Modena

Architecture, vinegar and fast cars

The city of Modena in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy is known world wide for its fast Ferrari cars and superb balsamic vinegar, as well as its beautiful Romanesque style cathedral and tower on the Piazza Grande. Creating world class art in whatever shape or form calls for inventiveness and genius. Around 800 years before Enzo Ferrari engineered his art on four wheels in his workshop, two artists, the architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmo, created what is now considered supreme examples of Italian Romanesque architecture and works of art.

The cathedral, the Ghirlandina tower (Torre Civica) and the adjacent Piazza Grande were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1997. In combination, this complex is of outstanding universal value as it bears exceptional witness to the cultural traditions, religious as well as civic, of a medieval town.