La bella Italia: Modena

Haven't written a new post in a long while. Probably because I'm getting ready to go home in a month and also because I've run out of vacation days so doing less travelling these days. Or rather, travelling home to see Israel (the man).
Last weekend Hagit came to visit and we decided to go see the city of Modena. We went there with an Italian friend of mine - Lucia - who's originally from Modena and took an excellent guide - Marina Selmi - whom my friend recommended to be with us over the weekend. A word of advice - it's hot as hell (35-38 degrees Celsius) in the summer there and therefore one would be better off going when it's cooler, preferably during spring or autumn.

We stayed at the Cervetta 5 Hotel which is in the historical center of the city. The place was completely refurbished recently, with good air conditioning (a must when it's over 35 degrees and humid) and a nice breakfast. Highly recommended.

When we got into town we rushed immediately to the synagogue (in the pictures above and to the left) for the Shabat service. The place was almost empty. They didn't have a minyan (only 8 men) and nobody talked to us or asked us who we were. Which was weird. The synagogue is very pretty. It was built in 1873 after the unification of Italy in what used to be the Jewish ghetto. Before the building of this synagogue there were many smaller synagogues in the ghetto. After the unification of Italy the Jews were allowed to build this bigger synagogue which faces the square (in the past the main entrance was on the side but once the square was opened (originally, there were houses there) the main entrance was moved to the side of the square.

The Jews in Modena were relatively better off than Jews in other towns in Italy a lot of the time. Modena was a refuge for Jews escaping from Spain in 1492 and also when Ferrara went under the control of the papacy. The Este family which ruled in Modena was relatively tolerant towards the Jews. When the plague hit the ghetto the church ordered the Christians of Modena to help the Jews and the segregationn rules were applied there much later than in other cities. An interesting fact is that the houses of the Jews were marked with the letter "K" (see the picture on the left). Why "K"? Because that letter is not part of the Italian alphabet and so the letter "K" symbolised the separation of the Jews from the Christian Italians...
Below is a picture of what remains today of one of the entrances to the ghetto (a piece of stone where the gate used to be). Note how the house on the left of the picture is situated so as to enable the people in the windows on that side to see who is approaching the ghetto's entrance (in the picture you can see Lucia and Marina).

Saturday morning I went with Lucia and Marina to see the cathedral in the center of Modena. The cathedral and the tower adjoining it have been declared a world heritage site by Unesco. As the site states - the cathedral, built in the 12th century is a supreme example of early Romanesque art.

Above you can see the presbytery (the area above the crypt reserved for the clergy). The walls seem as if they're covered with a mosaic but in fact they are "only" painted in the Byzantine style. It reminded me of the interiors of the churches in Ravenna (although there, there were, in fact, mosaics).

In the crypt one can see a beautiful set of terra cota figures created by Giorgio Mazzoni in 1480. The work, Madonna della Pappa, recreates an everyday scene in which the servant is preparing to feed baby Jesus. If you enlarge the picture you can see how real and life-like the figures seem.

On the outside of the cathedral, there are reliefs by Wiligelmus telling some of the stories from the book of Genisis:

By enlarging the picture you can see how before being expelled from the Garden of Eve Adam and Eve (who can be seen emerging from Adam's side) are sexless...

In the scenes above Lemech (with a hat, designating a Jew according to the guide, even though at the time of Lemech, Abraham has yet to make his agreement with God) is seen accidentally killing Cain and then there's the ark, oddly depicted with Noah and his wife, and not with animals which is the "normal" way of showing the ark. The guide says it shows the importance of the wives/women at the period (another rather novel idea).

Other interesting works on the outside include an arc over one of the doors describing scenes from the stories of King Arthur, possibly the earliest depiction of the story in sculpture. It's not clear exactly how these stories which are English came to be depicted in a cathedral in Italy.

Other doors depict prophets and the months of the year. In both cases the figures are made more realistic by holes made with a nail or some tool of that nature in the sculpture to designate eyes...:

Note that the quality of the work on the left is superior to that on the right. The work on the right was done by amateurs whereas the one on the left was done by experts (if I remember correctly the door on the left is a more important one than the one on the right).

For lunch (and dinner the night before) we went to Caffe Concerto across from the cathedral. Great typical food from the area (Emliia Romagna region to which Modena belongs is known for its good food) and excellent service.

During the morning we also went to the Figurine Museum of Modena. The museum, opened in 1986 by the Panini company and donated to the comune of Modena in '92 shows how figurines (stickers, basically) are created and also shows the extensive collection of figurines of the Panini family. You're not allowed to take pictures in the museum. But I did take one in the bathroom... (shame on me):

The caption says: You are kindly asked to aim at the center....

We went to see the Du cal Palace which was built by the Este family and which today houses the Military Academy in Italy. Note how the left side of the building resembles the right side but is in fact less decorative and less elaborately designed. The left side was built later when the Duchy was less rich and so they could only afford to copy the basic design without the elaborate decorations of the facade...

