Emilia-Romagna

The region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Yes, every Italian will defend their own regional cuisine as the best in Italy (the world, really), but if you force them to admit to any one region of Italy—besides their own—that really stands out for its food, most will agree it's Emilia-Romagna.

There is much more to this long region of tall hills and broad river valleys north of Tuscany and south of the Veneto and Lombardy than just the food, of course.

There is the bustling university city and regional capital of Bologna, with its arcaded shopping streets and tipsy medeival towers, and the Renaissance cities of Piacenza and Ferrara, with its moated castle on the main piazza.

There are the glittering mosaics of coastal Ravenna, a major capital of the Byzantine Emprie throughout was was, in the rest of Western Europe, the Dark Ages.

There are the factories that makes the fasteet, sexiest motor vehicles on Earth—Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati—, the educators of Reggio Emilia who have developed one of the hottest educational methods being used aroudn the world today, and the master ceramicists of Faenza, who have made the most sought-after glazed pottery in Italy since the Renaissance (where we get the word faïence).

But it does awlays come down to the food: The famous balsamic vinegars from Modena, prosciutto and parmigiano (parmesean) cheese from Parma, and from Bolgona itself, those triangular stuffed pasta pillows known as tortellini, pasta in a beef ragù known the world over as alla bolgnese, and the heavily minced lunchmeat spelled in Italy (and the good folks at Oscar Meyer) as B-O-L-O-G-N-A, but also spelled phonetically to generations of American schoolkids baloney.

Tips & links

Share this page

Search ReidsItaly.com