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Northern Italy Trip Review (UPDATED Final Day in Modena)
Posted on 10/15/18 at 4:32 pm
Posted on 10/15/18 at 4:32 pm
Let me start by saying this was a long trip (17 days) and so there’s going to be a lot of text and even more photos. Apologies, but there’s a lot worth covering from this trip, and I hope some of you find it interesting/useful. I’m going to break it down from each place, rather than a day by day breakdown. It’s going to take multiple days for me to get through this, so I’ll update the title as more is added.
We stayed in northern Italy, and covered: Lake Como, Modena, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Alba. There were a number of other places that we stopped at along our travels, but these were the five places we stayed in.
STOP 1: Lake Como
After flying Air France (which sucks, by the way) through Charles De Galle (which also sucks), we arrived in Milan and picked up our rental car. I have to give credit, I was very skeptical of our Smart car, but it treated us well throughout the trip. We then proceeded to make the drive to Perledo, a very small town tucked in the hills above Lake Como. Directly above Varenna, it was the perfect place to start the trip. Very calm and quiet, as most of the tourists tend to stay in the larger areas like Bellagio. Nothing at all against Bellagio, but we were very glad we chose Perledo. Here’s pretty much the entire town of Perledo:
The main reason we chose Perledo was because of the views out AirBnB had. It was a great place to drink coffee in the morning and wine in the evening. Here was our view from the balcony of our AirBnB:
Here’s a shot of Varenna from the ferry:
We stayed in Lake Como for three days, and it was definitely the least structured part of the trip in terms of planning activities/meals. It was nice to just start the trip off in a very relaxed and beautiful environment. On the first day, we walked to an old castle in the morning. It was about 800 years old I believe and they have added some interesting art around it, like this ghost-looking guy below.
We also spent some time in Varenna just enjoying the scenery and food/wine. We loved grabbing an apertivo whenever we could.
On our last full day at Lake Como, we took the ferry and hopped around to some of the other towns, including Bellagio and Tremezzo. Bellagio was surprisingly busy considering this time of year is the off season.
Had a great lunch at a place our AirBnB host had recommended, and I got the Truffle Butter Parmesan Risotto with a parmesan crisp, which was incredible.
There were so many stairs to be dealt with. Definitely worked off my meals:
In Tremezzo, there is a famous and very expensive hotel called the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. We stopped in for a drink:
I know this is terribly photo-heavy, but here are just a few more pictures of surrounding towns and from the ferry:
So that’s it from Lake Como. As I stated earlier, I’ll continue to post in this thread over the next few days until the entire trip has been posted. I hope everyone enjoys.
We stayed in northern Italy, and covered: Lake Como, Modena, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Alba. There were a number of other places that we stopped at along our travels, but these were the five places we stayed in.
STOP 1: Lake Como
After flying Air France (which sucks, by the way) through Charles De Galle (which also sucks), we arrived in Milan and picked up our rental car. I have to give credit, I was very skeptical of our Smart car, but it treated us well throughout the trip. We then proceeded to make the drive to Perledo, a very small town tucked in the hills above Lake Como. Directly above Varenna, it was the perfect place to start the trip. Very calm and quiet, as most of the tourists tend to stay in the larger areas like Bellagio. Nothing at all against Bellagio, but we were very glad we chose Perledo. Here’s pretty much the entire town of Perledo:
The main reason we chose Perledo was because of the views out AirBnB had. It was a great place to drink coffee in the morning and wine in the evening. Here was our view from the balcony of our AirBnB:
Here’s a shot of Varenna from the ferry:
We stayed in Lake Como for three days, and it was definitely the least structured part of the trip in terms of planning activities/meals. It was nice to just start the trip off in a very relaxed and beautiful environment. On the first day, we walked to an old castle in the morning. It was about 800 years old I believe and they have added some interesting art around it, like this ghost-looking guy below.
We also spent some time in Varenna just enjoying the scenery and food/wine. We loved grabbing an apertivo whenever we could.