The academy and the city were hosting a few military bands from around the world on that weekend (an annual event as we understood). We saw them in the main square in the evening preforming some music. The British were by far the best band - organized and also played well. The Americans were the most elaborate with cheer leaders in the front. Unfortunately, the square wasn't cordonned off so it was hard to see the bands amongst the crowds who came to see them...

The next day we went to see how they make parmesan cheese in the Hombre Organic Farm owned by Umberto Panini (il hombre) - of the same Panini family mentioned above who produced figurines. His farm also houses one of the most extensive collections of Maserati vehicles in a special private museum.

Organic in this case means that the cows can only eat naturally grown grass and the like but no artifically created mixtures. Also, they cannot be treated with antibiotics if they're sick. The cheese is aged for 2-3 years and bears a sign indicating that it's the official Parmesan cheese and has been monitored continuously by the authorities to guarantee its quality and high standard. Parmesan cheese aged for 4-5 years is used in hospitals for children and adults with intestinal problems (I didn't get exactly how or why the cheese is good for them, but I was willing to accept this as fact).

Below you can see Hagit and me with Mr. Panini in a rare appearance and another showing the rows of cheeses. These cheeses get cleaned and turned around every once in a while with a special machine - as they age.

The Maserati (and other vehicles) is an impressive collection - even in the eyes of a laywoman like myself. As Hagit mentioned it seems that collecting cars is what rich European men do with their money (see also the car collection at Iscar).

The city of Modena is a center for car making since the beginning of the car industry at the beginning of the 20th century. It started out as an industry to create machines to assist farmers - therefore the tractors. Originally, the wheels were made of metal (I look the way I look in this picture because even though it was still morning it was already over 30 degrees):

From there we went to a little town called Nonatola near Modena. What's there you might wonder? A villa called Villa Emma in which 73 Jewish children from Germany, Austria and Croatia were hidden for more than a year from the summer of 1942 until Sep. 1943 during the Second World War. They lived in the villa rented for them by Delasem (the relief organization of the Italian Jewry). When the Germans took over the village (after Italy signed the armistice with the allied forces) in Sep. 1943 the children where put in hiding overnight by two locals - a doctor and a priest - in the seminary of the local church and in the houses of the local farmers. The children were than smuggled out of Italy through Milan and Varese to Switzerland and all but one (Salomon Papo who was recuperating in a sanitarium when the Germans came and was deported to Auschwitz where he died) were saved. The doctor and the priest were pronounced "Righteous among Nations" and a foundation - Fondazione Villa Emma - was created in 2004 to commemorate the story of the villa.

This is a picture of the Villa which today is privately owned and is not open to the public. We were walking around the grounds of the villa trying to find a way to get closer (the place is fenced) when a neighbor across the street sitting in her porch shouted down to us that we should walk over the fence and get closer since there was no one in the villa. We did as she suggested (the fence seemed like others had crossed it before us). We were walking along the lawn towards the house when a servant from India or somewhere like that came out and started shouting at us to get out. We did, but not before we managed to take a few pictures up close of the villa (unfortunately, not of the plaque commemorating the events which happened there during the war). Another neighbor who saw us coming out said jokingly that we should have been shot.

From Nonantola we went to see how they make balsamic vinegar - the real and traditional thing - in the Acetaia Villa San Donnino. The production of balsamic vinegar is very long (can last anywhere between 10 and 25 years and more) and consists (briefly) of the cooking and then natural fermentation and progressive concentration of white grape must in a series of casks made of different woods without the addition of any aromatic substances. Some of the process takes place in the attics of houses where the temp. can reach 50 degrees Celsius. This heat and humidity is necessary for the creation of good balsamic vinegar. Here are some pictures we took in the Acetaia:

If you're wondering about the pieces of material - they're covering square holes in the casks. The vinegar needs to breath... and if you're wondering about the taste - the real stuff is dark brown, thick and tastes as different from the kind you get in most supermarkets as the real maple syrup does when compared to the commercial kind. The vinegar is almost sweet and can also be added to ice cream. Exquiste. How much does it cost? A small bottle costs 40 euros and a bigger one 70 euros. Dark gold.

After having lunch in the extreme heat in the garden of the villa (I think by this point the heat reached 38 degrees and the humidity was fantastic) we went to take a look at the Villa Donnino itself. A refined example of the Emilian Liberty style built in 1910. The villa which is not open to the public is packed with works of art and artifacts from that period. The villa can be seen for a few min. in Bertolucci's film 1900.

To end this long post (this is what happens when you take a guide - there are a lot of explanations - she was really excellent) here is curiousity Hagit and I noticed in Modena - curtains on the outside of the windows, supposedly to keep out the heat (although with heat like they have there I think nothing but industrial strength airconditioners can help):