Tom`s travels: Modena (04/01/2018)

A few days after New Year's my family and I decided to head to the city of Modena in Emilia-Romagna for a day trip. After driving one and a half hours we reached the destination and parked the car right outside the old town. The first we decided to visit was the Cathedral, which was partly under construction. A Unesco world heritage site, the church is considered as one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Europe. Construction of the Cathedral started during the 11th century over the burial place of St Geminianus, now the patron saint of the city, and then consecrated the following century after construction was concluded. A man named Lanfranco was the architect overseeing the construction yet not much else is known about his life. Another man named Wiligelmo came along with a group of people known as the Comacine masters (coming from the town of Como) who were responsible for decorating the Cathedral with reliefs, statues, and decorations. Following them, another group of people, this time from the town of Campione, the Campionese masters, came to complete the bell tower and the interior decorations. After admiring the interior and its decorations and sculptures which make it extremely impressive and artistically important, we then walked around the Piazza Grande, the main square surrounding the Cathedral. We were able to admire the church from the south and the tall impressive bell tower, known as the Ghirlandina, at its northeastern end. On the eastern end of the square is the Palazzo Comunale, a 17th-century palace, now the city hall. At its center stands the clock tower and right in front of the entrance is the so-called Preda Ringadora, a stone probably dating to the roman times which was used during the middle ages as the place for the orators to make announcements or as the public gallows. We then went inside the palace and visited the small museum which included some nicely frescoed rooms and the famous Secchia Rapita, a medieval bucket which was stolen by the Modenese people from a well in the enemy city of Bologna during the battle of Zappolino. After the visit, we then decided to walk a little around town before heading to lunch. We passed through the typical porticoed streets and in front of the Ducal Palace, an impressive 17th-century palace used by the Este family and now serving as the prestigious Italian Military Academy. Further on we passed the hidden and unseemly Fontana d'abisso, a small fountain still used to this day. We started getting hungry so we decided for a place to eat, unfortunately, many were either closed for the holidays or full so we eventually managed to find a spot at a restaurant called Da Enzo. Here I had a really good dish with tortellini filled with pumpkin. After lunch, we then headed for the Palazzo dei Musei, a complex containing several museum including the Estense Library, Estense Gallery, Roman Lapidarium and Civic museum. We decided to visit the Estense Gallery as we did not have time to visit all the complex. The museum was formed around the collection of paintings owned by the Este family, particularly Italian and local paintings ranginging from the 14th to 18th centuries. We saw some really interesting and famous pieces and were happy to have had a free guided tour included in the ticket. After the museum, we had another stroll around town this time admiring it by night as the sun had set during our visit to the gallery. After that, we then headed to our car and drove back home.