On our last full day at Lake Como, we took the ferry and hopped around to some of the other towns, including Bellagio and Tremezzo. Bellagio was surprisingly busy considering this time of year is the off season.
Had a great lunch at a place our AirBnB host had recommended, and I got the Truffle Butter Parmesan Risotto with a parmesan crisp, which was incredible.
There were so many stairs to be dealt with. Definitely worked off my meals:
In Tremezzo, there is a famous and very expensive hotel called the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. We stopped in for a drink:
I know this is terribly photo-heavy, but here are just a few more pictures of surrounding towns and from the ferry:
So that’s it from Lake Como. As I stated earlier, I’ll continue to post in this thread over the next few days until the entire trip has been posted. I hope everyone enjoys.
This post was edited on 11/23/18 at 10:28 am
6
Posted on 10/15/18 at 5:19 pm to AbitaFan08
Dayum those are great photos.....and solid info to go with them. You looking to become our resident expert for both Boston AND north Italy? AntiqueTiger gonna give you a run for the latter. All kidding aside, thanks for posting this....
Gonna tag this in the sticky. Need to check if AT’s is there also...
Gonna tag this in the sticky. Need to check if AT’s is there also...
This post was edited on 10/15/18 at 5:22 pm
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:41 am to HoustonGumbeauxGuy
I definitely won't claim to be an expert on Italy. Just had a really great vacation and went to a few spots that are a little off the beaten path (i.e.- not Rome, Venice, etc.) that I thought might be of interest to some on here.
Up next will be Modena along with a review of Osteria Francescana (will probably also throw that up on the F&D Board).
Posted on 10/16/18 at 9:44 am to AbitaFan08
That castle was featured on “The Amazing Race”, and they were tasked with making those ghost figures. The place looked awesome.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 10:41 am to AbitaFan08
Thanks for the info--I'm heading to that part of Italy mid/late May of next year.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 3:29 pm to hungryone
STOP 2: Modena Part 1
Once we left Lake Como, we drove about 3 hours to the town of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region. Very close to Parma, it’s a town with a population of about 100k people, and with a large university there it definitely has a European college-town vibe. For those of you who have watched Master of None on Netflix, it’s the location of the first two episodes in the second season. It’s also heavily featured on the first episode of Chef’s Table. But more on both of those things later.
I will warn you that this section of the trip will be the most heavily influenced by our meals, so if food and food tours are not your thing, please skip ahead.
When we first arrived in Modena, we went straight to our lunch reservation at Hosteria Giusti. The front is a salumeria that has been there for hundreds of years, but if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, they bring you through the back to a room with 4 tables, of which there is only one seating per day. Again, if you watched Master of None, this is where Dev goes for his solo birthday lunch.
This is a bottle of Lambrusco, which is a sparkling red wine made only in the Emilia-Romagna region.
This was hands down one of the best things I ate on the entire trip. It was a gnocco fritto, which is essentially a steaming hot puff pastry with various fresh salumi on top. The heat from the gnocco fritto melts the fat from the salumi, and it’s truly amazing.
Our main dishes were equally delicious: traditional tortellini and a tagliatelle with braised pork jowel, and for dessert a panna cotta with balsamic glaze:
The next morning, we went to a farm where traditional parmigiano Reggiano is made every single day of the year, and were given a tour of the entire process. One tip: if you’re interested in doing this, do not pay for a tour at a private farm. The country’s agricultural tourism body is very passionate about educating people on the food culture in Italy, and if you go through them they will meet you at a consortium and give you an entire tour for free. Seriously, it was over 2 hours long and they would not accept our money.
This is the owner and head cheese maker separating the whey from the curds:
Each of these tanks will produce only 2 wheels of cheese per day. All copper on the interior:
The cheese is taken from the tanks and formed in a mold, then stamped with a barcode for tracking. The edge of the mold has official designs and logos that are impressed onto the cheese as well.
