Venice and Emilia-Romagna Travel Guide

Not the fanciest or most blogger-y travel guide, but here are my travel notes. I hope they're helpful :)
Feel free to email me if you have questions or would like to know more: blog {dot} awinkasmile {at} gmail {dot} com.

We rented a car and our goal was to have a more leisurely pace and focus more on food and wandering around.

Sat-Landed in Venice. Took Alilinguna ferry to San Marco. Stayed at Baglioni Luna per a recommendation and it was lovely! It's around the corner from San Marco and a great value compared to some of the really famous hotels of similar caliber. Dinner across the lagoon at Cip’s at the Cipriani.

Sun-Wandered a bit, then took Vaparetto to Jewish Ghetto museum and tour of synagogues. Dinner at Da Mamo was good, straightforward food! The place is so hard to find and a little hidden gem.

Mon-A little shopping and getting lost in Venice. Ferry back to airport to pick up rental car. Drove to Modena. Checked into Vittorio Veneto 25 which is a 6 room guest house. Not fancy but affordable and did the trick! The manager Raffaela is so sweet!

Tues-Up early for Red Cow Consortium tour (as seen in Salt Fat Heat Acid on Netflix) to learn about the Parmigiano Reggiano. Wandered around Modena. Wine tasting at Chiarli (we buy their Lambrusco all the time at Eataly so it was fun to actually go!). Wandered in town called Castelvetro for a bit. Dinner at Franceschetta 58—Massimo Battura’s casual (aka not €500 per person) sister to Osteria Francescana. One of the best meals of the trip!

Wed-Cooking class in Bologna at Il Salotto di Penelope. Valeria and Barbara were wonderful and taught us how to make gnocchi, classic tagliatelle al ragu and tortelloni. Walked off our huge lunch in Bologna and drove back to Modena. Dinner was drinks and charcuterie at Enoteca Compagnia Del Taglio—fantastic! Worth noting that it was a "comedy" of errors driving there in the morning. I would recommend looking into the train.

Thurs-Ferrari Museum (there is a Maserati Tour too). Balsamic tour/tasting at Acetaia di Giorgio (the real deal!).

Fri-Shopped and wandered Modena a bit. I bought a beautiful sweater at Falconeri and gloves from La Vacchetta Grassa. Drove back to Venice to drop car. Ferry to Hotel Danieli (beautiful for a drink but we wouldn’t say it lived up to the hype to stay). Gondola ride then dinner at Da Mamo again because the carbonara was that good :)