Another trip to Italy (Part3) : Modena

Tuesday, my second day at Romanica, Italian language school.
Our school is located in the historic center of Modena, called "Centro storico" in Italian. If you go to Milan or Rome, you will find a lot of modern buildings co-existing in old historical momuments, churches, palaces etc. On the contrary, if you choose to stay a relatively small city in the northern Italy, you will enjoy an atmosphere of a medieval town, hearing sounds of church bells and overviewing a square with tranquilicity. Yet you can get everything you need. If you go to the market near the Piazza Duomo, you will get all you need for cooking. On Tuesdays and on Saturdays, there are some stalls to sell organic products just under our appartment, bread, cheese, vegetable and fruit. When I woke up early (due to a continuous jet-lag) I went down to buy some bread for breakfast. And I enjoyed a conversation with a lady.
"Due giorni qui. Tu parli molto bene. Io non posso parlare niente nella tua lingua cuando vado in Giappone nei questi pochi giorni.(Two days here. You speak very well such a short time. I don't think I can speak any word in your language when I go to Japan." she was saying.
A little exaggerating. I studied Italian before. Probably, it does matter for her. She wanted to demonstrate her joy for knowing that someone from the Far East can speak her language. I thought it is also the way to start a conversation with customers and let them feel comfortable. You know, Italian people love chatting.

After the lesson, there was an activity. A secretary of our school, Carlo, make a walking tour for us to show a wonderful city of Modena.





After the tour, we stayed in a bar at the square and enjoyed having some appetizer with a wine called "Lambrusco" Lambrusco is a sparking red wine and it is a local speciality. The price is also very reasonable. Each of us paid 5 euros or so. If you go to bar to drink a beer, you would pay more.





- (left) type of cured ham "coppa" or "proscuitto"
- (right) Mortadella - local speciality, from Bologna
This region is called "Emilia Romagna". This region is traditionally known for raising pigs and people are customed to eat pork meat. Therefore, it is natural to developed a various methods of preserving almost all part of pigs. I am sure you have heard about "Prosciutto di Parma", the most famous cured ham of Italy. There is a product called "Prosciutto di Modena", from this city. There are more specialitis of this city: "Cotechino di Modena" and "Zappone di Modena", a typical sausage from this city. There are some more. If you really want to enjoy "Salumi Italiani (Cured pork products)", you should come to this town between Oct - Dec because these sausages "Cotechino di Modena" and "Zappone di Modena", are hand-made, following a local tradition. In other seasons, you will find a pre-cooked sausage with some preservatives. It is nice to see and buy an authentic and artisan one, no?