Balsamic Vinegar and Parmigiano, yum!

As we have mentioned before, we get kind of geeked out when it comes to food. It's no wonder we chose Italy for our journey, as it has so many culinary treats and traditions to explore and enjoy. We got to experience two of them this week.

On Tuesday, we drove up to Modena, home of the world's best balsamic vinegar. We started off by wandering around the center of the city (as has become our M.O.) to see the sights. We grabbed a pizza for lunch near this huge old military building, and after that pointed the Fiat south to Castelvetro. There we got an amazing private tour at La Dispensa Vecchia, a small producer of several types of vinegar. Our extremely nice tour guide showed us all of their production rooms and walked us through the processes and strict regulations in order for their vinegar to be classified an Aceto Balsamico di Modena Tradizionale. It was interesting for us both because we knew nothing about the process and because our guide (a member of the family that runs the business) seemed so proud of their products and business. And then we got to try some! It was just amazing. Quite a treat. 

On Wednesday we drove even farther away, to the small village of Varsi, to a small farm called Caseificio Val Ceno. There they produce Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses. Again we got a great private tour, but this time it was a little harder to understand because the tour guide did not speak English. We were able to understand almost all of it, but he had to be a little patient with us. At the end, he let us try all kinds of cheeses they made on the farm, all fantastic. We ended that days trip with a beautiful drive through the countryside and up into the mountainside. What a great two days!