Explore Emilia-Romagna
About 25km northwest of Modena, up the Via Emilia, is REGGIO EMILIA, a pleasant, well-heeled place with a handsome historic core. Though nicknamed “the red town” – in 1960 five protestors were killed by police during demonstrations designed to prevent Fascists joining the government – you wouldn’t credit such a revolutionary past wandering its quiet streets; these days, it’s more associated with high-end fashion house MaxMara.
The town is built around two central squares, Piazza Prampolini and Piazza San Prospero, which come alive on market days (Tues and Fri). Stalls specialize in rather tacky clothes – the shops surrounding the market are far more alluring, crammed with a mighty range of local produce such as salami and parmigiano-reggiano.
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King of cheeses
King of cheeses
The foothills south of Reggio are cheese country. Signs along the roadside advertise the local parmigiano-reggiano while the village of Casina, 27km outside Reggio on the N63 to La Spezia, holds a popular Festa del Parmigiano in early August, when the vats of cheese mixture are stirred with enormous wooden paddles. Buses run to Casina from Reggio hourly and take around an hour.