After being submerged in a salt water bath for a month or so, they’re taken into storage to age. This particular farm was considered medium-sized and had approximately 30,000 wheels aging in the warehouse. It’s truly hard to capture how impressive the room was.
Later that day, we went to a Lambrusco vineyard for a tour and tasting:
Coming Soon: Modena Part 2, Osteria Francescana
Once we left Lake Como, we drove about 3 hours to the town of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region. Very close to Parma, it’s a town with a population of about 100k people, and with a large university there it definitely has a European college-town vibe. For those of you who have watched Master of None on Netflix, it’s the location of the first two episodes in the second season. It’s also heavily featured on the first episode of Chef’s Table. But more on both of those things later.
I will warn you that this section of the trip will be the most heavily influenced by our meals, so if food and food tours are not your thing, please skip ahead.
When we first arrived in Modena, we went straight to our lunch reservation at Hosteria Giusti. The front is a salumeria that has been there for hundreds of years, but if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, they bring you through the back to a room with 4 tables, of which there is only one seating per day. Again, if you watched Master of None, this is where Dev goes for his solo birthday lunch.
This is a bottle of Lambrusco, which is a sparkling red wine made only in the Emilia-Romagna region.
This was hands down one of the best things I ate on the entire trip. It was a gnocco fritto, which is essentially a steaming hot puff pastry with various fresh salumi on top. The heat from the gnocco fritto melts the fat from the salumi, and it’s truly amazing.
Our main dishes were equally delicious: traditional tortellini and a tagliatelle with braised pork jowel, and for dessert a panna cotta with balsamic glaze:
The next morning, we went to a farm where traditional parmigiano Reggiano is made every single day of the year, and were given a tour of the entire process. One tip: if you’re interested in doing this, do not pay for a tour at a private farm. The country’s agricultural tourism body is very passionate about educating people on the food culture in Italy, and if you go through them they will meet you at a consortium and give you an entire tour for free. Seriously, it was over 2 hours long and they would not accept our money.
This is the owner and head cheese maker separating the whey from the curds:
Each of these tanks will produce only 2 wheels of cheese per day. All copper on the interior:
The cheese is taken from the tanks and formed in a mold, then stamped with a barcode for tracking. The edge of the mold has official designs and logos that are impressed onto the cheese as well.
After being submerged in a salt water bath for a month or so, they’re taken into storage to age. This particular farm was considered medium-sized and had approximately 30,000 wheels aging in the warehouse. It’s truly hard to capture how impressive the room was.
Later that day, we went to a Lambrusco vineyard for a tour and tasting:
Coming Soon: Modena Part 2, Osteria Francescana
This post was edited on 10/16/18 at 9:51 pm
Posted on 10/16/18 at 3:43 pm to AbitaFan08
quote:
Coming Soon: Modena Part 2, Osteria Francescana
frick you
Posted on 10/16/18 at 3:43 pm to Fun Bunch
It's worthy of having its own post, goddamnit.
Posted on 10/16/18 at 4:11 pm to AbitaFan08
STOP 2 (cont.): Osteria Francescana
We were fortunate enough to eat at the Number 1 Restaurant in the World while in Modena: Chef Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana. Again, if you’ve watched the first episode of Season One of Chef’s Table, you know of this restaurant. He was also featured in Master of None.
This was absolutely the highlight of the entire trip. We actually planned our entire trip around getting a reservation, which must be done 4 months in advance. We woke up at 3:45am on June 1st and desperately and frantically tried to secure a reservation. At one point, I was about 1,100 in the queue. But, we got lucky, and got a table for the exact date we were hoping for. We even booked our AirBnB based on it’s location about 50ft away from the restaurant. Here’s the now-famous gold plate sign with the pink wall backdrop:
The entire experience was beyond our wildest expectations. Everything from the food, the service, the atmosphere, all perfect. There are only 12 tables in the restaurant, and they only have one seating per evening. We may or may not have been so eager to get in that we were the first people to be seated. But that gave us a chance to grab a quick picture without disturbing any other guests:
Before I post each course from our meal, let me be clear that we spoke with the maître d’ at the beginning of the meal to make sure they were comfortable with us discretely taking photos of our dishes, and they could not have been more accommodating. They told us that they actually encourage it and offered numerous times to take photos for us. Again, if you don’t care about food, skip ahead because it was a 12 course tasting menu.
