When you teach a child something, you take away forever his chance of discovering it for himself.
Jean Piaget
We spent a day venturing beyond Bologna to Modena & Reggio Emilia. They are both known for their food products (shocker!) but they have other draw cards we were interested to see as well.
Our first stop was Modena, most well known as the home of Balsamic vinegar. We did a tasting of course, and bought some delightfully aged “black gold” to bring home with us. You may also know that the world #1 restaurant, Osteria Francescana, is located in Modena. We couldn’t get a table (and even if we had, we probably couldn’t afford it) but we walked by to have a look and we were surprised at how unassuming it is. You wouldn’t even look twice if you didn’t know what to look for! It is beautiful and understated, but very well hidden in the backstreets alongside some office buildings – quite strange.
While in Modena, we also visited the Ferrari museum. Sam has been getting into the Formula 1 lately, so he was keen to see the cars and learn a bit about how they worked. The museum is very impressive, even for people who aren’t particularly interested in cars…guilty! It is fascinating to see the sleek designs and the improvement in the mechanics over the years. I really enjoyed the opportunity to practice photographing subject matter that was very different to anything I’ve done before. You could look up-close at the engines and read about the specifications – all of which is a bit beyond me, but they were certainly interesting to look at!
We had lunch in Modena and a bit of a walk through the town. We couldn’t believe how few people were around – it seemed like a bit of a ghost town. The architecture is quite similar to that of Bologna, with porticos casting more beautiful shadows across the city. It was much easier to get a good shot here since there weren’t any people walking through the frame!
After lunch in Modena we made our way to Reggio Emilia, the home of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. I was determined to go here for another reason, though. This town is the birth place of an early childhood education & development philosophy that is widely respected and commonly referred to within the industry in Australia. You can visit the original Reggio Emilia school for conferences and other professional development opportunities. Unfortunately the school is closed to visitors at the moment, but we did get to view some exhibitions displaying current research findings.
I went full nerd here. It was amazing.
Sam could not have been less interested if he tried.
Luckily for him, there were no photos allowed inside so it was a pretty efficient visit!
We managed to tick off both of these towns in one day…very easily. I’m not sure if it is more lively on the weekends, but we were almost the only people walking the streets in both towns. A lot of shops and restaurants were closed, so once we had seen what we came to see, there was really no reason to stick around. Beautiful produce and stunning architecture – and lots to learn at Reggio Children!