February 2017 – 3 days as a couple & June 2020 – 1 week with the family
Sure we saw the oldest university in Europe and some stunning sports cars, but for us this trip was all about eating well. If you said this area (Emilia-Romagna) has the best food in all of Italy we wouldn’t argue with you.
The Avventura’s Emilia-Romagna Map
Overview
When we were considering where to live in Italy, we almost picked Bologna. It was mostly because of the food, but they also have incredible architecture and a great university feel and international school for the kids. In the end, we decided that it was too far from skiing for Lynn and the wine region of Piemonte was better for Dave.
Italy has amazing food everywhere. Since we were coming from the US, we thought we knew what Italian food was. It was surprising to us just how varied the dishes are from region to region. We love the food and unique dishes of our home in Piemonte (tajarin, carne cruda, vitello tonnato), but perhaps the best food in Italy is in the Bologna area.
Tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle al ragu bolognese, green lasagna, so many other pastas, gnocco fritto with squacquerone cheese, parmigiano reggiano, balsamic vinegar of Modena, prosciutto di Parma, mortadella (this is definitely not the Oscar Mayer b-o-l-o-g-n-a), we could go on and on.
Too bad the cars we saw don’t have room for 5 people or the dogs, otherwise we would have traded in our Fiat 500L for something with a little more power. Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati are all within the same area.
Avventura Favves
Images of the Mercato delle Erbe, the Salumeria Simoni and and the infamous tortellini in brodo
Bologna Food Tour – We know that this isn’t supposed to be a list of must-do’s but doing some kind of food tour, either organized or self-arranged, is basically a must when visiting Bologna. We went with Taste Bologna – it was private because of Covid but we think they keep the groups small. We started with coffee at Aroma. This is a small coffee shop run by an award winning barista. Most coffee in Italy is simple, easy and delicious. But, if you’re looking for something more than an espresso, made with skill and love, this is the place for you. After an iced coffee to energize us on a warm day, we stopped by Le Sfogline to practice rolling our own tortellini with the adorable ladies that run the shop. We picked up some pasta to take with us and then paired it with the bolognese sauce from Mercato delle Erbe. Since we still had a little room in our stomachs, we went on to enjoy a BYOF picnic at Osteria del Sole. This is a historic wine bar that has been around for over 550 years and serves up a glass of wine for a couple euros. We enjoyed our picnic of mortadella and prosciutto from Salumeria Simoni, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and aged balsamic vinegar). We finished in the perfect Italian way of enjoying a simple but intensely flavored gelato at Cremeria Santo Stefano. Bologna is such a beautiful city to walk around in with their portico lined streets, the beautiful Piazza Maggiore, and the oldest university in Europe (Fez has the claim for the oldest in the world).
Gelato Museum Tour – We booked the family tour, which is a short tour to hear and see the 5000 year history of gelato, ‘made’ our own gelato and got to taste theirs. We left inspired to attend their Gelato University (yes, really), buy our own gelato maker, and open a shop in Chicago.
Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese Tour & Maseratis – We visited the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese maker Hombre and loved the experience in seeing everything on site from the cows to the warehouse of cheese. Go on the early tour of the day so that you can see the masters at work making the cheese. They also have an impressive personal Maserati collection.
Ferrari Museums & Factory Tour – We visited both Ferrari museums. The Enzo Ferrari Museum is right near the center of Modena and is located at his childhood home and office. There is a huge open room to learn about the history of Ferrari and to see the cars over time.
Museo Ferrari in Maranello is about 20 minutes outside Modena. There you can see even more Ferraris and with an extra ticket do a factory tour and view the test track. We were disappointed that this tour was on a bus the whole time (we were hoping it was similar to the Ford Factory tour we did in Detroit a few years ago where you got to see the manufacturing line at work). The tour was also in Italian (although we could have requested English) and the woman spoke too fast for us to really understand her well. Oh, and Joy had to go to the bathroom from the moment we got on the bus. Unless you absolutely love Ferrari and are a supporter of their racing team, you probably only need to go to one – we preferred the Enzo Ferrari Museum for its location and ease.