Amuse bouche/aperitif snacks: Fish and chips re-idealized: fishy cracker with malt vinegar ice cream. Very unexpected but one of the night’s best bites. The second amuse bouche were foie gras macarons and a parmeggiano Reggiano crisp cracker. The third: eel chips made to look like sardines and popovers with local rabbit:
Course 1: Insalata di mare: Lettuce salad with seafood (fish, octopus, caviar, etc.), beet chips, seaweed chips
Course 2: Burnt: Cracker made from burnt sardines and a soup made from squid ink and sardines with lemongrass and chili. Weird and unexpected. The soup had a freshness that was really surprising.
Course 3: Mediterranean Sole: representative of two styles of cooking sole: parchment paper (the paper looking stuff here tasted like baked fish and was completely edible) and the Italian traditional way which is pan seared with tomatoes, capers, and olive oil. All of this and a big piece of sole under the paper
Course 4: Autumn in NY, Summer in Modena. The constant in this dish is that it’s always “Autumn in NY” and always the shape of apple. As seasons in Modena change, so does the ingredients, so for the Summer in Modena portion it was: green tomato gelatin, roasted tomatoes, tomato confit, dots of mozzarella and anchovies, with ham broth – another standout dish.
Course 5: Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano. This was the dish I was most excited to try, and it lived up to the hype -- absolute favorite of the meal. Cream sauce, Foam, Crisp, Semifreddo, Mousse (hiding behind the cream sauce). Ages 6-60 months
Course 6: In the Country side. Under a bed of greens is green raviolis with rabbit and bourguignon style snails cooked in a deep red wine sauce. My wife was not a fan of snails so I got extra.
Course 7: Fallow Deer. Roasted and seared venison with blueberry sauce and mango cream lettuce with peanuts, and mints with parsley sauce.
Palate Cleanser: Summer tart with marinated tomatoes, lemon, and melon with mint.
Course 8: Wagyu no wagyu. Looks like wagyu beef cured and sliced but no beef at all. All fresh and local pork, including the ponzu style sauce
Course 9: Eggplant between Noto and Instanbul. Pickled eggplant with mango and mint plus some ricotta ice cream and mousse with a Lambrusco sauce.
Course 10: Massimo’s famous Oops I dropped the lemon tart!
Course 11: Baba, traditional dessert from naples... ricotta-filled spongecake with strawberry sauce and marinated tomatoes and oregano with grated burnt orange zest
Course 12: Complimentary goodbye bites. 1. Chocolate with sour cherry liquid center; 2. Looks like an ice cream bar, actually foie gras with balsamic gel inside and walnut outside, 3. Chocolate camo with truffle and mushroom
To say we enjoyed the meal is an extreme understatement. Unfortunately, Massimo was not there that evening and so our one regret was that we didn’t get a chance to meet him. However, the next morning we were walking by the restaurant and our sommelier happened to recognize us. He knew we were hoping to meet the chef, so he let us go back into the restaurant and through the kitchen to find him! We ended up chatting with Massimo for a few minutes, got to take a photo with him, and he even signed our menu. He was every bit as nice as he comes across on TV. It was truly a special and once-in-a-lifetime moment. We love food so he’s a celebrity to us. :lol: Here’s our signed menu: “Cooking is our act of love”
We were fortunate enough to eat at the Number 1 Restaurant in the World while in Modena: Chef Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana. Again, if you’ve watched the first episode of Season One of Chef’s Table, you know of this restaurant. He was also featured in Master of None.
