Italy Day 5, Modena: Learning about Tigelle

Saturday, September 28

Castelfranco, Modena, Emilia-Romagna

Highlight: Learning about new foods, tigelle and cunza

Lowlight: Being exhausted from jet lag

After our makeshift supermarket dinner in Castelfranco and going to bed at 01:30, we woke up at 09:00, perhaps as tired as before we went to sleep. It took us a long time to get motivated to do anything, perhaps the stress from driving yesterday still lingering. After showering, we decided to go to Modena around 11:00.

The Stazione di Modena at Piazza Dante Alighieri

There were two trains within the hour, one at 11:11 and one at 11:49. The stazione was about an 8-minute walk and we needed to walk to our car at the shopping center in the opposite direction, so clearly we would miss the window for the earlier train. After running over to the car, we waited in the apartment a bit longer before walking over for the later train.

After the short walk on what was looking to be a very nice day, our first beautiful day in Italy, we arrived at the small train station. We found a ticket machine easily enough and had a bit of a struggle to get it to produce tickets for the 8-minute ride into Modena. The ticket machines are touch screen, but they work on Italian time: maybe they will display the next screen in a reasonable time or maybe not. Maybe the network will be up or perhaps not.

Ultimately, we got tickets and found out that we were already on the correct binario/track for Modena. We discovered this by way of other confused tourists asking us in Italian which track that they should be on. A local woman pointed them, and us, at the departures board that we did not see way up above our heads.

Once on the train, we got seats and looked around for a conductor checking tickets; there was not one. There would be a ticket check on the train the next day to Bologna, but it seems a lot of train rides are on the honor system. The Hitachi trains were very nice, which reminds me that we saw their manufacturing center in Pistoia where they turn out rolling stock for all over. They also seem to have a lot of antique equipment at what appears to be a railroad museum.

Once we arrived into the station at Modena, we followed the crowds out onto the Piazza Dante Alighieri and the city streets. We started wandering in the direction of the city center, in the vague direction of the duomo and the big market, the Mercato Albinelli. Although Modena is really known for Casa Ferrari and the Ferrari museum (and we saw no shortage of the sleek red money pits in Italy), we were more interested in seeing what the town was about. I should mention that we found Modena tourist-friendly with large you-are-here maps near most attractions.

I Love the Peachy Terracotta and Yellow Ochre Masonry

Tempio Monumentale San Giuseppe

Soon after walking by the Tempio Monumentale San Giuseppe, built in the 1920s as a monument to Modenese soldiers of WWI, we found ourselves at the gates of the Giardino Ducale Estense, a medium-sized public park. The primary draw of the park, besides a bit of shade on a brightly sunny day, is that it offers a brief escape from walking the sidewalks from the train station to downtown.

Giardino Ducale Estense

From the garden, we wandered southwest towards the center of town and the Duomo di Modena. As we wandered, some of the sidewalks under vaulted porticos were visually interesting, but often crowded on a busy Saturday. The first stop was the busy Mercato Albinelli, which in terms of city markets, such as the sprawling Lexington Market in Baltimore or Reading Terminal Market in Philly, is small and intimate. I guess I was expecting a better market. We had hoped to taste some balsamico and some parmigiano there at the market, but it was simply too crowded for comfort.

Interesting Sidewalks

After quickly walking through the jammed market, I had an idea for lunch to take Ann to a bar that we had heard is renowned for gnocchi fritti, the name by which fried dough goes in Modena and a local specialty. These fried pastries are typically unsweetened and split open to make sandwiches of cold cuts. If you've ever eaten beignets, sopaipillas, or poori, you know what I am talking about. Alas, that bar was totally full and with a long wait, so we moved along.

Ultimately, Ann chose a spot on Piazza XX Settembre, called Sosta Emiliana, which roughly translates to Emilian stopover or Emilian pause, a place to sit and refresh. As we sat, we saw a young couple in the throes of puppy love at the next table. As cute as they were, they were not as much of interest to us as what they had ordered to eat, a cutting board of charcuterie and a basket of small round breads, similar to unsplit English muffins, but not as thick.

When we got the menu, we found that this restaurant specializes in tigelle, the 10cm warm yeasted breads that we saw on the table beside us. You can split them and fill them with cold cuts, though they are often traditionally eaten filled with cunza, a spread made from ground fatback flavored with garlic and rosemary. To bring tigelle back to our hemisphere, it's exactly the same idea as an arepa. We loved the cunza here, but little did we know that it would be blown away in a few days by some lardo that we had in Verona.

Tigelle and Cold Cuts
Condiment Spoons Contain Parmigiano, Cunza, and Butter

A lot of people were sitting out at the sunny tables on the piazza proper, as opposed to the shaded sidewalk where we were seated. And many of them were drinking beer that came in a distinctive corked bottle. Following their lead, I ordered one of these local ViaEmilia pilsners which was OK and certainly better than the bulk of Italian beers that I have ever had. Pilsner, though, is not my style. Ann asked later for a glass of red without specifying, leaving it up to the server. I have no clue what it was, but it wasn’t bad, nor was it expensive. Try that sometime in the US and see how disappointed you are. Anyway, we learned about two new foods, tigelle and cunza, and we were impressed. We'll have to do this for a dinner sometime back at home.

Still feeling really tired, we made our way slowly back to the train station, taking in what sights were on our quasi-random path back.

Duomo di Modena with Torre della Ghirlandina

Chiesa San Barnaba

Chiesa di San Domenico

Back at the train station, we felt more confident in getting return tickets to Castelfranco, having figured out the machines earlier in the day. However, neither the ticket machines nor online sales at trenitalia.it were working, so we had to go to the ticket window with all the other passengers. I was so tired that I promptly asked the surprised ticket agent for two tickets to Modena. She asked, "Bologna?" and not catching on that we were already in Modena and trying to get to Castelfranco, I said, "No, Modena." Ann clued in before I did and asked for tickets to Castelfranco. The ticket agent then joked with me, "Biglietti per Modena sono gratuiti!" Well, no kidding! Oh, for some good sleep.

Back in Castelfranco in about 15 minutes, we went back over to the grocery store to pick up supplies for dinner. We had discussed going out to the local wine bar, but we were just beat. We picked up a package of tigelle, some coppa, more mortadella (because, mortadella), a chunk of pecorino, and a tub of sun-dried tomato spread to put on our tigelle sandwiches for dinner. We also got a bottle of wine for the evening and one for tomorrow evening.

Yet again, I was shocked at prices and at the quality of the wines that you can buy in the grocery store. All this food and two bottles of wine came to $53. The two bottles of wine in Bend would have cost this much and throw in another $75 or so for the food.

After watching a bit of Netflix, we hit the bed early with a planned expedition to Bologna in the morning.