18 February 2025 – Modena

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 1,022

Well I have to say that we are very pleased with our choice of Modena over its neighbouring cities along the A1 Autostrade.  The old city centre with its roughly concentric labyrinth of streets is easily small enough to cover in a single day, although you could quite easily spend longer here for a deeper exploration.  The majority of the buildings are painted in pastel tones of yellows, oranges, pinks and greens, giving the place a quite unique feel in comparison to other Italian cities we have visited.

We found an online walking tour which ended at the Garibaldi bus stop so we followed it roughly in reverse order.  The No.2 bus dropped us outside the Storchi Theatre which was built in the 1880s and named after the local merchant who paid for its creation at his own expense after the city’s previous public theatre burnt down.

The 16^th Century Church of St Peter the Apostle was linked to a Benedictine Monastery which only closed in January of 2024.

One of many covered arcades throughout the City.

San Francesco is a gothic style Catholic church.

Fresco of St Francis above the main entrance doors.

The baroque church of St Barnaba was built in the 1660s but underwent major restoration in 1838.

Overhead cabling for electric buses weave throughout the city.  We only spotted one such bus while we were there and its pantograph was down at the time so presumably they have an alternative power source.

We had a good look around the Albinelli Covered Market.  I could spend hours in these places.  Lots of fresh seafood on offer.

Artichokes are in season and we were also surprised to see locally grown asparagus already available.

Massive wheels of local Reggiano cheese.

Of course Modena is most famous for its balsamic vinegar and we saw a number of shops and stalls selling the stuff.  One had small bottles of the really good stuff retailing at €125.  We did consider buying some which wasn’t quite so pricy but ultimately came away empty handed.

Piazza Grande with the Duomo on the left and the Palazzo Comunale on the right.

The Duomo was built in the 12^th Century. It is considered to be one of the finest Romanesque period buildings in Italy and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

One of a pair of stone lions guarding the main doors with some pretty gory looking stone reliefs in the background.

The rather dark and austere interior of the Duomo.

More intricate stone relief work.

This is supposedly the coffin of St Germinianus, the Patron Saint of Modena.  Apparently on his feast day of 31 January crowds of people pile in here to say hello to him.  

The Church of St John the Baptist had an interesting rounded design.  Once again I was left wondering where they found all the people to fill all these churches which are crammed into such a small area.

The Torre della Ghirlandina is the Duomo’s 86 metre high bell tower.  The statue is a fellow called Alessandro Tassoni, a 16^th century poet and resident of Modena.

Giuseppi Mazzini was a 19th Century politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy.  Behind him is the Synagogue with a very obviously armed soldier guarding it.  A sad sign of the times.

The Palazzo del Musei had some interesting sounding exhibitions.  There is a permanent and extensive one of Egyptian artefacts and also a temporary one of Salvador Dali’s work.

We didn’t really have the time or inclination to look at either but we did make a quick sweep of the internal courtyard which had some interesting Roman funereal carvings.

Also this impressive statue of local architect Luigi Poletti (1792-1869).

Our tummies were rumbling and we hadn’t had a meal out since leaving the UK so we started keeping an eye out for somewhere suitable for lunch.  We selected an eatery called Il Mannarino.  They specialise in Bombetta which are little assorted meat parcels wrapped around cheese.

They were very tasty, served up with roasted potatoes and assorted grilled veg, a glass of beer/wine and coffees to finish.  The whole lot came to just €39.

The Church of San Domenico with the Institute of Art next door.

The Ducal Palace was the seat of power for the Dukes of Modena between 1452 and 1859.  It currently houses part of the Italian Military Academy.

The Piazza Roma in front of the Palace is currently hosting an ice skating rink.

We got to see some of Dali’s work after all.  This is one of his famous “soft clock” pieces entitled Dance of Time III.

In more contemporary times Modena was home to two giants of the somewhat disparate Worlds of Opera and Motor Sport.  Luciano Pavarotti has a theatre named after him with this statue of the man himself and his sweaty hankie.  Enzo Ferrari also came from the City and the house he was born in is now a museum in his honour.  There is another museum housing a number of his iconic cars a little way out from the City.

… And another Dali.  This one is called Ballerina Daliniana.

After all that and 14,000 steps walked I had to have a little lie down when we got back to the van.  We certainly won’t be needing anything substantial for tea tonight.  We are still completely stuffed with Bombetta.

19 February 2025 - Cesenatico