This was absolutely the highlight of the entire trip. We actually planned our entire trip around getting a reservation, which must be done 4 months in advance. We woke up at 3:45am on June 1st and desperately and frantically tried to secure a reservation. At one point, I was about 1,100 in the queue. But, we got lucky, and got a table for the exact date we were hoping for. We even booked our AirBnB based on it’s location about 50ft away from the restaurant. Here’s the now-famous gold plate sign with the pink wall backdrop:
The entire experience was beyond our wildest expectations. Everything from the food, the service, the atmosphere, all perfect. There are only 12 tables in the restaurant, and they only have one seating per evening. We may or may not have been so eager to get in that we were the first people to be seated.
But that gave us a chance to grab a quick picture without disturbing any other guests: Before I post each course from our meal, let me be clear that we spoke with the maître d’ at the beginning of the meal to make sure they were comfortable with us discretely taking photos of our dishes, and they could not have been more accommodating. They told us that they actually encourage it and offered numerous times to take photos for us. Again, if you don’t care about food, skip ahead because it was a 12 course tasting menu.
Amuse bouche/aperitif snacks: Fish and chips re-idealized: fishy cracker with malt vinegar ice cream. Very unexpected but one of the night’s best bites. The second amuse bouche were foie gras macarons and a parmeggiano Reggiano crisp cracker. The third: eel chips made to look like sardines and popovers with local rabbit:
Course 1: Insalata di mare: Lettuce salad with seafood (fish, octopus, caviar, etc.), beet chips, seaweed chips
Course 2: Burnt: Cracker made from burnt sardines and a soup made from squid ink and sardines with lemongrass and chili. Weird and unexpected. The soup had a freshness that was really surprising.
Course 3: Mediterranean Sole: representative of two styles of cooking sole: parchment paper (the paper looking stuff here tasted like baked fish and was completely edible) and the Italian traditional way which is pan seared with tomatoes, capers, and olive oil. All of this and a big piece of sole under the paper
Course 4: Autumn in NY, Summer in Modena. The constant in this dish is that it’s always “Autumn in NY” and always the shape of apple. As seasons in Modena change, so does the ingredients, so for the Summer in Modena portion it was: green tomato gelatin, roasted tomatoes, tomato confit, dots of mozzarella and anchovies, with ham broth – another standout dish.
Course 5: Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano. This was the dish I was most excited to try, and it lived up to the hype -- absolute favorite of the meal. Cream sauce, Foam, Crisp, Semifreddo, Mousse (hiding behind the cream sauce). Ages 6-60 months
Course 6: In the Country side. Under a bed of greens is green raviolis with rabbit and bourguignon style snails cooked in a deep red wine sauce. My wife was not a fan of snails so I got extra.
Course 7: Fallow Deer. Roasted and seared venison with blueberry sauce and mango cream lettuce with peanuts, and mints with parsley sauce.
Palate Cleanser: Summer tart with marinated tomatoes, lemon, and melon with mint.
Course 8: Wagyu no wagyu. Looks like wagyu beef cured and sliced but no beef at all. All fresh and local pork, including the ponzu style sauce
Course 9: Eggplant between Noto and Instanbul. Pickled eggplant with mango and mint plus some ricotta ice cream and mousse with a Lambrusco sauce.
Course 10: Massimo’s famous Oops I dropped the lemon tart!
Course 11: Baba, traditional dessert from naples... ricotta-filled spongecake with strawberry sauce and marinated tomatoes and oregano with grated burnt orange zest
Course 12: Complimentary goodbye bites. 1. Chocolate with sour cherry liquid center; 2. Looks like an ice cream bar, actually foie gras with balsamic gel inside and walnut outside, 3. Chocolate camo with truffle and mushroom
To say we enjoyed the meal is an extreme understatement. Unfortunately, Massimo was not there that evening and so our one regret was that we didn’t get a chance to meet him. However, the next morning we were walking by the restaurant and our sommelier happened to recognize us. He knew we were hoping to meet the chef, so he let us go back into the restaurant and through the kitchen to find him! We ended up chatting with Massimo for a few minutes, got to take a photo with him, and he even signed our menu. He was every bit as nice as he comes across on TV. It was truly a special and once-in-a-lifetime moment. We love food so he’s a celebrity to us. :lol: Here’s our signed menu: “Cooking is our act of love”
Posted on 10/16/18 at 11:13 pm to AbitaFan08
My wife and I still talk about our meal there.
