Why Italy’s Emilia-Romagna beats Tuscany

The guidebooks will tell you that Emilia-Romagna is Tuscany without the crowds. It’s generally true, though at the moment – in the peak summer season and when all the world seems to be descending on Italy after years of Covid-imposed separation from la dolce vita – there’s really tourists everywhere in Italy. But yes, with a savvy itinerary, Emilia-Romagna does offer the prospect of lesser crowds than Tuscany or the Amalfi Coast while still getting all the sun, sea, sightseeing and sensationally good food that Italy is all about.

Bologna

Italy’s culinary capital, Bologna is a city in which you can eat exceedingly well. And, in part thanks to its huge student population, you can eat relatively cheaply too: the many trattorias offer hearty portions of Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese, stuffed tortellini and tortelloni, Lasagna al Forno, veal cutlets, stuffed puck-like pasties known as tigelle, and of course lashings of Balsamic Di Modena and Parmigiano Reggiano wherever you look. It’s all washed down with the region’s distinctive light sparkling wines – Lambrusco and Pignoletto. Reason to work up an appetite then, which you’ll do climbing the 12th century Torre degli Asinelli, exploring the old (in fact, the world’s oldest) university library and strolling the city’s elegant arcades.

Stay at the Gregorini Bingham Art Luxury Suites. For a very respectable £150 per night, you’ll sleep in probably the largest hotel room you have ever been in, in a sensitively restored former Palazzo a mere 700 yards from Piazza Maggiore (the unofficial centre of the city).

Or, to be within easy reach of the city but with all the space and the amenities of a pampered pool holiday, stay at the fabulous Palazzo di Varignana. Set within 75 acres in the rolling Bolognese hills, the resort has everything from a historical ice cellar to a putting green, as well as a host of excellent restaurants, spa and pools. It has also recently added six new villas, ranging from four to six rooms, for families and larger groups.

Where to eat and drink in Bologna? First, coffee. I go to Lampadina Café. I whinge to the barista, half-heartedly and contentedly, my only complaint: in Italy the coffee never seems hot enough. As she quickly assures me, very hot coffee makes you want to urinate and so the lukewarm temperature is deliberate. These people really have thought of everything.

To whet the appetite and pick up any kitchen cupboard souvenirs, head to the delightful warren of streets around Via Pescherie Vecchie. Salumeria Simonii s a good place for lunch: big plates of cured meat and parmesan hunks for stuffing into bread.

For a pre-dinner aperitivo, take up a people-watching spot, like the single table perched outside theBasilica di San Paolo Maggiore, ordering your drink from the tabacchi across the road. For dinner, brave the crowds of drunk students and head to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Bologna may be over 500km from Naples but having pizza feels essential at least once or twice wherever you are in Italy. Start with a Marinara; piping hot€6 pizza washed down with cold, laughably cheap Prosecco takes some beating. The latter is served in ceramic jugs as if it was holy water, which I guess in these parts it is.

For classic Bologna pastas, head to Osteria Al 15. As you make your way there it looks unpromising; your dinner companions will doubt you. But down several deserted streets, in a quiet residential quarter you will find a buzzing neighbourhood restaurant. Start with thePestoModenese (made with pig fat, no basil in sight) and then a hearty pasta, garlicky and gutsy.This is rustic food washed down with flagons of wine: it’s unvarnished, even slightly chaotic. But that’s the Italians on a plate. Any shortcomings can be forgiven with good looks, a balmy evening, lashings of parmesan and Italian charm.

After dinner, have a gelato at Cremeria San Francesco, under the hulking silhouette of the basilica, and eat it sat on the piazza pavement with the crowds of students, in the way they only seem to do in continental Europe.

Parma and Modena

One arrives in Parma and Modena full of expectation. I expect every shop window in Parma to be filled with huge legs of curing pig, jostling for space with vast wheels of parmesan. Heck I imagine wrinkled Italian Nonnas carting wheelbarrows of the stuff through the cobbled streets, their faces creased and shiny with effort and sun and pig fat. For just once in my life, I want to eat pork and cheese for breakfast, lunch and dinner, washed down with cold wine.

And all this is possible in stately Parma should your heart desire it. Nor is it all just about Prosciutto di Parma, for this is also the land of mortadella and other cured meats whose reputations have been ruined by Americans. Here the charcutier is exalted as an esteemed profession; as skilled as an architect, as important to daily life as the bin collector and the bus driver. Get yourself a cured meat sandwich at the many casual sandwich spots. Or have a very pleasant multi-course lunch at Sorelle Picchi.

Consider doing one of Modena's many food tours, where you can witness balsamic vinegar production. The city is also, of course, the home of one of the word’s most famous restaurants, the three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana. But if your budget doesn’t stretch to it, or you’ve understandably failed to book months in advance, don’t fret. Go to Salumeria Hosteria Giusti – which Angela Hartnett recommends – for a few glasses of wine, plate of cured meats and other simple fare. It is hard to beat.

The Italian Riviera

Spend a few days in Cinque Terre – the string of five seaside villages clinging to steep rocky cliffs are an Italian classic. To avoid the crowds, consider staying in Portovenere, often referred to as the ‘sixth village’. It is charming, and an Englishman feels especially welcome by the village’s flags fluttering from buildings and boats – it is identical to the flag of St George. It makes for an excellent base with the Cinque Terre easily reachable by either train or (even better) boat.

Everyone has their own favourite village within Cinque Terre but it is hard to beat the picture-perfect harbour of Vernazza. Arriving on a Sunday morning, I had a Nutella focaccia and coffee at the harbour, before proceeding to 11 a.m. Mass at the atmospheric Ligurian-Gothic church Chiesa di Santa Margherita d’Antiochia on the waterfront, and then cooling off in the turquoise waters of the sheltered bay. Material and spiritual sustenance. Get an ice cream while you dry off, from Gelateria Vernazza, and demolish it greedily, under a never-ending sun.

Back in Portovenere, ensconce yourself at Il Piccolo Bistro on the Sporting Beach for lunch. As well as great food, the restaurant cum beach club has showers and shady sofas and direct access to the water so you hardly need to move from the spot all day. Have an aperitif at the terrace bar of the Grand Hotel Portovenere and then, for dinner, go toTrattoria La Chiglia for excellent seafood and an even better atmosphere. Ask for a table outside: it is the only restaurant in town where you can eat directly on the beach, the lapping water yards from your feet.

You’ll notice one big omission from this round-up, which is the well-known beach resorts at Rimini, Riccione and Cattolica. They are, well, too well-known. Brash and overcrowded, as a rule they are best avoided, especially in high season. Unless of course being packed like Ligurian anchovies onto thin beaches and in hedonistic nightclubs is exactly what you’re heading to Italy for – in which case, don’t let my turgid guide hold you back. Each to their own. Or, as the Italians like to say, ‘if you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun’.