Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Via Albinelli 40; meals €17; lunch Mon-Sat, dinner Fri & Sat)
Forget the Michelin stars for a
second. Cloistered upstairs in a utilitarian apartment block, Aldina is a precious secret
guarded loyally by local shoppers from the adjacent produce market. The lunch-only
menu is spearheaded by the kind of homemade grub that only an Italian nonna raised on
hand-made pasta can concoct. There's no written menu; take what's in the pot and revel in
the people-watching potential.
Trattoria Ermes
(Via Ganaceto 89; meals €20; lunch Mon-Sat)
Here's yet another fabulous, affordable little
lunch spot, tucked into a single wood-panelled room at the northern edge of downtown
Modena. An older couple runs the place - she cooks, he juggles plates and orders while
keeping up a nonstop stream of banter with the customers. The menu changes daily de-
pending on what's fresh at the market.
TRATTORIA
€
Trattoria Il Fantino
( 059 22 36 46;
www.gustamodena.it/ilfantino
;
Via Donzi 7; meals €15; 7-10.30pm Tue-Sat)
More
homemade Modenese miracles forged in a hole-in-the-wall-sized dining room that can't
have changed much since the Risorgimento (reunification period). Arrive early and
squeeze into one of 45 narrow pews.
TRATTORIA
€
Ristorante da Danilo
TRADITIONAL ITALIAN
€€
(Via Coltellini 29-31; meals €25-30; noon-3pm & 7pm-midnight Mon-Sat)
Speedy waiters glide
around balancing bread baskets, wine bottles and pasta dishes in this deliciously tradition-
al dining room where first dates mingle with animated families and office groups on a
birthday jaunt.
What would pass as outstanding in any other country passes as normal in Danilo: anti-
pasti of salami, pecorino and fig marmalade;
secondos
(second courses) of
bollito misto
(mixed boiled meats) and a vegetarian
risotto al radicchio trevigiano
(with red chicory).
GASTRONOMIC
€€€
Hosteria Giusti
