Cold cuts
Emilia-Romagna is a paradise for pigs and all their by-products. Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of these pigs to take home. It is possible to buy them vacuum-packed, which makes them easier to store and transport
Province of Parma
Prosciutto di Parma DOP, the best known of all, is produced in the hilly area south of the Via Emilia, because the air currents flowing down along the foothills of the Apennines intervene in the ripening process. The pig legs are first salted and then hung in maturing rooms where they mature between 12 and 36 months, sometimes even longer. PDO Parma ham can be recognised by the mark stamped with iron on the rind or printed in gold characters on the packaging representing a five-pointed ducal crown containing the word Parma.
Culatello di Zibello DOP is a delicate and highly prized delicacy; you will notice that it is always the most expensive on the restaurant menu! It is also a salted and dried pork leg, wrapped in a pig's bladder and tied up, then cured for at least 12 months. It has the shape of a pear.
Province of Modena
Cotechino di Modena PGI has the appearance of a large sausage made from a mixture of meat and minced pork fat and seasoned with various spices and herbs (black pepper, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaf). The taste is powerful and the texture melting, and Italians traditionally eat it on New Year's Eve accompanied by lentils (a kind of distant variant of cassoulet or sauerkraut!).
Zampone di Modena PGI is a variant of the cotechino: it is a boneless pork trotter stuffed with the same mixture of minced and spicy pork meat and fat
Province of Bologna
Mortadella di Bologna PGI is a large sausage made from very finely minced lean pork meat, to which small cubes of pork fat and spices, sometimes pistachios, are added.
Parmesan cheese
Is there any need to introduce him? One of the most famous Italian cheeses, an essential accompaniment to our pasta dishes, is sufficient on its own if it is of good quality, possibly enhanced with a few drops of DOP balsamic...: nothing like these commercially available sachets of powdered parmesan cheese with dubious fragrances! Parmesan is a cow's milk cheese belonging to the family of pressed cooked cheeses. Emilia-Romagna produces two types: Parmigiano Reggiano DOP and Grana Padano DOP. Parmigiano Reggiano DOP is subject to very strict regulations that delimit its production area to the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna (only the left bank of the Reno) and Mantua in Lombardy (only the right bank of the Po). In the province of Piacenza, the production area for Grana Padano DOP is very extensive, covering all the regions of northern Italy. Grana shares its production process with Parmigiano, but has more flexible specifications, for example in the feeding of the cows. Both come in the form of 30 to 40 kg wheels (24 to 40 kg for Grana Padano). The Parmigiano wheels are marked all around with the name Parmigiano Reggiano written in dotted lines, while the Grana wheels are marked with rhombuses. The PDO guarantee, the producer's registration number, the month and year of production are also stamped. The wheels are portioned to be presented for sale, and fortunately: buying a whole wheel is a real investment! You can choose your Parmesan cheese between 12 and 48 months of maturing, or even longer for Parmigiano, depending on your personal taste: as it ages, it acquires a more pronounced and pungent flavour and a crumbly texture. Finally, you can buy Parmesan cheese in a caseificio (creamery) as well as in most food stores.
Balsamic vinegar
You will have to choose between PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) balsamic vinegar, with more affordable prices and variable quality, and the more prestigious traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena DOP (Denomination of Controlled Origin). The first is made from cooked grape must with wine vinegar and sometimes caramel. It does not undergo an ageing process. It is the most widely marketed and its quality depends directly on the proportion of must it contains. Traditional DOP balsamic contains only cooked grape must, which is aged for at least 12 years and is subject to very strict specifications. It is the balsamic that is labelled the "black gold of Modena" and is well worth breaking the piggy bank! It is sold in bottles of 12 years old (about 50 €) or 25 years old (about 80 €) and can be recognized by the DOP logo on the neck of the bottle and by the shape of its bottle with a long narrow neck resting on a foot, with a capacity of 100 ml. The bottle was designed in 1987 by Giorgietto Giugiaro, car designer and author, among others, of the DeLorean DMC-12 line, the famous time machine from the Back to the Future
trilogy! Finally, the cap is burgundy for the 12 year old, golden for the 25 year old.The province of Reggio Emilia also has its own DOP balsamic vinegar, subject to the same regulations and of equivalent quality. Only the shape of the bottle is different.
