Modena - San Gimignano

We are doing a bit of zig zap across Northern Italy. As I have said we decided to skip the crowds and heat in Puglia and make our way up the East Coast to the lakes and mountains and we are glad we did that. Now we are making our way back to Tuscany where I had booked accommodation a long time ago and didn’t want to cancel it.
After Riva del Garda we headed to Modena.
“The history of Balsamic Vinegar in Modena spans over a thousand years, originating with Roman practices of flavoring vinegar with honey and fruit, evolving into the esteemed "Balsamic Vinegar of Modena" of the Este Dukes in the 16th century who used it as a prized gift, and continuing today as a protected DOP product with strict regional standards for production and quality.”
We tasted a cherry balsamic and an aged balsamic, both delicious on their own but they are used to drizzle on cheese, ice-cream anything that takes your fancy. At 42 Euro and 80 Euro respectively for 100ml we decided to leave them on the shelf. We visited the local market where, once again, the wide variety of produce, meats, fish etc was amazing. There was a lot of balsamic vinegar and cheese on display the main produce of this area.
Modena is renown for its high end shopping - those items also stayed on the shelf 😆
When we arrived in the main square there was a construction going on, after some investigation I found that it was the European Beach Volley Ball competition, starting that night and going for 4 days 😲
In the area we were staying there was a lot of development, 3 new apartment blocks, a 2,500sqm gym/stadium, 250 car park but the area was empty of people. The apartments are not occupied yet, the car park empty, the new supermarket was virtually empty, it was quite eerie really but great for us.

We then travelled on down to San Gimignano, I must say we nailed the toll gates now, feeling quite proud of ourselves. We know to go to the one with the black hand because it has an attendant, otherwise the one with the card & cash showing is also easy to use (once you know how!!!!)
I had read so much about San Gimignano before heading away on our trip, it seemed to keep popping up in my Facebook feed so I booked one night in a hotel in the centre of the town.
In Italy they have ZTL zones where you cannot take your car unless you have permission from the local authorities. You need to give your car licence plate to the hotel and they notify the relevant people for you.
We decided to leave our car in one of the carparks outside of the town and just take an overnight bag out of the car, as we were only staying one night. Wise decision! When we saw the streets we would have had to go through to get to the hotel, which was located in the main square, where there was a market happening - it would have been very stressful.
We wandered the streets, San Gimignano is a shopping mecca, the 3 mains streets are lined with shops. Many restaurants to cater for the day visitors.
Gelatia Donoli is famous for their ice-cream so we had to try one after our dinner.
The other famous food item was suckling pig buns - photo below. They cut off how much you wanted in your bun then weighed it, you paid on the weight.
I loved San G by night, very pretty. The views of the surrounding area though is what took our breath away - true Tuscany ❤️
We have had quite a few thunderstorms over the last few days and San Gimignano turned on a beauty for us. We waited in the hotel room until the rain went off then hurried the 800m to the car park. Just as we got in the car it tipped down again. Someone was smiling down on us.Read more