Estense Gallery and Library
Modena is pleasant to walk around aimlessly, but a systematic tour is best to start from the Palazzo dei Musei (short walk from Piazza Grande), the former arsenal, and then a workhouse, where the city's museums and art galleries are now located. Estense Library (exhibition halls open Tue-Sat. 10.00-13.00; library nd.-pt. 9.00-20.00, sb. 9.00-14.00) the first floor is open mainly to students, and the exhibits - letters exchanged by monarchs, popes and despots, with giant wax seals - not very interesting. However, it is worth undergoing a lengthy procedure of filling in forms and leaving your passport, to see the Borso d'Este bible (Borso Bible), probably the richest book in the world. In the now reorganized Mostra Permanente, you can see early maps drawn on parchment.
In wooden chests of the Museo del Risorgimento (Tue-Thu. 9.00-13.00 and 14.30-17.30, pt.-nd. 9.00-13.00) there are flags on the ground floor, drums, uniforms, helmets with feathers, political photos and posters reflecting the early history of Italian unification, from the revolution in 1831 r. in Modena, Parma and the Papal States, which Prince Francesco IV of Modena brutally suppressed, after unrest in 1848 r. and the final conclusion of a pact by Modena with Piedmont, which announced the union of the Italian states. In one of the chests there is an impressive goose feather decorated with ribbons, which are said to have signed the union treaty.
Through a vaulted passage with Roman tombstones - Piazza Matteotti was built on the site of a necropolis - stairs to the right lead to the top floor to Galeria Estense (wt.-nd. 9.00-19.10; 2000 L), which consists of the collection of paintings of the d'Este family. There are works of local schools here, from the early Renaissance to the works of Carracci, Guercina i Guida Reni, sculptures in terracotta by Niccola dell'Arca, and portable altars, madonnas and triptychs by lesser-known Emilian artists, as Cosimo Tura, who painted the Schifanoi Palace in Ferrara. There is also a bust of Francesco d'Este by Bernini, portrait of the same man by Velasquez and Venetian works by Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese.
A bit further, in a quiet corner of the city, at via N. Mosquito, there is another museum, Muratorian Museum (codz. 9.00-12.00). It houses the belongings and works of the Jesuit Ludovico Antonio Muratori, historiographer and historian, whose ideas helped in the 18th century. to break the monopoly of the Church in the field of education.
Gastronomy and nightlife
When it comes to dining options, Pizzeria Santa Lucia restaurant, via Cut 61, the Trattoria Aldini, via Albinelli 40 - these are standard restaurants; there is also a cheap canteen at Centro Sociale S Geminiano, Via San Geminiano 3 (IX-VII, pn.-sb.
11.50-12.30 and 19.00-21.00). More choice is in Fini na Largo San Francesco, but the prices are high; there is also a chinese restaurant, Asia, via Falloppia 25, where prices are generally favorable. You can buy provisions at Giusti on Via Farini, delicatessen operating since the 17th century.
Regardless of the place, you should try some rather strange Modena pork specialties: ciccioli are crispy pork cuts that are displayed in bars in the evening; zampone is pork leg, with hooves, peeled off the bones and stuffed with minced meat. After a few hours of cooking, the skin can also be eaten. Cotechino is a similar type of dish, but this time the animal's bladder is stuffed.
As for the nightlife , it's in Wienna and Floride, both are located on via Camatta, sometimes there are music bands. News is a nice place, video bar on Corso Canal Chiaro 26 (you have to go through the brown door and press the bell on the right). On via del Gambero 76 (bus no 7, going out of town towards Policlinico) there is a women's club(House of the Donnę), where on Mondays and Fridays in hours 20.00-23.00 a bar is open, also only for women. You can also visit the great Palasport, where English and American bands are on tour - tickets available at Fangareggi, the record store on Corso Canal Chiaro 3. It is practically the only concert hall of this size in the region and concerts are posted as far as Ferrara and Piacenza.
Okolice Modeny
At first glance, the area of Modena looks uninviting - shops with cheap furniture and electrical equipment, crumbling farms the size of palaces and factories. The north of the plain is a wide field of grain, rows of topped fruit trees and vines on the pergolas, only occasionally interrupted by a line of poplars glistening in the sun.
The cities are also monotonous and industrialized, though you can go to CARPI, which is the largest city in the area. Martyrs' square to olbrzymi, an impressive open square and it is only worth coming here for him; and in the 16th-century Castello del Pio, with a mass of ornamental turrets and towers, houses an interesting museum - Museo al Deportato. During the Second World War, the occupation forces (before deportation to Germany) held prisoners at the Fossoli camp 6 km to the north - the ruined camp barracks still stand in the field - and the museum has exhibitions about the camps and the conditions prevailing there, woven into the political and racial context. The rest of Carpi is not very interesting, so there is probably no reason, to stay there longer. Trains and buses leave every hour to Modena, but if you have to stay here overnight, cheap rooms can be found at Albergo da Georgio on via G. Rocca (• 0531/685365).