Lanfranco and Wiligelmo's Romanesque Cathedral, the Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Albinelli market and a visit to a vinegar loft.
Forty minutes on the motorway and you're in the Este family's city after Ferrara: a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque, the city's symbolic tower, and then up into the attics of a vinegar loft, where traditional balsamic vinegar ages for at least twelve years, passing from one barrel to another.
Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.
Begun in 1099 by the architect Lanfranco to house the body of San Geminiano, the city's patron saint, who rests in the crypt. The sculptures are by Wiligelmo: on the façade, scenes from Genesis, among the first great Romanesque sculptures in Italy. On the side, the Porta della Pescheria has one of the earliest images of King Arthur and his knights. Inside, the rood screen carved by the Campionese masters.
Free entry outside Mass times.
The Cathedral's bell tower, over 85 metres high, is Modena's symbol: the upper part, with its spire, was added by the Campionese masters. The Cathedral, tower and Piazza Grande have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997. On the square stand the Town Hall and the Preda Ringadora, the great stone from which people addressed the populace.
Climbing the tower has its own days and times: check beforehand.
The covered market from the 1930s, a stone's throw from the square: stalls of Parmigiano Reggiano, ham, tortellini and Lambrusco. Then in Piazza Roma, the Palazzo Ducale, the palace the Este family built from 1634 when, having lost Ferrara, they made Modena their capital; today it houses the Military Academy.
The market opens in the morning, closed on Sundays. The Palazzo Ducale is seen from outside; internal visits are rare and by appointment.
Traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena PDO is made with cooked must from local grapes, left to age for at least twelve years, twenty-five for the extra-aged, in the attics, in a battery of barrels of different woods, each smaller than the last: the summer heat and winter cold concentrate it. Modenese families would start a battery at the birth of a daughter, as a dowry. The visit ends with a tasting.
All vinegar lofts work by appointment: choose yours and the time beforehand, and put the correct address in place of this general one.
How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.
Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town
Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.
Santo Stefano, the Two Towers, Niccolò dell'Arca's Lamentation in the Quadrilatero, the Neptune, San Petronio with its sundial and the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio.
3 h 30 from Bologna Half day
The plan
The sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, the walk down under the world's longest portico to the Meloncello, the Certosa and the Arca di San Domenico with statues by the young Michelangelo.
4 h 05 from Bologna Half day
The planThe Ducati Museum and factory at Borgo Panigale, then the Lamborghini Museum at Sant'Agata Bolognese with the Miura and Countach.
4 h 30 from Bologna Half day
The planThe Ferrari Museum next to the Maranello factory, then in Modena the birthplace of Enzo Ferrari beneath the great yellow bonnet.
5 h 00 from Bologna Half day
The plan
Count Mattei's Moorish castle above Riola, Alvar Aalto's church on the Reno and the excavations of the Etruscan city of Marzabotto.
5 h 50 from Bologna Half day
The planTrips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.
