Modena

 Yes we’ve gone shopping for vinegar. Now on to the rest of Modena.

Notice a trend to hang things above the streets here.

So obviously procuitto ham is big here (as well as other preserved meats). That’s not the story I want to tell here. 

Fran and I booked one of the premiere restaurants in town (Locanda in San Francesco - San Francesco is an area within the City of Modena). Here’s the website: https://www.locandainsanfrancesco.it/.  First, we had a hard time finding it. There is no signage. It shares a space with a hotel but isn’t really part of the hotel. The address doesn’t have a door, you have to enter through the hotel lobby. We walked in about 8:05 for our 8:00 reservation. No one was there. I asked the hotel clerk where to find folks and he called out. Two very nicely dressed older gentlemen came out to great us and took us to our seats. The place looked like something out of the 1950s. Big high booths or very formal tables, white table cloths, pink and white chargers on the all the tables, odd pastel paintings on the walls, and very bright lights through out the place.  Probably 10 booths and 25 tables total all set and ready to go. 

We were the only ones in the restaurant. Now they eat later here but usually by 8 your not the only one eating. Still weird. 

They brought us an amuse bouche (it was a kind of small round polenta cake with a piped spread of mortadella on top - Fran like it and I thought it the Italian version of a Ritz cracker and Cheese Whiz) and a glass of Prosecco.  OK start. 

One of the older gentlemen took the order for our appetizers (mine was the procuitto pictured above, Fran got buratta with peppers and anchovies) and a bottle of Lambrusco, a sort of slightly bubbly red wine. We chatted quietly while waiting (the place had a library feel to it). Now, the second older gentleman comes out wheeling a cart to our table with our appetizers on it. These are NOT 40 pounds of beef ribs but whatever. Except for us it’s still deserted in the place. We enjoy our starters and order (from the first waiter) our mains. Carolyn got the famous Modena tortellini and I had veal. Delivery was the same with the second waiter wheeling the cart with our food to us. The food was OK but not inspired. So it’s about 9:45 now and FINALLY another patron comes in. A lone single older woman with too much makeup on. She looked like one of those 20’s silent movie stars. So the service was impeccable, the food was good but not great, and the atmosphere was weird. 

There were two of us in a restaurant designed to hold 75 people. It will be a memorable experience, but probably not for the reason the restaurant would like.

A few shots from around the town today.  I think one full day here is plenty. Don’t hate it but it doesn’t have the character other towns have had.

The market was very cool.