA PORTICOES |
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 PIAZZA MAGGIORE |
We walked
all over. We covered the city from the train station on the north side
(where we returned our rented car), and all
the way to the south side, where the B&B was located. We passed the
"Porta Galliere",
(picture above and to the left) which is like the entry point into the
city from the north, where the train station is. We visited Piazza Maggiore several times, Piazza Santo
Stefano, the twin towers of
the city (one of the symbols of Bologna), the oldest part of the city,
with several fantastic churches, the Synagogue. And, of
course, we visited the city's famous markets. |
 PALAZZO del PODESTA IN PIAZZA MAGGIORE |
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 THE TWIN TOWERS OF BOLOGNA |
The most famous, and busiest is called the "Quadrilatero", and it's not exactly a market. It is a cluster of streets right near Piazza Maggiore, filled with shops and shopping of all kinds. Most of the shops are food oriented, but not all. This was the only area of the city which was crowded with tourists. There were lots of gourmet shops, wine stores, cheese and salami stores, fruit vendors - really a fun place to walk around. |
 THE BOLOGNA CATHEDRAL |
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 FISH RESTAURANT AT THE MARKET |
The
other main market we visited was the Mercato delle Erbe, (literally,
the herbs market) a more traditinal type of indoor fruit and vegetable
market. It was very neat and clean and had several places to eat.
There was an area with food stalls, and a central place to eat, and on
the other side of the building, there was a sit down fish restaurant
combined with a huge fish market store. That's where we ate lunch one
day. As expected, the fish and seafood were super fresh and
delicious. |
 FRIED SARDINES IN THE MARKET RESTAURANT |
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| Below are a
few more pictures from our visit to Bologna. |
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 INSIDE THE SANTA MARIA NOVELLA CHURCH COMPLEX |
During our visit to Bologna, we also spent one day in Florence. It's only about a 35 minute train ride to Florence, and it had been many years since our last visit to Florence, so that's what we did. We took the train to Florence. Train travel in Europe is convenient, but it's not cheap. It cost about 100 Euros for 2 round trip tickets to Florence. If you plan on traveling by train in Europe, it's always much cheaper to buy a train pass of some sort. | |||||||||||
| In any case, we got to Florence, it was a beautiful day, with a few minutes of light rain at around 1 PM, and then heavy rain at 3:30 in the afternoon, so that's when we went back to Bologna. Florence is as we remembered, inundated by tourists. The most interesting thing we did was visiting the church complex right next to the train station - the church of "Santa Maria Novella". This is a church well worth visiting. It is beautiful, with several structures. Here are some more details about the church complex. |  just a typical day in front of the uffizi in florence |
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| BATTIBECCO |
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 BEAUTIFUL RESTAURANT BATTIBECCO |
Battibecco
is a lovely restaurant with a Michelin star. We ate here on our last
evening of the trip, and I picked this restaurant because we wanted a
great last meal to end the trip. We had high expectations, but
unfortunately we were disappointed here. The service was correct, but cool, and the dishes just didn’t seem to be Michelin quality. We had crispy poached egg on asparagus and ricotta cheese cream, (Alisa said that a poached egg is still a poached egg), tagliatelle with cuttle fish and sautéed asparagus (nice but not great), oven roasted suckling pig with red onion compote, and pan fried duck liver with tomato coulis and nut pan brioche. The duck liver was excellent, but the tomato coulis which came with it reminded me of catsup without the spices. Even the amuse bouche, which was ricotta cream with red pepper was bland and uninspired. |
 OVEN ROASTED SUCKLING PIG AT BATTIBECCO |
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 FRIED ZUCCHINI FLOWERS AT TRAVIATA |
TRAVIATA |
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| This
restaurant in Bologna is a true Mom & Pop restaurant very
close to the B&B where we stayed. Our B&B host recommended it.
Manuela
is the lady in charge, and although there is a menu, her
recommendations are the best thing to follow. She will tell you what
was made special today, and exactly which pasta to order. Our favorite
dish was the fried zucchini flowers. Picture to the left. |
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| PAPPAGALLO |
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 PROSCIUTTO TUNA AT PAPPAGALLO |
Pappagallo
was a restaurant which wasn’t on our radar, until we passed it right at
lunch time. We looked inside and felt that it looked upscale, there was
nice light jazz playing in the background, and it was mostly empty, so
we went in. We weren’t disappointed. The food was excellent, the service was professional, and the restaurant itself is beautiful. We had carpaccio of swordfish, tagliatelli Bolognese, and a prosciutto of tuna on roasted eggplant. Everything was excellent, but the dish of prosciutto tuna was exceptional (picture on the left). |
 INSIDE PAPPAGALLO |
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| IL SARACENO |
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This
was one of our favorite restaurants. It was recommended by Agostino,
the owner of our B&B, who said it was the best restaurant in
Bologna for fish and seafood. He also said that he has known the owners
for years. He called and made a reservation for us, and perhaps because
of that, we were treated royally. Our waiter, Francesco, was terrific,
and the food was as good as Agostino had described. The menu was large
and varied, and the dishes were excellent. We had a carpaccio trio (tuna, swordfish and salmon), grilled octopus with potatoes and cherry tomatoes, linguini with seafood and bottarga, and a seared tuna in a pistachio sauce with tasty roasted vegetables on the side. We washed it all down with generous servings of grappa and limoncino. We liked this place so much, that after a disappointing dinner at a different restaurant, we stopped by here in order to have an after dinner drink. Francesco was there and made us feel welcome with drinks on the house. I highly recommend this restaurant, which is located very near Piazza Maggiore. |
 FRANCESCO AND I AFTER DINNER |
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| TRAVEL GUIDE TO VISITING EMILIA ROMAGNA |
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| LONELY PLANET OF WHY TO VISIT EMILIA ROMAGNA |
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| 12 REASONS TO LOVE EMILIA ROMAGNA |
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| FORBES MAGAZINE ON EMILIA ROMAGNA |
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| A PERSONAL BLOG ABOUT A VISIT TO BOLOGNA |
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| PARMESAN, KING OF CHEESES |
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| FOOD
MARKETS IN EMILIA ROMAGNA |
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| CASTLES NEAR PARMA AND PIACENZA |
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| EMILIA ROMAGNA'S CAR MUSEUMS |
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| BOLOGNA
WELCOME |
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| BOLOGNA
UNCOVERED |
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