Tasty Travel In Parma and Modena
Unless you are a die-hard Ferrari fan, you travel to Modena for the same reason we traveled to Modena – to eat! End of post. But for the sake of SEO and my own love of Modena, let’s expand.
Modena is food world famous because of three things: Balsamic vinegar, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and Massimo Bottura’s restaurant Osteria Francescana. Every drop of balsamic vinegar is created in Modena. Every Parmigiano Reggiano cheese wheel is created around Modena. The most important modern Italian restaurant Osteria Francescana is based in Modena. Italian cuisine would be wildly different without any of those three so we gave each the attention they deserve!
Our first goal was to visit a balsamic vinegar producer. The tour we found was the best €6 we spent yet! We were welcomed into Acetaia Gambigliani Zoccoli in the Modena countryside not understanding how incredibly important the estate is to the balsamic world. They’ve made traditional balsamic since 1732 and produce 20% of the world’s traditional balsamic vinegar. The estate’s owner is a direct descendant of the original founder and the current president of The Consortium of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. We were among balsamic royalty, and I showed up to just lick vinegar off a tiny spoon.
The best craftspeople, museums, and tours get you genuinely excited about their subjects. The Acetia’s tour was a perfect example, starting with a lecture that defined balsamic vinegar.
While typical grocers usually stock the more common IGP designated balsamics that have few regulations, traditional DOP designated balsamics, like those produced by the Gambigliani family, have very strict production rules.Their ingredients must come from Modena or nearby Reggio Emilia, and only two types of grapes may be used. Each traditional balsamic is sold in the same bulbous shaped bottle so you’ll know you’ve found one. These balsamics age a minimum of 12 years before bottling, with longer aging lasting 25 years. The aging room in the attic where they sit is the best smelling room I’ve ever entered.
Fermentation is boosted by the attic’s windows staying open and a large hole in the top of each barrel only covered by a simple cloth. This exposure heavily alters the vinegar’s flavor and texture – a texture that totally caught us off guard. While most vinegars run like water, these poured like syrup! We were given many different cheeses, breads, and omelets to pair with 12- and 25-year aged vinegars. Every bite was delicious. A $40 to $60 bottle is expensive but worth every penny if you’ve never tasted them. We just couldn’t carry one around for two more months.
The next day began with our next major food event – a Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factory tour and sampling!
We chose an experience with Caseificio Ugolotti in Parma because they offer cheap tours, have a specialty grocery store attached, and are an established small producer. All things that we love! However, staying in Modena and not Parma meant a forty-minute train ride, a twenty-minute bus ride, and then a walk to the factory. We woke up early to make that 9 am tour and see cheese being made. It was worth all our efforts!
As with the vinegar tour, a starting lecture defined what parm is and isn’t. Every step in making a parm cheese wheel is religiously controlled, right down to what the cows are allowed to eat.
Parm may only be produced in this region of Italy. It takes 500 liters of milk to make a single wheel. However, parm is lactose free due to processing, so I and every other lactose intolerant person reading can shout a hallelujah! Best food news ever! Those lactose free parm wheels soak in a saltwater bath for 25 days before moving to the aging room. There they sit for years, but just like your car, these wheels get inspections annually as they age.
A little Italian man with a tiny hammer comes a rap tap tapping on each cheese wheel. Each tap must sound identical or else he grades the cheese wheel lower since different noises mean imperfections. Grade 1 is great parm. Grade 2 is okay parm but gets its rind slashed to identify it as lower quality. Grade 3 parm is considered so poor that they literally strip the rind off the cheese and aren’t allowed to sell it as parm! That’s how we get generic Italian white cheese. Please note, I don’t know if it's a little Italian man that comes rap tapping. That image is just fun to picture for me because the cheese makers look like Italian Vikings. But there is a tiny hammer, I promise.
While we were learning, we were smelling. The saltwater bathroom smelled terrible, but the aging room smelled magical! Towers of cheese wheels radiate a perfect smell even through the warehouse doors. The only thing better than the smell is the taste. Sampling fresh cut 12-, 24-, and 36-month aged parm is a food experience you can’t forget. They have a certain internal crunch you don’t find in the states. The oils of the cheese add a slight sheen. They’re perfect cheese when fresh.
Balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are Italian kitchen staples, but Osteria Francescana is the iconic modern Italian restaurant.
Our experience at his legendary restaurant is detailed in this blog post so check it out if you haven’t already! The food of Modena is the food of Italy, and food is one of our biggest draws for traveling to Italy.
Modena Travel Tips
Skip the Enzo Ferrari Museum unless you really really love Ferrari. The museum is beautiful and features gorgeous vehicles, but very little context is given to them. Signs simply tell you who designed it and when it was released, and most of the videos played are literally 30 second car commercials. The gift shop merch is also incredibly expensive.
The town is sleepy until night when every corner seems to come to life with lights and laughter. Visiting Modena is most exciting during the town’s evenings or weekend markets.
Modena is between the two huge cities of Milan and Bologna making some trains very very busy. You will likely be in a nearly full train traveling to Modena or when leaving.
Food in Modena is very cheap unless you choose to eat at finer dining restaurant.
The walkways of Modena are beautifully decorated under colorful arches. More than most, this is a city you could happily get lost in just to enjoy the simple beauty.
