Emilia Romagna is well known for its good food. Typically the food tends to be in the heavier end of Italian cuisine. Ingredients like cream and butter are often used in preference to olive oil.
Fish and seafood
Meat, cream and butter play an important role in the food in Emilia Romagna. However, eels from the Comacchio estuary by the Adriatic coast are particularly delicious. They are often to be found on the menu served in many different ways.
Meat, game and poultry
Emilia Romagna has its own completely unique type of pigs and cattle, Mora Romagnola and Bovina Romagnola respectively.
The pork is primarily used for the many delicious sausages and hams produced in the area. The veal is cooked in several different ways. The quality of Bovina Romagnola is very good; the flavour is rich and the meat beautifully tender.
Sausages and ham
The sausages and hams of Emilia Romagna are a testimony to the true culinary strength of the region.
Culatello di Zibello is an excellent, very delicate ham. Mortadella Classica and Mortadella di Bologna are two other famous sausages from Emilia Romagna.
Other good hams that deserve a mention here are Prosciutto di Modena and Prosciutto di Parma. Both are truly fantastic products and very different to the vacuum-packed sliced ham available in supermarkets.
Coppa di Parma made of neck cut is exquisite; Pancetta Piacentina (air-dried bacon) is also delicious. Salame di Felino and Salame Piacentino are sausages sometimes available in northern Europe.
The list is much longer than these few lines allow but if you like this kind of food it is worth trying all the local sausages and hams during a stay in Emilia Romagna.
Cheese
Parmesan cheese is world-renowned and needs no further introduction. Raviggiolo dell'Appennino tosco-romagnolo is another superb cheese made in the Apennine valleys. The cheese is made from cow's milk and should be eaten fresh. It has a delightful taste of hazelnuts.
Sweets
Emilia Romagna is much less known for its sweets than for its many sausages and hams. But as in most other regions in Italy good ice cream is always available.
Wine and vineyards
Emilia Romagna is mainly known for Lambrusco. However, other wines are also produced in the region and they improve with every year.
Sangiovese is the preferred and most widely used Italian grape. But the use of international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon is fairly widespread.
Below is a list of some of Emilia Romagna's best vineyards.
Montericco, Tenuta Bonzara, Madonia Giovanna, Tenuta la Palazza, Castelluccio and San Patrignano.
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