Music and Markets - - Following the Music

Discovering Modena

Bologna, Modena

A Modenesa greets us today as we get off the bus in Modena. We passed the Modena signs yesterday about halfway to Parma, so the bus rides today will be much shorter than yesterday. This is the town whose name we enjoyed hearing American newscasters guess how to pronounce a couple of months ago when they told us of the death of Luciano Pavarotti and his funeral here.

The town’s opera hall recently renamed Teatro Maestro Luciano Pavarotti is the first place our guide for the day takes us. We got to walk up and down the aisles; I even found a bathroom and wondered if the Maestro would ever have been caught in there.

A side room holds treasures collected through the decades, such as costumes and beautifully painted backdrops.

Walking toward the 11^th century cathedral, we passed an inconspicuous alley with a big building covered with scaffolding and canvas.

From behind it I could see an interesting collection of little stone towers and arches.

My cries of “I wanna see that!” were ignored by our determined guide who whisked us on down the block and around the corner. She explained the significance of the statues on the front of the cathedral then took us inside to see the unpainted terra cotta nativity scene by Vigarelli – a little less than a third of actual size. This is another church that becomes split-level at the arms of the cross shaped layout.

A few of the marble columns were supported by sitting figures - a unique design.

The upper level with the high altar is for the super-worshippers while the main level is for all the common people. Somehow I don’t think heaven will be like that. Below the higher level is a lower level crypt, cold and with tombs of several old-timers scattered around including one occupied by the bones of the patron saint of Modena. When we went out the side door, I could see on the piazza side of the cathedral the wonderful collection of interesting architectural features on the back of the building I wanted to see before.

A culinary school in town was eager to show of its facilities and skills to us tour operators. Toqued teachers showed us the big table with stools for students of Emiglia Romagna cooking and the spacious kitchen with big stoves for their creations. We got to taste several bite-sized trophies prepared just for us and served along with prosecco and blood orange juice. The chefs described the ingredients for each tasting and we ate it up as we gulped them down before rushing out to inspect a hotel.

On the way there, we got our first strong whiff of the real, live Parmigiano Reggiano for sale under a tent in an open air market. Since we’d not stopped in any cheese shops yesterday in Parma, we picked up a 30 month-old vacuum-packed chunk. It’ll last us about 4 or 5 months if we’re careful not to pig out on it.

The hotel was unimpressive – the opposite of the next stop, which was to me the highlight of both days. Outside Modena and way outside the little village of Rubbiara we pulled our 15 passenger bus into the farm of a salt of the earth family of farmers named Galli. They submit most of their Balsamic Vinegar to the consortium that certifies that their vinegar not only tastes perfect but that is also prepared in the traditional manner. We see bottles of one-year old balsamic vinegar from Modena on our shelves in Virginia but only vinegar that has been certified by the consortium as “traditionale” can be sold as such. It is typically stored from at least 12 years and up to 50 years in little cherry and oak barrels until it thickens and sweetens enough to dribble on strawberries or even vanilla ice cream. We walked through the Galli’s small barn filled with ancient farm implements, by the tasting stand with the tiniest little plastic spoons we’d ever seen, to the stairs at the back of the garage leading up to the attic. Just like big barrels are used to age wine in cellars, balsamic vinegar is aged in little barrels in attics.

Up the stairs we went to the fragrant barrel room where parallel benches fill the room like pews in a country church and on each bench a family of 5 barrels sits. By the wall is the largest but only about 24 inches tall, then toward the main aisle the barrels get progressively smaller and the last one is only about 12 inches tall. The first one is filled with grape juice called “must” and when it matures, the must is used to fill each of the smaller ones. After a year, some of the must from the littlest one has evaporated (the angels’ portion) and the must in the second littlest is used to fill it up. Then the third littlest barrel is used to top off the second barrel. After about 12 years of this traditional method, the balsamic vinegar from the littlest barrel is ready to be skillfully blended with the vinegar from the littlest barrel from another pew to give it the perfect sweetness required for certification by the consortium. This is a fascinatingly slow process and the rewards are just a few 100ml bottles each year. The young 12 year old vinegar goes for 40 euros (around $65) a bottle and you can use your imagination for the price of the 25 to 50 year old stuff.

On a long farm table, Senora Galli served us a country homemade lunch in the building beside the barn. She kept bringing food and explaining what’s in it and how it’s made until we begged her to quit. While we were getting back on the bus, I signed her guest book then paged through reams of happy comments from visitors from Australia, Israel, Japan and other places from which people make the pilgrimage to this slow food shrine.

We made a quick stop at the Abbey of San Silvestro in Nonantola and at a bar for a cup of coffee before driving up to Carpi. I’d never heard of Carpi, sounds like the country cousin of Capri, but there is Europe’s largest city square. We visited a darling little early Medieval chapel with Byzantine frescoes named Santa Maria in Castello or “La Sagra” for short. One fresco is of a frequently seen fight between St George and a dragon signifying the virtue and worth of resisting evil. There are also some early Renaissance frescoes with more animated figures and interesting backgrounds.

And yet another exquisite jewel box of a theater - big business in this country, where opera is a tradition and right.

Like many other towns in the area, several streets are lined with arcades - such a great way to shop in any weather!

Before driving back to Bologna in the dark, we enjoyed another hotel tour and dinner with the managing partners, a welcoming couple who shared our table at a terrific dinner in their restaurant. He graciously replaced some of the Lambrusco bottles on the table with some local Sangeovese for those of us who couldn’t take any more red wine fizz.

posted by Anne and Kirk @ 1:04 PM