Destination Unlocked

Welcome back to Destination Unlocked with me, Daniel Edward.

In today’s episode of Destination Unlocked, we’re chatting to

Francesco Casale of Cyclo Holidays about Emilia Romagna.

Now, Italy is one of my absolute favorite countries, and if I were to

move to Italy to live there, I would move to Bologna, which is within this

region of Italy called Emilia Romagna.

But today, Francesco’s gonna take us wider than that.

He’s gonna take us to some of the countryside, some of the

villages, some of the other towns.

This is a part of Italy, which is so well known for food.

It’s also really well known for its motors, its cars, its bikes, and that.

Is where we really get to know Francesca because he was a competitive cyclist and

he was cycling in these fields in these hills as he was growing up training.

It took him moving away from Emilia Romagna.

He moved to London and then he realized how beautiful his home

is and he now takes people back to Emilia Romagna on cycling holidays,

which sound absolutely fantastic.

Enjoy.

So Francesco, where are you unlocking for us today?

We are talking about Emilia Romagna, which is my region.

And where I love to bring people to.

I love Emilia Romagna because if I were to move to Italy,

I would be moving to Emilia Romagna.

Specifically, I would be moving to Bologna.

I just absolutely fell in love with it.

But the surrounding area, the countryside, the towns, the villages,

it’s just a spectacular part of Italy, but it’s a part of Italy that

a lot of people haven’t heard of.

Yeah, it’s a tricky part for me, when you say

Emilia Romagna, people don’t often know what you’re talking about.

Many people recognize Bologna.

Some recognize San Marino because it’s a state within Emilia Romagna, but

the whole region is not very known.

It had a big boom in the seventies, eighties, mainly with Germans

and central Europe, but not many people know exactly what it is.

And yeah, they dunno what they’re missing out.

So in a snapshot, what are they missing out on or how

would you describe Emilia Romagna?

From the name you can tell that there is two

parts of it, so Emilia and Romagna.

People from Emilia, they kind of feel like they’re from a

different region than Romagna.

So you’ve got a lot more of a flat land.

When you go to Emilia, you’ve got the Po Valley.

So essentially the Po crosses the whole of Emilia.

In terms of food, there is quite a big difference between Emilia and Romagna.

You’ve got produce from the Parma and Modena region.

And also cars, when you go to Modena, you’ve got Lamborghini and Ferrari.

So you, you got some big names there.

And then going to Romagna, I would say is the more southern

part, not just geographically, but also in terms of people as well.

People are a lot warmer.

A lot more seafood.

You’re closer to the coast.

It’s kind of like two regions in one essentially.

But in terms of food, you get some of the best food, or the

most recognized food in Italy.

Uh, so from the parma ham, parmigiano, the balsamic vinegar,

all of the egg pastas, you know, they all come from Emilia Romagna.

The famous bolognese sauces, which is actually Ragu.

A lot that you know about Italian food come from that particular region.

We’ll talk more about food in a bit because the region,

it’s sort of nicknamed the stomach of Italy and there’s so much to eat

there that we must talk about it.

But before we talk about food, let’s talk about some of the landmarks: maybe

it’s natural landmarks, maybe it’s built landmarks, but if, if you were trying

to think about a multi-stop trip through the region, what are the main stops that

you might want to include on your route?

Starting from the South, where I am from and base, so

from Cattolica, Rimini, I mean, Rimini would be the first big, big town.

I’m from Cattolica, which is the last town of Emilia Romagna before Marche.

So starting from Rimini, I would say this would be the first big stop.

Rimini, it’s known to be a touristy hotspot for Italians,

but mainly for the beach.

So where the Riviera starts.

The good thing about Rimini is you obviously got the beach side,

which is amazing, amazing seafood.

But you also have an incredible history behind Rimini.

Was one of the Roman stop.

The Flaminia ends, so is the road from Rome comes to the north, essentially,

and then the Emilia road starts.

So it was an important point for the Roman Empire.

So you’ve got a lot of like Roman history, and the town center of

Rimini is also very beautiful.

