Rainy Day in Modena

Wednesday May 10, 2023

We sleep in a bit today and then Carol makes a nice breakfast of an egg sandwich and coffee. The umbrella street was an omen as it is raining this morning. It does not stop us as there are a few indoor things to see before our lunch reservation. We head out and find the Church of San Francesco which is nearby and go in to check it out. It has a beautiful altar and wonderful ceiling frescos to enjoy. We take our time enjoying the Church art while it continues to rain outside. Luckily, our place came equipped with umbrellas so it definitely helps to keep us dry when we walk. Although we have great rain gear that keeps us dry, it does get wet on the outside which makes us a bit chilled at times and it does not protect our feet as much as an umbrella does. It is a nice bonus to have them. 

From the church we go to find the Civic Archeological and Art Museum. It is free so we have nothing to lose and do not know what to expect. This museum ends up surprising us with its very varied collection of objects and art. On the art side we see a beautiful terracotta Madonna with Child and San Giovannino by Antonio Begarelli dated 1523 as well as some other beautiful religious artwork.  Then there is an interesting scientific section with all kinds of antique scientific instruments. These include a perpetual clock designed by Giuseppe Zamboni ( could he be related to the guy who invented the Zamboni?) and also some cool electromagnets. There are Celestial and terrestrial Globes that are really interesting. There are also some old barometers and thermometers, some of them dating back to the 18th century. 

There is a section of antique weapons with exquisitely carved stocks and toy cannons (every kid should have one) as well as an area with glassware and wonderful ceramic plates. There is more artwork and a wonderful carved pipe that intrigues me. And to top it all off there is a section with some real oddities, a small mummified 16 to 18 year old midget woman and a strange claw footed man head with a fish body and tail. Imagine going in to a restaurant that displays that as todays catch. As I said , the museum surprised us and we both enjoyed it. 

We have a little time to kill before lunch so we decide to go back to the market to buy some items for tonight. We figure since we are having a nice lunch out, we can eat in later with some wine and relax. This leads us back to the market to buy some items. We get some roasted vegetables, eggplant parmigiana, something with ham and spinach that looks good, and another cannoli as well as an arogosta from the Sicilian pastry lady. In addition, Carol wanted to get some Parmigianno Reggiano cheese and says she will carry it so we find a reasonable priced stand where we get to try before we buy. We settle on the really good aged 60 months cheese and end up with about a pound and a half wedge. While we are at the cheese guy stand, we add a bit of very fresh ricotta to have with our balsamic vinegar we acquired yesterday. We walk our market haul back to the apartment before heading out for lunch.

We get to Zemian in time for our reservation and tell a white lie that our friend was sick so could not come since Gwen and Dave canceled on us. We start with an antipasto of Prosciutto with Gnocco Frito. It is as excellent as everywhere else we have had it. We get a dish of Gramigna with sausage and some cabbage rolls stuffed with mashed potato as our first course. Our Second course is Beef cheeks braised in wine with polenta. How was it you ask. The Gramigna with sausage was very good even though it wasn’t the green pasta we were expecting (like the first time we had it). The cabbage rolls were good but fell a little flat. They seemed to be missing something in the flavor department. The beef cheeks were excellent and we were surprised how much we enjoyed the crispy fried polenta. Does the restaurant deserve to be Number one in town. We do not know. It was very good but the overall meal did not say wow this is so much better than other places we have eaten. Also on a side note, I noticed we got three Gnocco Fritto and prosciutto when the Italians there seemed to get four for two people. It also seemed like our pasta dish was a bit smaller portion than the Italian diners. I feel like this was not done as an oversight but treating the tourists different than the locals. We have read reviews of this in other restaurants but this is the first time I think it has happened to us. Well, every place can not be perfect. 

After our meal, we decide to check out the Palazzo Communale which has been home to the governing body of the city for over a thousand years. You are allowed to visit several rooms of the town hall for free. The frescoed ceilings and the wooden bucket in the Camerino dei Confirmati room remind the citizens of their victory over the Bolognese in 1325. The bucket was stolen from the Bolognese well during the Battle of Zappolino and jealously guarded in the Ghirlandina Tower for centuries. There was even a mocking poem written about the incident. 

The next room is the Fire room named for its large 16th century fireplace. Nicolo dell Abates paintings include stories of the siege of Modena (in 43 to 42 B.C.). the ceiling is coffered and municipal coat of arms are on display here. Other rooms have fascinating paintings with history of the town events, a tapestry room where the tapestries are actually paintings made to look like tapestries, beautiful blown glass chandeliers, and paintings by Modenes painter Adeodato Malatesta. Being a civic building it does the towns history proud. 

We make the short walk across the piazza to go inside the Cathedral. The Gold laced interior shows the Passion of Christ. We visit the underground crypt, where the tomb of San Geminiano, the Patron Saint of the City, is kept. The sculpture work inside the cathedral is really nice. There is a beautiful polyptych which has the coronation of the virgin between St Nicholas and Christopher, St Germanus, and Anthony Abate as well as the Crucifixion and Annunciation dated from the year 1385. It is interesting that there is the crypt level, the church level and also an upper level, something we do not think we have seen before. It is another very beautiful cathedral with its own characteristics. 

We go back out into the rain and colorful streets, then under some porticos similar to Bologna until we find the Church of San Bartelomo Jesuit Church. We are lucky as they have just finished a tour for some priests and lit up a chapel with a very beautiful sculpture of taking Christ off the crucifixion cross. The expressions on some of the figures reminds us a bit of the Lamentation terracotta sculpture we saw in Bologna. This ends our touring day and we head back to the apartment.

Later, we have our dinner that we bought at the market. Everything is really good and we discover the ham and cheese roll is actually made of eggs like a rolled frittata. We also enjoy our Modena Balsamic Vinegar over the very fresh ricotta. It is a great way to end our time in Modena. Tomorrow Dave and Gwen leave us for good as they are going to Venice and then fling home. We will be going to the town of Mantova (Mantua). See you there.

Expenses Roasted Vegetables, eggplant parmigiana, egg ham spinach torte 14.05E Parmigiana Reggiano and Ricotta Cheese 20.12 Cannoli and Arogosta 10E Lunch at Zemian 51E La Mansarda en Centro Apartment 73.27E Walked  4.2 Miles