ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
EMILIA-ROMAGNA
Emilia-Romagna ROME
Polesine Zibello IT AL Y
Basilicagoiano Parma
Correggio
LUSVARDI VINEYARD
Reggio Emilia
10 miles Modena
The Cathedral of Santa
Maria Assunta in Carpi, a town north of Modena
GETTING THERE & AROUND No airlines fly direct to Parma from the UK. Multiple airlines fly from London, Manchester and other UK airports to Milan (80 miles from Parma) or Bologna (30 miles from Modena) year-round, including British Airways, Swiss and EasyJet.
ba.com
swiss.com
easyjet.com Average flight time: 2h30m. Alternatively, train travel is possible from London St Pancras to Parma, with changes in Paris, Geneva and Milan.
thetrainline.com Average journey time: 15h. Trenitalia offers regular services that connect Parma, Reggio-Emilia and Modena with Milan and Bologna.
trenitalia.com
suffusing the reverential gloom with a warm glow. Satisfied, she carefully hands me a white ceramic spoon filled with a glossy, viscous liquid that started its journey a few years after the end of the First World War. I invert the spoon in my mouth, as
instructed, and press the liquid into my tongue. Notes of black cherry. Tamarind and chocolate. Liquorice. “It’s a party in your mouth,” says Madalena. It is, but there’s also an elixir quality; I can see why, for centuries, balsamic vinegar was feted for its health-giving properties. “My nonna still puts a few drops on a teaspoon when she’s unwell,” says Madalena. Working here reminds her to be mindful,
she tells me. “What I love is that there can be no shortcuts. We have to be passionate to do a great job but we also must be patient.” My last few miles offer a final reminder
of the enduring satisfaction of two-wheeled travel: it’s fast enough to outrun mundanity, as I do with Modena’s persistently charmless suburbs, yet it’s slow enough to enjoy the unfurling of the nucleus of a historic European city. Nimble, too; while the Modenese motorists honk themselves to a standstill, I glide directly up to the Ghirlandina belltower, the 295ft-high spectral beacon that serves as the city’s totem. It’s to be a final evening of indulgence.
Local staple gnocco fritto — golden pillows of lard-enriched dough draped in silken sheets of culatello; the flourless torta barozzi — the ‘black cake of Modena’ — a delectable concoction of chocolate, peanuts, almonds, coffee and often rum; and, of course, tortellini.
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NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL The distinctive pasta parcels are still rolled
by hand in the little kitchen above Salumeria Hosteria Giusti, a revered deli-restaurant a couple of streets from Modena’s 12th-century cathedral. Its modest olive-green facade is adorned with 3D gold-leaf lettering. Ceramic floral ceiling lamps light the interior. Its understated restaurant, tucked away in a former butcher’s out back, is one of the city’s most sought-after reservations. The small tray of handcrafted tortellini
behind the counter — pristine, delicate parcels of pork, mozzarella, nutmeg and parmigiano reggiano — has been made by Candida Mangone. It’s a slow process, she explains: a kilogram in an hour, on a good day. She nudges her younger colleague,
Anna Spaliviero, who offers me a small scoop. It’s not in a slow-cooked broth, nor sprinkled with a sedulously crafted parmigiano- reggiano, just raw, in the fingertips — as generations of Italian children will have enjoyed them, furtively leaning over their grandmother’s shoulder in the kitchen at Christmas. And it’s sublime. As I chat to the duo, quizzing them on dishes’
ingredients and provenance, the clock ticks past closing time. I’m reminded of something Madalena confided to me earlier in the day. “I realised recently that the only time I wasn’t talking about food or thinking about food was when I was eating,” she’d said, with a laugh. After a week cycling through Emilia-
Romagna, I’m clearly on that very same road to obsession.
WHEN TO GO Emilia-Romagna’s climate is mild and dry. Autumn and spring are rewarding times to visit, when the mugginess of summer eases but temperatures still touch 25C. Winters in the Po Valley are cool, wet and foggy.
WHERE TO STAY Hotel Button, Parma. Doubles from £70, B&B.
hotelbutton.it Hotel Posta, Reggio-Emilia. Doubles from £100, B&B.
hotelposta.re.it Hotel dei Medaglioni, Correggio. Doubles from €114 (£99), B&B.
phihoteldeimedaglioni.com Hotel Canalgrande, Modena. Doubles from €165 (£144), B&B.
phihotelcanalgrande.com
MORE INFO
emiliaromagnaturismo.it Northern Italy: Emilia-Romagna. £16.99.
bradtguides.com
HOW TO DO It Inntravel offers a six-night, self-guided cycle tour of central Emilia-Romagna from £1,010 per person. Price includes stays in three four-star hotels and one three-star (all B&B), bike hire, route notes, maps, GPS navigation and daily luggage transfers. Excludes flights or rail travel from the UK.
inntravel.co.uk
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