when

17.12.19 - 22.12.19

where

Modena, Italy

Parma, Italy

Mantova, Italy

Bozen (Bolzano), Italy

what

This week has been spent traversing Emilia-Romagna, a region that spreads almost coast to coast across the neck of  Italy: just below Venice and just above Tuscany. Although known for its terrace roofed cities like Modena, Bologna and Parma our desires were based around its famous and highly regulated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, Balsamic Vinegar and Parma Ham (shocking that we are travelling for food again, I know!) Our drive across the planes and through the mountain passes was a bit miserable in the fog and rain and we stopped at a truck stop for a surprisingly clean, free and very hot shower early in the morning before heading into Modena to explore for thee rest of the afternoon.

The next day we awoke in a sleepy little village not far from Modena where we had arranged a Balsamic Vinegar house visit. There are seemingly hundreds of parmesan cheese, winery and balsamic tours around the area and I took a lot of time in the evenings the previous weeks to find smaller more authentic visits and tastings that hopefully would be ok with letting us park our van up overnight. Cue Anselmo of Antica Acetaia Mandrio, a 5th generation Balsamic producer who was in so many ways one of a kind.

So much so that Pat wrote a whole post about our experience here.

A fireman for most of his working life, he took over the family business 15 years ago from his mother and father who could no longer sustain the work. Anselmo plants and maintains the vineyard as well as overseeing and curating the acidic and alcohol fermentation stages of the vinegar and him and his family do all of the bottling and labelling by hand. We turned up on time and the 2.5 hour tour was done in the blink of an eye. Anselmo was captivating and humble. His passion for his craft was clearly evident and at times it felt that he was almost testing us to see if we were listening and not only were we, but we hung off the man’s every word. Upon arriving back at the front door, he let us into his office to show us the small-batch collection that he takes to markets to sell. As we entered we noticed gastronomic magazines framed with a smiling Anselmo next to his ‘battery’ of barrels, signed headshots of celebrities thanking Anselmo for his product and pictures of the vinegar master with multiple Michelin starred chefs and fashion designers dog-eared and clumsily wedged into architraves as if they were just another family shot. We quickly realised when our eyes settled on these images (Robert de Niro to say the least) that we may not be able to afford this. Anselmo quickly calmed us by telling us that these clients often purchased the 40 yr old or 30 yr old vintages of his vinegar which sold for around 2000 euros for 100 ml… we opted for the standard 12 yr for under 10 euros instead. We wrote all about our experience visiting over here. By the time we left our early morning tour it was edging toward lunch so we headed to explore Parma for the rest of the day brimming with excitement after our morning experience. 

Next on our to-do list was of course Parmigiano-Reggiano. We found a really small producer way out of Parma but they were unfortunately closed so we opted for a well reviewed place called CaioLatte, one of the only cheese makers in Italy that do certified organic Parmesan as well as the traditional stuff.

Again, our experience was so good it warranted another post you can read here.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that this place ran everything, from farming and milking the cows all the way up to marketing and sales. We camped at the farm overnight and the owners kindly let us hook up our electricity so we could charge everything up and pop the heater on if need be. The tour started at 8am and after a little confusion about who was going to take us, we were treated to a private viewing of the process from pouring the milk into the vats all the way up to the ageing room (which smelt amazing) and finished with an incredibly generous tasting of their cheeses. You can read more about our experience here. After thanking them profusely for their hospitality we tentatively headed off into the now thick fog toward Mantova. We arrive in sunshine and spent the afternoon walking around this stunning and affluent city realising quickly that few foreign tourists visit, a big tick in our books. We stayed her a couple of days before checking the weather and deciding to head to Bolzano (Bozen). It was unseasonably warm for this time of year, lucky for us, and we got a free park right in the city. It was very clear that Bolzano was a place you could spend a lot of time (and money). A stunning germanic village surrounded by breathtaking snow capped mountains and sheer cliff tops, and made even more fairy tale like in all it’s Christmas glory. After a couple of days here enjoying the fascinating archeological museum that holds Ötzi the Iceman, going on long walks, seeing the Christmas markets and of course eating local cuisine, it was finally time for us (and the van) to make our final ascent into the alps for Christmas. But more on that in week 12!

pit

insane rain driving through the mountains from Lucca to Emilia-Romagna

peak

Unanimous vote for Anselmo and his balsamic tour!