We’re busy with our Italian homework today as, once again, it is a very wet Sunday. Yesterday, though, was a beautiful day and we visited Modena.
Modena’s real claim to fame is the Ferrari museum, but it is a charming city in its own right. Yesterday, it was delightfully free of large groups of tourists and was a lovely place to wander round in the sunshine.
We saw a lot of beautiful rose-coloured marble in Modena (see the legs of the altar) which I think is from Verona.
A large marble block in Piazza Grande is thought to have come from a Roman building and to have been used as a stage for speakers in the Middle Ages. A more gruesome use was that of a place of execution, and also as a platform to display corpses for the purposes of identification.
At the end of the day we headed back to the station. It’s usual in Italy to buy your ticket from a machine like the one above. If you know where you’re going, they’re easy to use, but not fast (no matter what’s written on the front). One problem is that Italian towns often have an Italian name that’s different to its English name, and unless you know the Italian name for your destination (and how to spell it) you won’t be going there.
On our way to Modena yesterday, Mark stood in a slow queue behind another foreigner to buy our tickets. When it came to the turn of the other foreigner, he was stuck as he was unable to recall the Italian name for Padua (it’s Padova). Mark went blank too so couldn’t help him.
I’m not saying we should all call places by their English names, but that we all call Italian places by their Italian names, English places by their English names and so on.
In case you’re wondering, you can download the Trenitalia app and order your tickets through that. The ticket, with a barcode you can show to the ticket inspector, is then e-mailed to you. However, your ticket can take a couple of hours to come through, so risky if you’re about to hop on the train. What do you say to the ticket inspector? My ticket’s in the ether?
Having purchased your ticket, it has to be validated, which involves putting it into a machine so it can be stamped (to stop people fraudulently using their tickets again). If you are caught on a train with a ticket that has not been validated, there are large fines. The stamping machines are usually on the platforms, but occasionally a hunt is involved. Why can’t they just put them on the trains like they do on the buses?
Tortoise Travel 
Anne I am mortified that you visited Modena and only wrote about cathedrals and stuff. Modena is known the world over as the headquarters of Ferrari. The Ferrari museum is my idea of a religion! Cathedrals in Italy are ten a penny, but there is only one Ferrari. You will just have to go back and write about it later. Disgusted of Saltdean…. x
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Dear Disgusted of Saltdean, Unfortunately, Mark doesn’t deem me to be a suitably interested companion to visit this hallowed site. Now if you were here ….
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