We have been fortunate enough to eat at many starred restaurants around the world...Osteria and Eleven Madison were the best.
Northern Italy is second only to Northern Spain in my opinion. It's truly special. Modena is an enchanting city.
We have been fortunate enough to eat at many starred restaurants around the world...Osteria and Eleven Madison were the best.
Northern Italy is second only to Northern Spain in my opinion. It's truly special. Modena is an enchanting city.
Posted on 10/17/18 at 1:06 am to AbitaFan08
I’m so jealous!!!! Awesome trip review and awesome dinner review.
I’m so mad I didn’t refresh. I literally was 99 going into this shite.
Y’all had a great trip. Loved reading every bit of it
I’m so mad I didn’t refresh. I literally was 99 going into this shite.
Y’all had a great trip. Loved reading every bit of it
Posted on 10/17/18 at 6:57 am to AbitaFan08
Thanks in advance for the cash I will be shelling out soon for our trip to Italy.
Awesome pics and awesome reviews from you and AT have given me no choice. My wife (no pics) is a photographer and has been wanting to go to Italy.
Yall’s posts sealed the deal.
Awesome pics and awesome reviews from you and AT have given me no choice. My wife (no pics) is a photographer and has been wanting to go to Italy.
Yall’s posts sealed the deal.
Posted on 10/17/18 at 7:46 am to HoustonGumbeauxGuy
If you're into wine wait until I post my pics and review. You'll need a second mortgage on the house.
Posted on 10/23/18 at 9:49 pm to AbitaFan08
Just curious if you had any more info or pictures from Cinque Terre. The wife and I were just talking about it, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Posted on 10/24/18 at 3:36 am to AbitaFan08
AbitaFan, can you expound on how to do the free cheese tour? What is this consortium? My gf and I want to take a quick weekend trip this weekend, and she would love this. I just feel if we did this I would have to set something up today or lose the chance
Posted on 10/24/18 at 7:51 am to LSU_PETE_2012
Yes I haven’t finished the whole trip review. It’s takes some time, so I’ve been lazy about finishing it.
I’ll do my best to get another segment of the trip in this afternoon. Have to include the Tuscany/Florence area and then Cinque Terre can be added.
I’ll do my best to get another segment of the trip in this afternoon. Have to include the Tuscany/Florence area and then Cinque Terre can be added.
Posted on 10/24/18 at 8:01 am to AbitaFan08
I have this bookedmarked. Thanks. Looks amazing. Do you mind sharing financials?
Posted on 10/24/18 at 8:19 am to AUCE05
I don't have an exact breakdown or anything from the trip, but if you have any specific questions on cost I'd be happy to help out where I can.
Posted on 10/24/18 at 8:29 am to AbitaFan08
Just an estimate on what to save for a similar trip. This is on the bucket list.
Posted on 10/24/18 at 8:35 am to AUCE05
I believe our flights, hotels/AirBnBs, car rental, and costs for things like tours only came to a bit over $3,000. Of course, you could always go a bit cheaper or spend a lot more, but I honestly feel like we had really great spots to stay and it's not like we flew on a budget airline.
Also, this does not include most things like meals, wine, etc. That's a much more subjective number depending on where you eat, what you eat, how much you drink, how many bottles of wine you're buying on a tour, etc.
Also, this does not include most things like meals, wine, etc. That's a much more subjective number depending on where you eat, what you eat, how much you drink, how many bottles of wine you're buying on a tour, etc.
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