May 18 - Modena Part 1

This morning we left Lake Garda and the Italian Lakes Region.  We are headed to Modena for a tour of the city, a balsamic vinegar factory and the Ferrari Museum (which will follow in part 2). Along the way we pass a lot of vineyards with the mountains in the background.  Sometimes the mountains were snow covered.

We have entered Modena and the first thing we pass in the Tempio Monumentali (Monumental Temple of the Fallen) which is a Memorial Church to Italy's World War I Fallen Soldiers.

As we were pulling into town we were stopped to allow race cars that were competing in the annual Mille Miglia (1,000 Miles) race.  This is an open road endurance race which took place in Italy from 1927 to 1957.  It started in Brescia circulated through the Italian countryside and ended back in Brescia.  In 1977, it was reborn as a regularity rally, i.e., you cover a set distance in a set time and you're scored on how accurately you meet the time requirements at each check point.  For the vintage cars, they also score on how accurately the car has been restored.

Here we have a Triumph TR-4

Here we have a Jaguar C-Type which dates from the early 50s.

Next two are modern Lotus sports cars.  They are both Elises but from different years.

Here we have a Jaguar D-Type from the mid 50s.

And another Lotus Elise with a BMW in the background.

I believe this is another Jaguar D-Type.

We had run into this race a couple other times on our tour, in Brescia, Desenzano del Garda and Sirmionoe but this is the only time I was able to get photos.

Once they had passed we walked into town.

This is the Chiesa San Giorgio which dates from the about 1650.

This is the local community theater that they have named after one of their most famous opera singers, Luciano Pavarotti, who was born and first started to sing in the churches in Modena. Soprano Mirella Freni was also born in Modena.

Here we are heading into the city center.  You can see the tower of the Duomo ahead.

Interesting balcony.

And neat house decorations.

The building on the right with the green pillars is the Jewish Temple.

They have a very popular bicycle race coming up, the Giro D'Italia Modena.  They had this over sized bicycle riding through the city to advertise the race.

Here is the Torre della Ghirlandina (bell tower) of the Duomo with the Duomo in the background.

Pisa is not the only city in Italy that has problems with leaning buildings.  If you look carefully in this photo you can see that the tower is leaning to the right while the Duomo behind it is leaning to the left.  In fact the front of the Duomo leans one way and the back the opposite direction so they have been very busy bracing the walls and patching cracks.

They started construction of the Duomo in 1099, it was consecrated by Pope Lucius III in 1184 and it was finished in 1319.  It is of Romanesque design and since ordinary folks of that time could not read, the door frames and entrances are decorated with stories from the bible to instruct the local peasants.  This side entrance is called the Porta della Pescheria (Fish Market Gate).  The frame around the door contains panels for each month of the year showing typical activities for that month.  The lintel over the door contains animal scenes and the archivolt is thought to contain scenes from a very early version of the Arthurian legend but this is still debated.

A closer look at one of the panels of the lintel shows two roosters carrying a pig.  You can also see a crack due to the settling of the building.  There is also a board just below supporting the stone work.

Here is the facade.  The rose window was added in the 13th century but if you look closely at the central door you will see that is is straddled by two columns that are resting on the backs of lions. Those lions date from Roman times long before this church was built.

Carved panels on the facade show scenes from the Bible.  In this case Genesis as you can see Adam and Eve in the rightmost panel.

Here are some more of these instructional panels.

Here is the main side door.  It was added later at the time that the area was cleared for the town's main square.  You can tell that the marble is a different color.

And this young man has found a good use for the lions.

This is the Preda Ringadora.  It is a marble slab, probably from a Roman building, and is located in the main square.  In medieval times it served many purposes including a speakers' platform, a place to carry out death sentences, a place to display a body until someone identified it and a platform of shame.  Debtors would have to walk around the square with a shaved head and a special head dress and then sit on the stone with their bare butt after the stone had been covered with turpentine.

Here are the passageways that connect the Duomo to the tower.

This is the original Ducal Palace of Modena.  There is one room in the palace that is completely decorated in gold.  It was built by one of the dukes who wanted to impress the woman he had married who was from Paris and didn't really care to be living in a back water city.  It didn't work as she ended up going back to Paris and never returning.

Modena is famous for its automobile manufacturing.  Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati are, or were, located here.  Here is the Maserati factory.

We are headed out of the city to go to Marinello and the Ferrari Museum but on the way we stopped for a treat.  Here are the local fishing ponds but what we stopped for was some local Lambrusco, a light red wine, and the Italian version of fried dough.  Very light and delicious.

Besides cars, Modena is famous as the home of balsamic vinegar and so we stopped at a small factory to learn about it and to get a chance to try it.  This factory has been run by the Malpighi family since 1850.

The traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena comes in a very specific bottle that holds 100 ml, about 3.4 fluid ounces.  Here our guide is holding up one of the bottles.

The traditional balsamic vinegar is aged for a minimum of 12 years in a series of barrels.  There must be a minimum of seven barrels using five different woods: chestnut, cherry, oak, ash and juniper.  The barrels are not sealed, you can see them in the photo below.  The white cloths on top of the barrels covers an opening and they are there to keep dirt and bugs out.  The barrels are located in the attic of the building and are subject to the heat of summer and the cold of winter. The vinegar is made from juice pressed from Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes that are grown in the local area.  The barrels progress in size with the largest being the first and the seventh being the smallest.  As water evaporates from the vinegar it thickens.  Each year, vinegar from the sixth barrel is used to top up the seventh barrel. Then the sixth barrel is topped up from the fifth barrel and the fifth barrel from the fourth, etc.  Fresh vinegar is added to the first barrel.  To be considered traditional balsamic vinegar it must be aged at least 12 years in these barrels and is withdrawn from the seventh barrel.  The barrels are reused and repaired as necessary for as long as they will hold vinegar.  There was one barrel that we saw that had been in use since 1862.

Here we are sampling different vinegars.  What we did learn is that vinegar labeled "balsamic vinegar of Modena" is not the real traditional balsamic vinegar but is a vinegar that has been flavored and colored to imitate the real stuff.  It can be made anywhere but is shipped in casks to Modena and bottled there. Traditional balsamic vinegar is thick and syrupy and very sweet.  A 100 ml bottle of the 12 year vinegar was about $64.00, the 25 year vinegar was about $116.00 and they even had 100 year old vinegar that sold for $615.00.  We settled for a bottle of the balsamic vinegar that had been aged six years in oak barrels.

Our next stop was the Ferrari Museum in Marinello and that will be in part 2 of this day.