we found the i and received some suggestions for dinner...after a great apertivo at la corte di bacco...we ordered soft drinks and were served appetizers of ham, tomato/cheese, and salmon sandwiches...welcome to the world of italian dining...we were told our first choice for dinner was booked solid so we went searching for another trattoria...looking down an alley, we saw trattoria da leonida and decided this was the place...i ordered tagliatelle al ragu bolognese, veal milanese, and we had a bottle of sangiovese (rocca di ribano)..a great end to day one in bologna and prep for tomorrow's tour...here's the website for your info:
http://www.italiandays.it/
we were met early by cristian who drove us to a parmiggiano reggiano (to be called p-r) factory in modena...we met up with our host, allesandro who explained the process of turning whey and curds into this priceless cheese...we followed the wheel of p-r cheese to the salting bins and then to the ageing areas...we were told how to decide the quality of the p-r cheese by the stamping on the rind of the wheel...we sampled the delicious cheese before heading to villa san donnino...
we walked up to the attic where balsamic vinegar is aged...the balsamic maker places five barrels in descending size, placing the new grape must into the largest barrel and then adding more must as evaporation shrinks the quantity in the barrels, the largest barrel receiving the most recently pressed must...the balsamic aged for twelve years in judged to be worthy of the authentic aceta balsamica stamp...if not, the vinegar is returned to the barrel for further ageing...we sampled the various aceto balsamico in the gift shop...the most memorable sampling was the fresh ricotta we brought from the p-r factory dribbled with aceto balsamico...we also had gelato with aceta and that was good...
we walked up to the attic where balsamic vinegar is aged...the balsamic maker places five barrels in descending size, placing the new grape must into the largest barrel and then adding more must as evaporation shrinks the quantity in the barrels, the largest barrel receiving the most recently pressed must...the balsamic aged for twelve years in judged to be worthy of the authentic aceta balsamica stamp...if not, the vinegar is returned to the barrel for further ageing...we sampled the various aceto balsamico in the gift shop...the most memorable sampling was the fresh ricotta we brought from the p-r factory dribbled with aceto balsamico...we also had gelato with aceta and that was good...
we drove over to a neighborhood to a prosciutto factory...the only give away was the louvre system that was used to air cure the ham...the pig is italian, non-free range grown and slaughtered at 9 months...the pig rump is of uniform sized, about 13 kilos...salt from sicily is rubbed on the open end and allowed to cure for 22 days, excess salt being removed and rump allowed to cure for another 70 days...all excess salt is removed and the open end is covered with a paste of rice flour, lard, and salt...after walking through the factory, we had a chance to sample prosciutto and cotto (ham from the neck)...
we then headed to guiglia and the trattoria sbrigati for a light lunch according to allesandro...we were served four pasta dishes, tortellini con ricotta and spinaci; beet, spinach-flavored macaroni; tagliatelle con tomato and onion; and tagliatelle al ragu, and more than ample glasses of frizzante (a very light white sparkly perfect for the meal) and lambrusco...since we were the drinking end of the table, our glasses were never empty...we had limoncello and nocino as digestif with espresso to end the meal...
we were finished for the day...it was a great end to a perfect visit, a highly recommended visit...and the drive back to bologna cemented the memories of the day....
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