Restaurants + Bars
- Top Places in Bologna:
- Osteria del Sole – This is the 550 year old bar we visited in 2017 and then again on the food tour in 2020. See above.
- Trattoria da me – We loved this trendy restaurant that had Bolognese classics but with modern twists in a kitschy setting.
- Sfoglia Rina – They have been making fresh pasta since 1963, and opened the restaurant in 2010. There’s sometimes a line, but it moves quickly. The food was easy, fresh, and incredibly delicious. They also offer courses.
- All’Osteria Bottega – We went in 2017 and Lynn still dreams about their tortellini in brodo, and has designated it as “the best thing I ever ate”.
- Ristorante Badessa (San Donnino di Liguria) – We celebrated Joy’s 8th birthday at this beautiful rustic restaurant in an old church among the farms 20 minutes outside Modena. It has earned Michelin Plate recognition for a reason – the roasted ribs were incredible.
- Trattoria Aldina – While in Modena, the obvious choice is the top ranked restaurant in the world for the last couple of years (Osteria Francescana), but if your planning or budget doesn’t allow for it, we really loved this perfect trattoria nearby which is really exactly what you want. It is casual, inexpensive, and has the most delicious homemade pasta in a laid back setting.
If you are walking by, check out the Mercato Storico Albinelli in Modena. It’s a nice market with long-time food vendors and if you are there during cherry season, pick up a vaschetto di ciliegie di Vignola (a basket of cherries from Vignola) for a perfect snack. We live in a great cherry growing town of Italy (Pecetto), but these were even better. We wished we had gotten two because the first one disappeared so quickly.
La Vedetta B&B & Balsamic Vinegar Tour – We love staying at agriturismos since they are often in beautiful settings and have their own local products. La Vendetta is a perfect example of that. A very sweet family owns the property with their three golden retrievers. We stayed in a big 2-story unit with plenty of room for us, there was a great pool, and we enjoyed yummy breakfast and snacks throughout the day. We also sampled the balsamic that they make (they were in the process of building a new aging room so we did not get to see the batteria of barrels – they have one for each child in the family starting the year they were born). Typical grocery store balsamic is nothing like the syrupy, sweet aged balsamic vinegar.
Some of the cool exhibits at Eatly World – the wine regions of Italy, growing vegetables of the future and one of the many diverse breeds of animals on-site
FICO EatalyWorld – No, there are no roller coasters or characters in costume, and much of it is similar to Eataly we have in Torino (the original location) and Chicago (the largest), but it’s still worth a visit. The mini-farm with lots of different breeds of animals was very interesting and clean, and the mini museum-like exhibits about different types of food and the importance of eating foods that meet the Slow Food organizations goals of being ‘good, clean and fair’ were informative with beautiful design like so many Italian museums. Unfortunately the food labs that demo how products like honey, gelato and bread are made were not operating due to a lack of visitors since this was during Covid. Next time!
Other Things We Liked
La Ca’ Bianca – This was a big restaurant outside Modena surrounded by vineyards with amazing gnocco fritto.
Trattoria Gianni – We came here without the kids in 2017 and still remember the classic, delicious dishes of Bologna in a traditional setting.
Giardini Margherita – This beautiful park in the center of Bologna is perfect for a good stroll after eating all that food.
Logistics and Miscellaneous Notes
Although we drove on this trip from our home in Turin, both Modena and Bologna are small cities and are very walkable. It was nice to have the car to enjoy the surrounding countryside, but as usual in many cities in Italy, you must park outside of the city centers to avoid ZTL (traffic limited zones, limited to residents, taxis, etc at certain times of the day).
Next Time We Go
- Osteria Francescana – watch the Chef’s Table about Massimo Bottura’s restaurant and then take us there with you, or maybe Franceschetta58 for a more approachable version of his cooking.
- The Lamborghini museums were closed due to Covid, just to shop around and make sure we pick the right car.
- Order a lasagna and lots of tortellini from Le Sfogline.
The Avventura 