There’s a lot to see, not just for the beach but there’s a lot

to see also in terms of history.

You’ve got the countryside of Rimini.

So as soon as you move into the inside, you’ve got some beautiful heels.

Again, I’m gonna have to go back to the food, but you’ve got some, incredible

small producers that you can go and visit and try, whether it’s wine, cheeses, hams.

You could spend definitely like a day or two in Rimini.

Enjoy a bit of the beach side and then obviously move on the

inside, visit the town center.

Fellini one of the most famous Italian movie director . He is the director

of La Dolce Vita and Amarcord.

The whole La Doce Vita, which is essentially the sweetness of doing

nothing, that comes essentially from these area, from Rimini.

We’re going back to the, you know, sixties, seventies, eighties,

these area was very popular with tourists, not just from Italy,

but from around the world as well.

And that that was what boosted international

tourist interest in Italy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it’s funny ’cause well, not many people know now

that it’s, it’s from there.

If you had asked me to guess, I would’ve guessed Sorrento.

It would probably be most people’s guess.

Yeah.

As I said, I would almost describe the people from Romagna as the most southern

people of the north, essentially.

Emilia Romagna is essentially a region from the north.

It’s considered like we, we are just above the center.

And there is this in Italy, people feel like the people from the south, well,

in Italy, people from outside generally describe the people from the south being

warmer and more welcoming and the people from the north being a bit more cold.

And Emilia Romagna, I would say is probably the most

southern north region of Italy.

In a terms of how people are and how welcome you feel when you go to a

restaurant, when you go to like, anywhere really like how people welcome you.

You feel like part of the family, essentially anywhere you go.

Uh, so that’s one big part of Romagna and that that’s in terms of like the,

the sea and, and the beach itself.

You’re not looking at the best of Italy, if that makes sense.

But they are very famous for Service Beach.

So, if you’re someone that likes to have a bed and a shade, and all the services

with it, that is the right place.

The costs are not extortionate, so it’s not as bad as if you were to go and try

to hire a sunbed for instance, in Sorento.

It’s cheaper, but you get a lot more.

Most of the beaches they’ve got gym, swimming, pool, like although there

is sea, there is also swimming pool.

Normally you also have restaurants at the beach, so you

normally spend the day there.

They’ve got changing rooms.

They’ve got games for the kids.

So the main reason why Italians spend their summers there, it’s very popular

for Italians to go there is the services.

Unfortunately there are not many free beaches, but generally each

town will have at least five, six, which is very odd for people coming

from outside to go there and see that there is not actually a free beach.

That massively surprised me when I first went to Italy to a beach.

I was like, but, but what?

And, and I, they, at the time, and this was quite a while ago, it was already

10 euros to just get onto the beach.

I couldn’t believe it.

Yeah.

It is definitely a shock for most most tourists.

But it’s one of the reason why Italians go there.

Me as a person from there, I really love it.

I really love to go there and have all those services.

But I can understand why some people find it weird.

Moving up, I would definitely do a stop in Ravenna.

There’s so many beautiful places to view in Ravenna, like the mosaics and some of

the best churches in Europe, I would say.

It’s another UNESCO site.

It depends obviously how much time you have.

But in general, if you’re looking to do like a week trip, I would

probably spend a couple of days.

You could spend a couple of days at the beach, then maybe a stop in Ravenna

for a day, and then move up to Bologna.

Bologna is probably a city that I would spend a couple of days, for sure.

There is so much to see, obviously.

One of the oldest university in the world I would say…

definitely in Europe.

I think in Turkey there is one that is meant to be the

oldest in the world, but yeah.

But that’s probably on the Asia side.

So Bolognia

still still holds the Europe title.

Um, and uh, yeah, and then again, bologna is, it’s got some

of the best food scene in the world.

What you get for your money as well, , the quality of food even in just the general

osteria, which is osteria is essentially what used to be the stop for people

traveling, you know, like where the oster, which is the host of the osteria would

bring your plate out and it’s what they serve for the day, with just your small

glass of wine . I dunno if you’ve, you know, kind of like what I’m picturing,

but it’s like the osteria glass, it’s like a tiny small glass that it, it would

almost be considered like a shot glass.

