Modena... and Our Anniversary

Happy 10th wedding anniversary to us!

We got up and went out for a little coffee and sandwiches before checking out. I was dreading the back-and-forth driving to get the car out of the courtyard, but it was much easier on the way out.

The route to Modena took us across the Appenines, which were just beautiful.

Modena is a modern small city, with boulevards and houses and apartment buildings. It appears to be pretty prosperous, and is a pleasant place to be. The historic center is basically Renaissance; it's a little less interesting than Siena or Florence, I think, but still charming. The feel of it is definitely more northern; piazzas are cobbled, for example. The central cathedral is very impressive. It looks good but maybe a little odd from the outside; from the inside it's amazing – tall, red brick, moody, with gold mosaics and a big gold crucifix. The inside is rather dark, and the gold things are lit up and really glow.



For lunch we went to a place known for Modenese specialties: da Enzo. I had tortelli di zucca followed by an arrosti misti (mixed roasted meats) that included pork, guinea fowl (which was like duck dark meat), and veal. Eric had something called something like passatelli in brodo: a sort of eggy spaetzle. Then, zampone — a stuffed pig's foot (actually, more like a loose strong-tasting sausage). The primi were excellent and the secondi were very good. For contorni, we ordered a green salad and grilled vegetables, to share. The vegetables came with well-aged, syrupy balsamic vinegar ("condimento", which was very nice. To drink, we had the house red. We skipped dessert, but did have coffee.

After lunch we walked around. None of the stores were open, hardly anywhere. Mysterious! It turns out, Thursday afternoon is when all the stores are closed. So it was kind of dead, rather like a Sunday afternoon.

So we walked around the boulevard, which was lovely (there's a nice path through the median). Then we went to a cafe (under an arcade in the central square) to write postcards. As we sat there, a thunder and lightning storm passed through, but we stayed dry and it stopped before we left.

Dinner was at Trattoria del Giandinetto, known for the local specialty gnocco e tigelle — two breads made from the same dough, one a deep-fried pillow (gnocco), the other a flat biscuit (tigella). I ordered it “completo” (a term I've found in Italy and Spain, and in France as complet, meaning something like "with all the fixings"), and it came with proscuitto, coppa, salami, and a couple of cooked mixed meat things; ricotta (the best I've ever had; I'm not normally a fan but this was excellent), marscapone or something similar, grated parmesan, lardo (a potted pork fat spread) made with bits of ham and rosemary, nutella (which is didn't eat) and a mermelada of balsamic vinegar, or something; plus a big dish of raw vegetables. It was a bit imposing, but basically delicious. I also ordered a contorno of wild (baby) green raddichio salad, which was great with the balsamic vinegar. Eric had tortelli di zucca (not as good as mine at lunch, but good) and then coniglio al balsamico (rabbit cooked with balsamic vinegar; also very good). Our wine was a Dolcetto d'Alba. I was overstuffed, but Eric had dessert: amaretti di modena (delicious) with vinsanto. Then, of course, coffee.

The we walked back to hotel. The hotel is a little outside the historic center, and is across from a military base. This seemed harmless, irrelevant even, until I heard the bugle. At 11:00pm and 11:15pm there were short bugle calls. Then, at 11:30, taps. What time will the bugle sound in the morning? And how loud will it be?

Labels: food, italy, journal, personal

posted by Tony at 11:59 PM