Globe Trotting Trina

So if you’re like me and are a fan of the critically acclaimed Netflix original “Masters of None” then you may have heard of the small Italian town of Modena. In the series, Aziz Ansaris’ character spends three months learning how to make pasta in, you guessed it, Modena! Aziz actually spent a full month in the town filming. So as a fan of the show, this was one of my selling points to visit.

However, if you haven't watched the show (seriously, why haven’t you?), you may have heard of the city for creating balsamic vinegar or for being behind the invention of the Ferrari. Since I lack interest in motor vehicles, the food and Aziz Ansari motivated me to check out the city only a mere hour or so away from where I’m living.

So like every day trip, our journey began with a bus ride from Cento (for four euros) and a very early wake up. Needless to say our first stop on the agenda was not only to find the centre but a nice cafe for coffee. Thankfully in any small town in Italy, both of these are easy to find. Most of the time you can find the centre of any town here by merely looking for a sign, all along the roads you will come across an arrow sign with the word “centro” on it, follow it and the crowds of people and you will walk right into the centre. We sat at a cafe right across from the cathedral and were lucky to bear witness to a wedding happening nearby.

Like many of the nearby small towns, we were told that we could see all of the main sights in Modena in a few hours, but we opted to spend the entire day there, relaxing, drinking wine, shopping, taking in all of the sights, and of course taking lots of photographs! And that’s just what we did. Walked along the main road for shopping, took copious amounts of photos, and when we needed food other than croissants, we found a restaurant that looked promising. Unfortunately I didn’t save the restaurants name, I wish I had! It was situated right across from the centre next to a small park. We didn’t have to wait for a table but as we leisurely drank our white wine and waited for our meal, a line to eat formed and never ceased.

If you take one thing away from this blog post, its this: you can’t go to Modena and not have the balsamic vinegar. We ordered a plate of bruschetta for us to share and I choose a meal specifically because it listed balsamic as an ingredient (more specifically pumpkin tortellini with balsamic), and it did not disappoint. So, we enjoyed our meal, the sun shining down on us on the patio, and our white wine.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the ambiance of the small town; from the local musicians playing in the street, locals enjoying the day, copious amounts of people taking photographs, and local artists painting. The last thing we did before ending our day in Modena was visiting Basilica Metropolitana di Modena. While I may not frequently attend church, I do find myself in many of them in Italy, adoring the architecture, handcrafted with such detail, the stain glass, each colour highlighted by the light, and the overall ambiance, a quiet peacefulness in each church I visit.

While it is a town that is small enough that you can see all the main highlights in a day, its a town with so much charm that makes you want to go back!