Emilia-Romagna – two Italian regions joined together to make one of the most exciting and delicious foody destinations imaginable; and it also happens to be seasoned with incredible cities, has a generous pinch of a coast line and a helping of mountains, to say nothing of huge chunks of lovely countryside.
Bordering onto Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Le Marche and Tuscany with the River Po to the north and the Apennine mountains to the south it is one of the most fertile and productive regions of Italy. The Roman road, the Via Emilia cuts through it from Piacenza to Rimini on the Adriatic Sea; on its route are most of its major towns. Virtually all of them have their own speciality dish, frequently pasta. But pasta apart the towns offer other delicacies too:
Piacenza
With its magnificent Palazzo Farnese is chiefly noted for its cold cuts of coppa, pancetta and salami as well as Provolone Valpadana and Grana Padano cheese.
Parma
An elegant, gracious city noted for Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Reggio Emilia
A city of art and history and birthplace of the tricolour, the Italian national flag in 1797, also famed for its Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese as well as balsamic vinegar.
Modena
Famous for its cathedral, automobile companies and Palaeolithic remains, as well as its cold meats and rich balsamic vinegar.
Bologna
Vibrant capital of Emilia-Romagna and home to the world’s first university. The city gave its name to what is today one of the most famous sauces in the world – bolognese! But don’t ask for it with spaghetti in Bologna. Here the meaty ragù, Bolognese, sauce should be served with a thick pasta made with egg, such as tagliatelle or lasagne, definitely not spaghetti which is too slippery to hold the sauce. (Spaghetti is a pasta made from durum wheat from the Naples region and the Naples ragù is a meat-flavoured thick tomato sauce which clings better to spaghetti.) Bologna is also noted for its fragrant, lightly spiced mortadella.
Forli
An historic trading centre deriving its name from the Roman ‘Forum Livii’ and noted for agriculture and poultry farming.
Cesena
One of the most important fruit and vegetable districts in Italy, its countryside in spring adorned with peach and cherry blossom.
Rimini
Historic port and coastal holiday destination serves up piadina, an unleavened bread perfect with cold cuts, soft cheeses or even with jam, cream or honey.
Two other noteworthy cities, but not on the Via Emilia, are Ferrara, Renaissance home of the House of Este and UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving its name to Coppia Ferrarese a uniquely-shaped twisted bread as well as a cuisine inherited from the days of the Estes. And ancient Ravenna with its wealth of mosaics and eight monuments listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, worth visiting for its many restaurants serving traditional local dishes – including frogs and eels.
Most famous foody exports from Emilia Romagna are:
Parmigiano-Reggiano
Parmigiano-Reggiano, a hard textured cheese, made today the same way that it has been since the 13th century. Each wheel of cheese is made from 170 gallons of partly skimmed fresh raw cow’s milk to which a natural whey culture is added along with calf rennet and salt. On average the cheese is aged for two years.
Balsamic Vinegar
Traditional balsamic vinegar is produced from grape must that is heated, matured by slow acetification resulting from a natural fermentation and gradual reduction, ie concentration. It is then aged for many years in a series of wood barrels decreasing in size and volume thereby gaining thickness and a rich depth of flavour.
Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is obtained from boiled must, concentrated must and wine vinegar. The must used has to have come from grapes grown in the region. It can be aged for more than three years.
Prosciutto
Parma pigs are fed the whey from the production of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese which helps not only to fatten them up, but also gives the meat that special flavour. The meat is taken from an animal (the thigh only) at least nine months old weighing about 150k.
Some of the skin and fat are cut from the ham to make it the correct shape. Salt is then carefully rubbed into it and it is left to hang in a strictly controlled temperature and humidity. The salting process is repeated several days later. Eventually the hams are rinsed and any excess salt removed before being hung in drying rooms for about three months until the surface of the meat has dried and hardened. They are then transferred to dark rooms to hang on racks for up to 30 months to complete the curing process.
More information from www.emiliaromagnaturismo.it and to book one of the many holidays on offer in this beautiful and very tasty region www.visitemiliaromagna.com