A jar would come out so you wouldn’t have the fancy bottles,

but it’s just the local wine.

And there is one, there’s not many options.

But it is a great wine.

Obviously nowadays the osteria is, is gonna be more fancy.

You’ve got a few options in terms of wine and food, but the price

is still very reasonable and you get really good quality food.

Generally the pasta is homemade, and everything is locally sourced.

And this is one thing that I really love about Emilia Romagna.

Because of like having a lot, like even in Rimini and obviously the

Riviera having a lot of Italian going on holiday there, you’re not really

able to get away with tourist traps.

That’s really good point.

You get really authentic Italian food.

The best meal I’ve had in Italy so far was in

Bologna and it was in this cafe.

It didn’t look like anything from the outside.

If I had seen that cafe in London, I would’ve walked past.

There’s no way I would’ve gone in.

And I went in and I had a risotto.

Oh my gosh.

It was the best risotto I’ve ever had.

And it was cheap.

It was really reasonably priced.

It was delicious.

And it wasn’t fancy.

It didn’t, it wasn’t showing off in any way.

It just knew it was good and it was good.

yeah.

I mean, that, that’s, that’s one, like some of the best meal I had.

Um, you know, I, I do like eating obviously, as an Italian, even

like Michelin star restaurant, fancy, uh, fancy places.

But I would say some of the top, the best meals I’ve had, it

would be in places like you are describing where you wouldn’t expect.

Generally in these places, the owner is the person cooking.

And I think it reflects the love for what they’re doing.

You get all of that so that there’s a lot into play and, and generally

yeah, it, it is great food.

So all of that combined together makes it into a great experience.

And of course, being not expensive, makes it more enjoyable at the end of

the meal if you’ve had a great meal.

a hundred percent.

We’re gonna talk more about, some of the other towns in Emilia Romagna in a moment.

But I wanna talk about cycling.

Because this is really the way that you experience it the most and the

way you share the region with people.

You’ve started a company called, Cyclo Holidays.

You take people specifically out to see places on bike.

Correct.

How did that come about?

I used to race back in Emilia Romagna for about

11 years, since I was more all the way to like 19, 20 years old.

I didn’t quite appreciate what I had when I was living there because I was training,

I was going around with a bike every day.

But it, for me, it was just like the home roads, you know, people that live

in Cornwall nowadays, they probably feel like this is just home, you know?

But then when you go and explore it from a different point of view, things change.

So I stopped cycling when I moved to London.

I stopped cycling for about five, six years.

I just had that kind of like rejection for cycling, ’cause I had to do it as

a job, so I didn’t enjoy it anymore.

And then I went back with the bike one time and I decided to cycle around

for the first time I was restarting.

I wasn’t fit at all.

So every climb was a struggle.

I just, I remember like going up this hill, and getting to the top

and just looking around and I just suddenly realize how beautiful like the

landscape was and what I had around me.

It was spring, so obviously it was sunny, perfect temperature for cycling.

I just had this moment of realization and it came back to my mind.

I really want to bring people here.

Surely people should know more about these, you know, the food

they eat comes from our area.

Every time they talk about Italian food, a lot of what they

talk about is from our area.

So why people don’t come and see themselves and obviously the

cycling, there is a massive culture of cycling in Emilia Romagna.

I had previously started my own bicycle repair.

I think that gave me the courage to try and fulfill all my dreams,

which is, you know, being in the bike world, but also start Cyclo Holidays,

which would be bringing mainly British people to Emilia Romagna.

The other thing that we do with Cyclo, we have a community which

is growing incredibly fast and it’s quite exciting for me.

So we organize three free rides per week in London, where people can join.

I try to include all levels possible from people that show up, for

the first rides all the way up to people that have been cycling for a

long time and they are quite fast.

So I try and keep those rides open.

