Wine and Flavours Route of the Courts of Reggio Emilia

 
Between the Via Emilia and the West. The singer Guccini aimed to sum up the soul of Emilia with these surprising (and now proverbial) references to a fantastic geography. People attached to the land, practical and hard-working, but also generous, open to the world. The world that exists, the real world that hereabouts has always lit up the popular passions for politics and music, and the world that exists in the things we imagine like a mirage in the winter fog and among the vapours that linger in summer over the great river and the lazy web of the canals. And on the high road between Boretto and Brescello we will always imagine Don Camillo and Peppone pedalling along, grumpy friends and foes, who better than any other symbol sum up this joint presence of ideals rooted in the history of “Lower Emilia” and their sublimation in these immortal characters, passed down through the generations only thanks to art. The most Emilian route of all the wine and food itineraries, the one known as the Wine and Flavours Route of the Courts of Reggio Emilia, winds through the vast plain, between the Via Emilia and the river Po. The courts, those amazing refined Renaissance seigneuries that flourished in the Po Valley under the Gonzaga, the Bentivoglio, the Da Correggio, the Roberti and the House of Este, left their traces in the arcaded squares, the castles that became palaces, and in the paintings by Correggio, by Lelio Orsi, and by the masters of the school of Ferrara or Bologna. An ultra-civilised part of the country, with perhaps the most urbanised stretch on the whole course of the river Po, with five old sister towns in the twelve kilometres that flow through Reggio Emilia and a hinterland of small capitals that skilfully cultivate their own identity, in the monuments associated with the Circuit of Matilda’s Castles and of the Reggio Emilia Courts, as well as surprising little museums. The courts are also understood as the productive and aggregating core of extended families which here, perhaps more than elsewhere, were characteristic of material culture and the farming world, where the “rezdora” (the woman in charge of all the work in the household) kept up and passed on the traditions of good food and the recipes that are the pride of Emilia’s identity; traditions and recipes that the Wine and Flavours Route of the Courts of Reggio Emilia carefully and respectfully exploits, in its wine cellars, vinegar cellars, salumifici (preserved meat factories), dairies, in its professionally cordial restaurants, hospitable farm holiday centres and traditional hotels.
 

 

Wine and Flavours Route of the Hills of Scandiano and Canossa

 
The Wine and Flavours Route of the Hills of Scandiano and Canossa also runs through the territory of Reggio Emilia, which has always had a high vocation for vine-growing and farming, and is famous for the quality of life and the history linked to the Countess Matilda.
Founded in 1999, the Consortium finds its main vocation in the enhancement of typical local products through the promotion and organisation of tourism linked with wines, gastronomic specialities and culture.
At the gates of the town of Reggio Emilia, to the south of the old Via Emilia, on the hills, amidst the plateaux and valleys of the Enza and the Secchia, right up to the ridge of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, there are numerous companies producing excellent local specialities that are waiting to be experienced.
So, whether you come by car or by bike, you can get to know the traditional products, the attractions of nature, culture and history of this little-great land, sparkling like its Lambrusco, stimulating like its Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, tasty like its preserved meats, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the famous erbazzone.