Reggio Emilia

[jan]

In planning our 2 month trip for 2018, we would like to stay in the Parma/Modena area. We stayed 5 nights in Parma about 10 years ago and have wanted to return. As I hunt for the "perfect" apartment in Parma I am coming up empty. There just isn't one that seems right for us.
So, I started looking at Reggio Emeila and there are several good possibles for us there. We could take a day trip easily by train to Parma one day and also go to Hosteria Giusti (must do!) for lunch one day in Modena.

My question: Has anyone stayed in Reggio Emilia? Is it a charming as Modena or Parma? Is there a nice market there?

Grazie!

 

[Ian Sutton]

Hi Jan
Yes we stayed there ~ a decade ago.

Is it as charming as Modena or Parma? It's a different charm IMO. I don't see it as visually/outwardly appealing, nor with quite the prestige of those two places. However it does have a lovely relaxed feel, and is barely touched by tourism. There is a lovely central park / grassed area for an evening passeggiata and they were early adopters of electric buses within the city.

I can't recall the markets, but a quick web search gives Tuesday & Friday 8am - 1pm spread across the following squares:
Piazza Martiri del 7 Luglio, Piazza San Prospero, Piazza Prampolini, Piazza Fontanesi.

In addition an antique market in Via Roma, on the 2nd sunday of the month, excluding January, July & August

http://turismo.comune.re.it/it/regg...merciali-mercati-cittadini/i-mercati-in-citta

I enjoyed it, though perhaps more for being better embedded in Italian, rather than tourist culture. In our visit, this was amplified by us staying a ~ 30 min walk west of the centre, in a quiet suburban apartment.

The train station is relatively close to the city centre, but as ever, there is a walk involved. The trains are regular.

Regards
Ian

 

[misstravelbug]

jan, it seems as we are visiting similar places next year...

I really wanted to stay in Parma but also couldn't find something that I loved. So I have booked one in Bologna instead.

FWIW, I also seriously considered this b&b outside of Parma which gets rave reviews, but you would need a car.

http://www.villinodiporporano.com

There are so many places on my bookmarked list to go back and see...

 

[susan]

I did a day trip back in 2009 to Reggio Emilia. I remember enjoying my time there although the thought of staying there after my visit was not high on my list. It's not that I thought I would never want to spend more time there. It just never was high on my list with other places in the area that I really love.

Here's my blog post (with photos) about my visit to Reggio Emilia. I happened to be there on a Thursday and ran right into a market taking place in Piazza San Prospero. I wrote in my blog that it was full of stalls selling various items. Not sure how many of the stalls were food stalls. I did not spend any time at the market as I wanted to see the town in the short time I had there.

The reason I originally wanted to visit Reggio Emilia was because of the famous preschool program that is from there. Because of how famous it has become though, it is pretty difficult to get permission to visit the school and takes months in advance for a request. That was back in 2009. Not sure of the recent status.

 

[jan]

Yes, Susan, the preschool thing is big to me, too.
I'll look at your blog.
What's attractive to me, besides the location, is the lack of tourism in general--a chance to speak more Italian!