For me it’s a way to get people talking about cyclo and eventually, come on a

holiday , and hopefully to Emilia Romagna.

To leave Emilia Romagna, just for a brief moment.

If someone is in London and wants to join your community, how can they do that?

We normally use Strava, if you look for Cyclo on Strava.

I dunno if you know the app, but it’s what people use generally.

If you cycle, there’s a 99.9% chance that you’re using Strava.

It’s a way to record your activities, but it’s also a great social cycling

platform because you can watch others what they’re doing, what rides they’ve

done and kind of give them a kudo and comment on their ride essentially.

So anyone that cycles generally uses Strava.

So we have a club on Strava and you can join that and join any of our rides.

We also have a WhatsApp chat, where we post all of our activities.

And finally, if you go and look for Cyclo holidays on Instagram, then you

can see everything we’re doing from, the community rides to the holidays

and any other event that we do.

That’s such a great idea.

Going back towards Emilia Romagna, there’s flatlands and

then there are also some hills.

You’re just north of a mountain range.

How easy is it to cycle or do you need to do some training before you get there?

If you’re gonna do a cycling trip?

The good thing about cycling those days is that we

have e-bikes, and e-bikes enables all levels of riders to ride together

in general as a cycle holidays.

The main reason why I put holidays there is because it’s a holiday.

So we want to enjoy ourselves.

We want people to obviously go on a bike and it’s a bit of an exercise,

but at the same time, it’s not a race.

It’s not a training camp, it’s more of an enjoying what’s around you,

stop for pictures, stop for a coffee.

You do need a certain level of fitness in sense of like, you’re

gonna be spending quite a few hours, 4, 5, 6 hours on the bike.

So it’ll be naive to think that you take your bike and you’ve never

cycled before, and you’ll be able to sit on a saddle for five, six hours.

So I would recommend, try and do some rides and get used

to that level of cycling.

One side of Cyclo holidays that I am developing, the next year or so, it will

be more of an agency side where people can go and experience the places that

we experience, but at their own pace.

The great thing about Emilia Romagna is that we have some partners,

bike hotels that have facilities.

So they’ve got bike rooms, they have rentals, and they organize rides.

Literally at all levels.

They even do some like 30, 40, 50 kilometers, right?

Which they could be like a couple of hours, for people that have

never ridden before with e-bikes.

And when it comes to e-bikes, the good thing is that you’re not scared of climbs.

You’re gonna be going up the climbs quicker than the people that are trained.

So that makes it quite enjoyable.

I think with cycling, people find enjoyment in so many different ways.

You’ve got people that really want to push themself and train and get fit and

faster, but you get other people that are just happy to just let the wheels

roll and just enjoy what’s around.

Some people just like to get on the bike and just look around.

Of course I’m always gonna say cycling is the best thing, if you compare

it to like running you’re not gonna be able to cover the same distance.

But also being able to look around if you are in a car, you’re driving,

you have to look at the road.

If you want to go somewhere, you’re gonna have to stop and park

and it’s a lot more complicated.

If you’re on a bike, you’re going a lot slower, so you can look around,

you can take your time to stop anywhere and just take a picture and restart.

I think it’s a completely different way of traveling.

And I think more and more people are enjoying and understanding

what that type of enjoyment is.

When you’re doing a cycling holiday, so you’re going from end to end

of Emilia Romagna or you’re doing a 30 kilometer stretch between two places.

Is everything on your back?

Are you traveling with all of your luggage with you?

So generally the trip that I organized are based in Romagna,

so in Cattolica, which is my town.

And we go back to the same place all the time.

So we generally do a ride and come back to the same place.

I find these to be the most relaxing way of traveling.

We are now organizing more trips where we’ll be moving in different places and

it really depends what the customer wants.

We can organize all type of trips.

Mainly the trips that I organize stay in the same place.

I mentioned before there is these bike hotels, which you can find

quite a few in Emilia Romagna.

And, they’ve got everything from the bike room where you can safely

store your bike with all the tools.

They normally have a bike manager, so a person that can

help you if you have any issues.

