We visited the beautiful country of Italy for the second time in our tour in Turkey. We decided to do Bologna, Modena, and Cinque Terre and the BULK of this trip was designed around the delicious food that we enjoyed the entire 7 days.
We started off in Bologna and stayed at the Art Hotel Commercianti. This hotel is centrally located right off Neptune Square and next to a large and beautiful church. It is on a very quiet street and an easy walk to anywhere you want to go. We threw our stuff in our room, and asked the hotel concierge to make a dinner recommendation and reservation for this. This has become common practice for us when we travel—to take the advice of locals and especially if English isn’t the primary language—it’s much easier for them to make the reservation, especially since some of the little local places may not have online reservation booking. We walked around town and learned that Monday and Tuesday’s are quiet days in Italy—recovery from the busy weekends we were told. It’s not like everything was shut down but we did have to walk a bit further to find a place to eat. We had delicious pizza at Mozzabella which was a good start to our goal of eating and drinking our way through Italy. We walked the town and fell in love with the beautiful archways that dominated the city—they were majestic in a way and many had old tile or mosaic designs that you might miss if you weren’t looking. We loved walking into all the stores filled with ham, cheese and salami—-mouthwatering. It was so easy to grab a spot outside, order a cheese and salami board and wash it all down with a local Italian red. And the gelato. Wow. We made it our mission to have gelato everywhere we went—-often multiple times a day. The nights we were there the town had a free concert and movie in the square right near our hotel, it was fun to stumble upon that unexpectedly.
After a day and a half exploring Bologna, we took the train to Modena, another town you can easily eat your way through. At one point I commented to Lucas that there were most likely museums and more churches to see but clearly the focus was on all of the amazing food and drinks that Italy does so well. The trains and taxis in Italy are easy to use and we navigated both with no issues. We went right from the train via taxi to Parmigianno Reggiano—the home of the best cheese. We had an amazing tour and tasting and learned all that goes into the creation of this amazing cheese. I highly recommend this experience. The rest of the day we spent wandering around the cute town of Modena—definitely smaller than Bologna but no less charming—the colors of the buildings, the food, the warm people—we loved it.
If you are a foodie, have watched Master of None or just appreciate good food—you will easily understand why we chose to visit Modena. All of our eating experiences were worth noting, but two in particular were the reasons we planned this trip.
The first was lunch at a place with only 4 tables—Hosteria Giusti. You walk into a deli and after confirming your reservation, you are guided back through a little ally/walkway into a room with only four tables. Mario Batali has called this restaurant his favorite in Italy and it did not disappoint. Hosteria Giusti is also featured in Master of None.
Our second and epic meal was dinner at Osteria Francescano. The number one restaurant in the WORLD! Lucas made reservations in MARCH for this dining experience and that’s exactly what it was. It was so much more than a delicious meal. This 3 Star Michelin rated restaurant was a four hour extravaganza that probably deserves its own blog that covers each of the 12 dishes and wine pairings in detail. It was a dining experience we’ll always remember.
Another experience that should not be missed in Modena is a balsamic vinegar tour and tasting. Our experience at Acetaia Villa San Donninowas informative and fun. We learned the difference between commercial and traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena—to be called traditional, several things are required. The balsamic has to have aged a minimum of 12 years. 12 years! There can be no other ingredients besides the grape juice and the bottle is a certain shape. It also must have the DOP stamp on it as well to prove that it’s been approved by the consortium that governs balsamic vinegar in Italy (there is a similar consortium for cheese). It was fascinating hearing about the process and how Pierce Bronson requested his own barrels of balsamic vinegar to be made—we didn’t ask how much that cost! When you have really quality balsamic vinegar/-you just need a couple of drops and you can completely enhance or transform a bite of cheese, tomato and even ice cream. We will never look at balsamic vinegar the same.
Having consumed no less than 4 million calories at this point—it was time to head to Cinque Terre! This was a bucket list destination for me. Once I first laid eyes on pictures of these colorful villages nestled along the cliffs of the Italian coastline—I had to go.
We took an easy train ride from Modena via Milan to Monterroso, the northernmost of the 5 cities that make up Cinque Terre. We stayed here because it has the most hotel options and is the biggest—made sense to use this as our base to hit up the other towns. The train station is about a 10-15 minute walk to the center of town and where our hotel was located. We stayed at the Stella Della Marina Hotel and the proprietor could not have been more friendly. He provided just enough information about the area and some great dinner recommendations. The terrace rooftop is the most scenic place for breakfast, it overlooked the town and the water–perfect way to start your day.
It is possible to hike between all of the towns and many people do. We decided that we’d hike from Monterroso to Vernazza, the next town to us. And then I started reading the blog posts about it—-it was touted at THE hardest section and with tons of stairs! Yikes! It also promised to be super beautiful. So I got over the concerns about how hard it would be and we set off. The first 20 minutes or so was ALL up hill and up many many, many stairs. Phew! After that it leveled off although there were more ups and downs along the way with the elevation. The trail hugs the beautiful coastline and you are rewarded with gorgeous views anywhere you look. We loved seeing so many vineyards that were so steep and high up! We need to google how that’s possible! As we got closer we started to see glimpses of the town and it was incredible—-literally like out of a movie. The hike took us about an hour and 20 mins and we were sweaty and hot messes when we arrived but so satisfied! Lucas went swimming in the water and I enjoyed the scenery! We of course had gelato, a sandwich and some amazing focaccia with pesto, mozzarella and tomatoes. Yum! We figured we burned enough calories. Vernazza definitely had the most touristy vibe and probably the most crowded feeling of all the 5 cities.
You can get between the 5 towns 3 different ways—hiking, train and boat. The train is fast and runs frequently—you never have to wait more than 20 mins. The boat ran less frequently and seemed to be focused between 9-5. I recommend you try all of them to see the cities from various perspectives.
We next trained to Corniglia and this was my favorite city! Despite the crazy switchback stairs you have to climb from the train station to the top of the town. There is also a bus available——had we only known—again we needed to feel better about the vast amounts of gelato and wine we were consuming! This town was so charming and quiet and had many cute little shops and places to eat. It was definitely the smallest but had amazing views of the water and the next town over-Manarola.
Manarola and the final town Riomaggiore are also colorful, have lots of steps and may opportunities for gelato. There are so many great people watching opportunities or places to sit and look at the gorgeous water—depending on your mood.
You can easily see all five towns in 2 days, you could even see them in 1 if you pushed it. The entire train ride from the northernmost city to the southernmost was maybe 20 minutes. But who wants to rush it when there is so much gelato, cheese, pasta and wine to consume?!
We found that traveling in mid June was perfect. The temperature was warm but not suffocating. There were definitely tourists but not to the point where it made us crazy. Italians are so warm and take such great pride in their food and drink. Every bite and sip is a treat and it was hard for us to leave. But we did, knowing that we are so fortunate to have had another incredible and beautiful travel experience in such a spectacular place.
Looks amazing!