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THE FOODS
As Italy's capital of gastronomy, Bologna was known as la grassa (the fat), a description less flattering today than it once was. But the city still gloats over a land of plenty that extends along the fertile southern flank of the Po. Emilia (to the west of Bologna) and Romagna (to the east) flaunt their considerable differences, but together share Italy's most luxuriant tables.
Recipes, like the names of dishes, vary from town to town in a region that breeds culinary heroes: Ferrara's Christoforo di Messisbugo, who chronicled the lavish menus of Renaissance courts; Parma's Duchess Marie Louise (wife of Napoleon), whose tastes inspired generations of dishes; Modena's Este dukes, who fostered the cult of aceto balsamico, the monarch of vinegars; Forlimpopoli's Pellegrino Artusi, the author known as the father of modern Italian cooking.
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THE WINES
Emilia-Romagna, as the hyphenated name reveals, consists of two distinct sectors which coincide more or less at the capital of Bologna. To the west lies Emilia, with its prosperous towns strung like jewels along the ancient Emilian Way: Modena, Reggio, Parma, Fidenza, Fiorenzuola, as far as Piacenza on the Po. East of Bologna lies Romagna with the towns of Faenza, Forlì, Cesena, Ferrara, Ravenna and the Adriatic resort of Rimini.
Emilia-Romagna's wines might be considered northern Italy's most eccentric, different on the whole from their neighbors', often facile in style but always refreshingly individualistic.
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