They’ve got daily rides, sometimes they have two, three different levels,

daily rides going out with guides.

You can show up there even without a bike, they, they will have the

cycling clothes and everything.

They will wash your clothes daily, so you get fresh kit every day.

like The services for bikes are incredible.

So I think that’s also why many people, they go one time and they

will go back every single year.

A nice hotel with a swimming pool and you are literally by the beach, makes it into

a really relaxing experience and holiday.

There will be people that like to move one place to another and explore a bit more.

And you can do that in Emilia Romagna really well, there’s so many

places to see, moving from the south all the way ,up to, to the north.

And that’s called bike packing now, isn’t it?

Yeah.

Correct.

Yeah.

I think it’s definitely a phenomenon in cycling that is growing.

Bike touring, bike packing.

There are obviously two ways of doing it.

There is like the real bike packing, which would be having just a tent at the

back of your bike and stopping and camp where you can essentially, that would

probably be the most adventurous, but at the same time it would really connect

you with people and places because , in some situations, you have no choice,

but ask strangers and locals where to sleep or where to go and what to do.

Sometime in those situations, your phone is not enough.

Google doesn’t help you, so you’ll literally go and ask people,

where am I gonna sleep tonight?

So, I would say that’s definitely the best way to explore and, and know

places, and really get to know people.

And generally when you get to know the people of the area,

you get to know the culture.

You get to know what’s around you, and you really immerse yourself

in the culture and in the place.

That’s one side.

And then, you can do bike packing , which I’ve done many times with my wife in

order to convince her to cycle with me, which will be stopping in nice places

. There are many agriturismo, where generally to be called an

agriturismo, not only, you obviously have to have the place to sleep.

Generally they also sell food, whether it’s breakfast or some they do lunch

and dinner, but they have to produce something that they sell in their

place, or whether it’s the breakfast.

They would make their own jams.

Some go to, to the extent of producing everything they serve on the table,

even the meats and the cheese.

And so you, I think that’s one of the best way to bike pack in a comfortable and

really luxurious way, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

, Doing things locally I think is really the way to go with most regions.

But Emilia Romagna stands out for me.

If people want to find out more about Cyclo holidays, where should

they go to find out more about you?

So I would say the first channel would be Instagram.

We are very active on there.

We have a website where you will find the trips that will be coming

out for next year, we are developing an agency site, which means you can

contact us with a form and tell us what you want to go, and for how long.

Generally we tend to first create a trip, go with our guests as a

group, and then advertise the area.

Not just in Emilia Romagna.

Obviously the main focus is Emilia Romagna.

Uh, but generally we tend to organize a trip first, go there with our

guests, and then having a local operator we work with for those trips.

That gives us then the possibility to offer the same trip for anyone else

that want to experience that area.

So if you see one of our trips and you can’t make the dates that we are going

out or you find that might be a bit too fast or too slow for your liking, you

can replicate the exact same trip with all the wine tasting experiences, having

a guide if you wish, or we can provide all the GPX files, which is the routes.

And also advise you with the best places, book all your accommodation, if you want

to do also experiences like wine tasting, olive oil tasting, some cooking class,

we can organize all of that for you, and create a trip essentially to your need.

I’ve never done a cycling holiday.

Actually, I’ve never even thought of doing a cycling holiday, but

chatting with Francesco Casale has really made me very tempted.

It seems like an amazing way to see Emilia Romagna, and so long as I’ve got

the right saddle, I think I can do it.

If you’re interested, you can check out his website, cycloholidays.co.uk, or

indeed, as he suggested, go to Instagram, where he is at Cyclo holidays, C-Y-C-L-O.

Holidays.

Well, I think it’s time for a bit of a quiz.

Which city is nicknamed La Grassa, the fat one, for its food culture.

Uh, bologna.

Yeah.

This one I found interesting.

What’s the only authentic ingredient allowed in traditional Modena

balsamic vinegar besides grapes?

Ooh, that is a tough one.

The only ingredients allow.

I wouldn’t have got this one right.

