Day 17: Rome to Modena

To get to Modena from Rome, you need to first take a 2 hour high speed train to Bologna central station, then another 30 minutes local train to the city center. Our airbnb was located in the heart of downtown Modena. We were a little worried that it would be loud in the evening similar to Venice. Fortunately our place was situated a high end shopping district, away from the bars.

There wasn't much planned for our first night in Modena. We made a lunch reservation for Friday at a restaurant known for their homemade pastas, particularly their tortellonis. You will discover some eateries, especially small local ones will only take reservations by phone or in person. We also needed to schedule a taxi for one of our parmesan cheese tours on Wednesday. After walking 20 some minutes, we discovered the main taxi office was closed for the evening. Later on the night, we found a taxi driver who gave us a card to contact for the next morning. Modena has only one taxi service called Radiotaxi. Evidently, you can text, call, email and even message them through Whatsapp. Very good information to know when in Modena.

Not a even a 5 minute walk from our place is Piazza Grande, an area filled with bars and restaurants. We stepped into Il Collegio, which means college in Italian. The name fits the setting well because the bar is packed with young turks drinking all types of cocktails like cosmos and Moscow mules. Aside from eating and sightseeing, we truly enjoy relaxing and drinking with locals. Many people say you can do that at home. But it's the change in environment that makes it very exciting and enjoyable. You learn all types of things even in a bar atmosphere: the behavior and mannerisms of locals, differences in how they make cocktails, tipping culture, etc. We think travel is essential in growth and development, even as a full grown adult.

A few months ago, we unsuccessful attempted to book reservations at the former number 1 restaurant in the world, Osteria Francescana. We did however managed to score a table at Massimo Bottura's more casual, lay back place called Franceschetta58. This was another incident we ordered way more food than we needed to. For the starter, we began with the Emilia burger, cooked medium rare with balsamic reduction sauce. It has been a while since we have eaten a hamburger but the two mini sliders were just as good as any of the best burger joints in America. The other appetizer was zucchini in three ways: zucchini blossoms, raw paper thin sliced zucchini and small pieces of cooked zucchini. It was a nice refreshing contrast to the Emilia burger.

For the first course we chose the regional pasta dish, tortellini with castelmagno cheese. The pasta itself was cooked perfectly, but we would have been satisfied with half of its cheese sauce. On the other hand, the passatelli was very intriguing because it had all the elements of a traditional Asian soup: noodles, broth, protein and herbs but with Italian ingredients. It was truly a mind blowing dish that one can only understand if it was eaten.

We finished with game tartare and slow cooked tongue. Overall the raw venison was paired well with raspberries and lambrusco vinegar. Some of the herbs were a bit strong and we thought as a whole, it could have used a tad bit more seasoning and acidity. The tongue was fascinating because it was unexpectedly soft and tender. We know it's a tough part of an animal to work with but they slow cooked it long enough to make it very appetizing. Just judging by appearance, you would think it was boneless bbq ribs with the luscious, shiny balsamic glaze on top.

We quickly realized Modena is very different than Rome. It's more quiet and not as fast pace as majority of the metropolitan cities. That being said, there is still a lively nightlife here with many restaurants and bars to try. We're happy as long as the partying is away from our place when we are sleeping. On Wednesday, we have two tours scheduled, a parmesan factory in the morning and a balsamic Acetaia in the afternoon. Stay tuned to hear what we think about Modena's two most famous food products.