Modena and Parma: 7 Nov 2015

Wes and Marlow

7 November 2015

Modena and Parma

Early this morning, staying in the birthday celebration mood—mine and Wes's on next Sunday, the fourteenth—Wes had the idea to go on a field trip. We chose Modena and Parma.

In Bologna, everyone asked, "why Modena?"  They were kind of right.

In Modena, we walked ten minutes from the train station to the Duomo. I wanted to see where the great tenor, Luciano Pavarotti's funeral was held. Where he laid in state for two days visited by 100 thousand mourners.  He was a caricature in many ways, but as a tenor he was stellar.  

The Duomo is also stellar.  It is more than nine hundred years old. Red brick on the inside. White marble on the outside. Historians say it is a magnificent example of the Romanesque style. I cannot judge that. But I can say that it has a simplicity, a restraint that is like a palate cleanser when one tires of tremendously ornamented cathedrals. It has on it's walls many reliefs of people and events. The carving is bold, to the point and straight forward.  The interior has an unusual altar. It splits into upstairs and downstairs altars. It is a pleasure to stand in front of each object and absorb the fine details.

(Modena Duomo)

Look who I found at the holy water bowl!

(Modena Duomo)
Outside, it's white marble facade gleams. Clearly, it has been recently cleaned. An interesting feature at one of it's four entries is a pair of stone lions standing guard. They are two thousand years old, carved in the Roman era. They were found, buried, during the construction of the Duomo.

There's that holy water guy again!

The Duomo is worth a visit, but the rest of central Modena is chaotic. Awful pop music blasts from store fronts. Combined from the various sources they make an aural nuisance. There are street musicians. They are not a pleasure.  An electric guitar player, one street from the Duomo, cranked his amp up to wildly loud. Eventually, we found our way to the Palazzo Ducale, a nice area. We found it en route to the train station. We abandoned Modena. We hopped on the train to Parma, thirty minutes away.

If you google Parma it is easy to find where we are staying. Look for the Duomo (cathedral), then the octagonal pink marble Baptistry next door. Our hotel is exactly the next little building, to the right in the photo, with a red roof, on the piazza.

(Parma Piazza)(I did not take this photo. It is from the internet.  But I did take the other photos.)

The Parma Duomo is a feast for the eyes. It is entirely with frescoes from floor to ceiling. The floors are large slabs of pink marble from front to back and up and down the stairs.  Along both side walls are chapels.

Each one has ornamental iron gates and is a full production on it's own. Wes pointed out, it looks like a theatrical set for Puccini's opera, Tosca. 
(Parma Duomo)

From our corner room we look out at the magnificent buildings of the piazza. The room is perfect. Small upholstered sofas, a canopy over the bed, the appointments are elegant, small scale, old world, beautiful. It could not be nicer.

We will return to Bologna Sunday night. But Parma, at least in the piazza of our hotel is like a beautiful dream. 

Wes and Marlow

7 November 2015

Modena and Parma