It feels like forever since I have last written…most likely because it has been forever. I apologize for falling behind in this. The last several weeks have been crazy with studying, midterms, and then spring break. I am going to break this into two or three blog posts to make it a bit easier. A few weekends ago, right before midterms, I spent a weekend in the region of Emilia-Romagna, which is north of Tuscany. The weekend started out with my architecture class going to a quaint little Renaissance city called Mantova (Mantua), which was great. Not much has changed in this town since the 15th Century, save for the always present McDonald’s which I think might now be a requirement in all European cities, sadly. We toured the Palazzo Ducale and a few beautiful churches, both similar and different from what we have in Firenze. The Churches of San Sebastiano and Sant’Andrea were absolutely beautiful. We also walked around the perimeter of the Palazzo Te’, which was built purely for pleasure. When it came time to have lunch, my professor recommended to all of us that we try a local specialty: pumpkin ravioli. For the life of me, I cannot remember their proper name, but I will have to find out so I can get them at home. They are sooo good! It’s a really simple dish, but really filling. The ravioli are much sweeter than one might expect, and the only thing put on them is butter. Believe me, it is more than enough. If you’re ever in the region, definitely try these; you won’t be disappointed. When everyone left to return to Firenze, I went to the train station with a girl who was traveling to Milan so that I could catch my train to Modena. Modena is known for two things: the world’s best balsamic vinegar and fast Italian sports cars! If you ask anyone from Modena about balsamic vinegar, they will tell you that vinegar from anywhere else isn’t as good because the climate and conditions are perfect qui! (here!). From what I tasted, I have to agree with them. I met up with Patrick and Niberly to spend Friday and Saturday nights in Modena, with a day trip to Maranello planned for Saturday. For those who aren’t familiar with this name, Maranello is home to Ferrari. It has it’s factory, museum, and testing track all in the town. As you drive into town, you can see the track off in the distance where Ferraris are raced and tested nearly all day long. As soon as you step outside, all you can hear is the roar of the engines. For a car enthusiast, this is heaven! Upon entering the museum, you’re hit with a blast of Ferrari red everything. It can actually be a bit overwhelming, but I loved it. The first floor was filled with their F1 racing cars dating back to the earliest days of Ferrari and Formula 1 racing. There were several engines on display, as well, which were quite impressive. The second and third floors had me drooling for a solid hour and a half. This is where all of their production cars are held. I have to say, the 80s really did suck for everything (awful music, pretty bad movies, and some really ugly cars). I breezed through the one room that had an early 80s model along with a late 70s car (which was actually kind of nice). The top floor was a room that I did not want to leave. EVER. I would seriously move in if Ferrari would let me and I didn’t have to become a productive citizen in a little over two years (which is a really scary thought, by the way). Their most expensive, fastest, most gorgeous cars were kept here. F40, F50, Enzo, Dino, 612 Scaglietti, 360 Modena. They even had a cool four seat touring sedan from the 40s which I would definitely buy if I ever had the money. The only way to describe this floor is pure HOTNESS. Some would go as far as describing the floor as SEX, but I’m not sure that I would go that far. After they dragged me out of the museum kicking and screaming like a little four year old who just had his toys taken off him for misbehaving (this isn’t all that far from the truth), the three of us got back on the bus to return to Modena. Backing up a little bit, I missed a balsamic vinegar tasting earlier on Friday while I was with my class in Mantova. Apparently it was held in this little 80 year old lady’s home where her family has been making it for nearly 100 years. Her grandson and granddaughter were there to help out, as each has a barrel of their own in the business. Since Patrick and Niberly were staying in Modena, they gave their cell numbers to them in case we wanted recommendations or needed help. Seriously, the Italians are the nicest people I’ve met. Even if it means going a mile out of their way to help you find a place you’re looking for because you’re lost, they’ll walk with you until you find it. So this leads me into what was actually the true highlight of the trip for me. It was Saturday night, and Niberly wanted to call Enrico to thank him for the vinegar tasting and to ask for a recommendation for dinner. When she asked about the dinner, he told us that he and a friend were going out to dinner and they would love for us to join them. He had a car, so he would be able to pick us up from our hostel (really interesting, by the way, so I’ll get to that in a few). They said he was a really nice guy, so I agreed that it’d be fine with me if we did this. About an hour later, he called to say that he was in front of the hostel, and to look for a “sporty” car. We thought that maybe he was going to be sitting there in a two door coupe that you’d need to be a double amputee in order to fit in the back seat. Well, we got outside to see a blue, four door Fiat cube thing. We’re not really sure what it was. It had the body of an SUV, but was the size of a compact car…quite fun, actually. And those things can move. We were speeding along a little faster than we should have been considering we were on dark country roads going to God only knows where. In perfect, somewhat British English (self-taught, as well), he told us that we were going to have dinner in a little town about half an hour away called Levizzano. When we got there, it was a huge breath of fresh air. There are very few cars there, and you’re in the mountains overlooking Modena, so the air is very clear and refreshing. We had dinner in a little osteria and had amazing local dishes. I allowed Enrico to order for me so that I would be sure to have the most local dishes possible. We ended up having great tortelli (undone tortellini) in a creamy meat sauce, rigatoni with red sauce and venison (ohmygod, the best!), and a dish called ti gelli (sp?). Ti gelli is little round bread that is about half an inch thick and served straight out of the oven. You get a huge dish of cold cuts like copa, prosciutto, salame, as well as cheeses, spreads, and Nutella (for a sweet last bite!!!). It was such a good dinner. We then finished off the dinner with an after dinner apperativo called Nociolino, a mixture of hazelnut, walnut, and grain alcohol (in this case, it was tamed down because it wasn’t homemade). This is actually a really sweet and smooth drink to have after dinner, however one glass is sure to leave you slurring a little (don’t worry; Enrico didn’t have any…Italy has really strict drinking and driving laws). I could not have asked for a better night. This is something that I never would have had the chance to do on my own since you cannot get to Levizzano unless you own a car. We ate foods that we wouldn’t have known to order on our own. Overall it was a great weekend, and this was certainly the best way to finish it. As I said earlier, we stayed in a hostel, which I had never done before. It was an experience. The place itself was clean and the people were nice. The problem was the bathroom. When we booked, it said “private bathroom.” Well, they weren’t completely lying to us. However, our bathroom wasn’t totally private. It was a room within a room of bathrooms. You had a key to it, and it was at the end of the hallway. Luckily, we were close to it, but it was still a pain. Oh yeah, and we were basically in the ghetto of Modena, but I felt pretty safe. It was like walking through a sketchy part of the West Village after sunset…nothing too bad. Up next, Spring Break…