It is highly recommended to buy DOP balsamic vinegar directly from the producer, after a guided tour of his farm. The price will be lower than in the shop and you will be able to taste the products beforehand. But you can also buy the precious condiment in many food shops in the region; some of them also offer tastings.Fresh pasta
If dry pasta dominates the culinary panorama of southern Italy, in Emilia-Romagna it is fresh pasta, made from flour and eggs, that is the protagonist. Alongside tagliatelle, traditionally served with ragù alla bolognese, there is a wide range of fresh filled pasta, with different shapes and fillings: tortellini from Modena and Bologna (the two cities compete for the authorship), anolini from Piacenza, cappelletti reggiani... They are stuffed with meat (prosciutto crudo, mortadella, parmesan and nutmeg for the tortellini), cheese and herbs or squash as in the cappellacci di zucca from Ferrara. They are traditionally served al brodo ('in broth ') or asciutti ('dry') with a sauce: with meat (al ragù), butter and sage, parmesan cream, etc. Another speciality of the region: passatelli, a kind of large vermicelli made of breadcrumbs, eggs and parmesan. In all the towns, you will have a wide choice: many shops offer fresh pasta by weight, and the price is not very democratic if it is made by hand. Finally, as these are fresh egg-based products, it is strongly recommended that you buy them at the end of your trip if you do not have a fridge at your holiday resort, and that you eat them quickly.
Wine
Emilia-Romagna produces excellent wines, to be tasted and bought at the wine shop or directly in a winery. Produced in Emilia, lambrusco, a light and sparkling red wine, goes wonderfully with the cold meats you will bring back from your trip: it goes very well with fatty dishes because its effervescence and acidity "cleanse" the palate and balance the meal. It is often considered as a table wine, the ideal companion for an informal aperitif with friends, but there is a wide variety and very different levels of quality. Romagna produces excellent white wines such as trebbiano, pignoletto and the elegant Albana, which has a DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) designation. For red wines, the Sangiovese di Romagna DOC, whose area of production extends from the province of Bologna to the Adriatic, offers a wide variety of wines, from the lightest to the most structured. Buying on the spot saves you shipping costs if, however, you can afford to accumulate the cases of bottles in the trunk of your car! If you are travelling by plane, you will have to make do with a few bottles slipped into your hold luggage.
From ceramics
The two capitals of ceramics in Emilia-Romagna are Sassuolo in the province of Modena and Faenza in the province of Ravenna. In Sassuolo you will find more branches and outlets specialising in tiles and ceramic coverings for home furnishings. Faenza, for its part, has been linked to the ceramics and majolica industry at least since the 12th century. Its reputation at an international level is such that this town is the origin of the word "faience". In Faenza there are many workshops and shops in the historic centre; the tourist office can provide you with a complete list.
Mosaics
Ravenna is called the città del mosaico ("city of the mosaic") because of the precious mosaics that decorate its early Christian buildings listed by Unesco. A know-how that is still alive, passed on in several schools of the city and perpetuated by contemporary artists. You can bring back one of their productions to decorate your interior, or try this technique yourself by buying coloured tesserae and all the necessary materials (annafietta.it).
Printed fabric articles
The handicraft of hand-printed fabric is an ancient tradition in the provinces of Forlì and Rimini. In the village of Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, not far from the Adriatic coast, these age-old gestures are still reproduced today in stamp shops (presses). The Stamperia Marchi, whose foundation dates back to the 17th century, offers, in its shop in the historic centre, cushion covers, tablecloths and other tableware made of fabrics which are printed using hand-carved walnut or pearwood dies. The most traditional colour is the rust colour, whose recipe dates back more than 300 years (stamperiamarchi.it).
Wrought iron objects
The picturesque streets of the village of Grazzano Visconti, in the province of Piacenza, are dotted with workshops in which the tradition of wrought iron is perpetuated. The decorative objects, made by craftsmen, are displayed and put on sale. An ancestral tradition, perhaps at the origin of the more recent tradition of the great coachbuilders' houses of Emilia-Romagna.