Just trying to think now.

The only other ingredient, I would want to say about a yeast, but

like, that’s obviously not, um

I’m quite curious now.

Maybe it’s slightly a trick question ’cause technically

there’s only one ingredient, in balsamic vinegar, which is grapes.

The answer is time.

For Modena balsamic vinegar.

It must age for at least 12 years.

That’s one of the rules.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

And that makes sense.

It is definitely a tricky question.

I’ve had some of the best experiences in terms of food as well in Modena.

One cool thing about going to the balsamic vinegar would be, anywhere

in the town there are shops that sell the balsamic vinegar, but

they generally are from producers.

And they would show you and let you try all their best vinegars

from, you know, the 12 years old all the way up to the 30 years old.

You probably end up leaving with one anyway.

You’ll probably buy one, you might not buy the 500 pound bottle, but

once you’ve tried a few, like you’ll probably leave with a bottle anyway.

And it’s essentially the best way to do a balsamic vinegar tasting completely free.

There is also a beautiful market, um, an open, open market, where

yeah you can literally try all the best food of Modena from, you know,

the, all the hams, the, the cheese, with the best, Balsamic vinegar.

It does sound like Modena is the place to go if you’re a foodie.

Yeah, I did actually visit Osteria Francescana, which

was for three years in a row, voted the best restaurant in the world.

So this was a present from my wife, for my birthday.

And we, it was the chef, Bottura, rated one of the best chef in the world.

He’s from Modena.

So it was one of my dream to be able to visit that restaurant.

So I had that, that luck.

Staying in Modena for the next question.

Which luxury car brand was founded in Modena?

Lamborghini Ferrari.

Yeah.

You get two, two points there, which means you’ve caught up now from the point

that you didn’t get for question two.

You’re now, you’re now ahead of the game.

What is the sparkling red wine that is typical of Emilia Romagna?

Lambrusco, one of my favorite wine.

I love lambrusco in general, but there is a couple of version of lambrusco.

Obviously the classic red, very sweet or kind of sweeter, and then , more and more

you get to have a more dry lambrusco.

I do like the more dry.

It’s an amazing wine

It is becoming more and more popular.

You do get it quite a lot here in London now.

Generally if you go in an Italian restaurant, you tend to find it, and

as I said, there’s more dry version now and some of them they go into a

more refined aging process, not just a first aging in the barrels, but

also they do an aging in the bottle, so closer to the champagne method.

So the bubbles become thinner and the wine is a little bit more sophisticated.

I would say the sweeter wine is more a convivial wine and easy,

uh, for anyone really to drink.

Um, the drier, it goes well with most of the meal, with

seafood or with meat and cheese.

Sometimes with some pasta dishes as well, and fish.

So it’s a very versatile wine.

Hmm.

Final question in our quiz.

What pasta shape is bologna famous for serving with ragu?

Uh, tagliatelle but what, yeah, I, I mean,

papardelle, tagliatelle

I mean,

Specifically, it is not spaghetti.

No spaghetti.

No definitely not.

I don’t think I’ve seen spaghetti with Bolognese sauce in Italy is not something.

You might have it at home when you are small like a child.

You might be allowed if for some reason that you’ve run out of, uh,

tagliatelle, but no, not generally.

That’s not the, uh, that’s not the go for.

When it comes to tagliatelle Pasta, you have tagliallini,

which is a thin tagliatella.

Then you have tagliatella, which is the, the standard size.

And then you have, papardella, which is the wider one.

Thickness wise, we are at a similar thickness, but width changes

and normally is to be served with different type of sauce.

So the taglialini suits very well seafood, tagliatelle with the Ragu,

more commonly known as bolognese.

And then the papardelle would go really well with some wild boar, and

like some more sort of wild animals

Why didn’t it get called

taglione?

I dunno, I that’s a good question.

I dunno why they

changed it

It gets a totally different

name.

If people are heading to Emilia Romagna, and they don’t speak

Italian, are they gonna do okay?

Can they get by?

Bologna for sure.

It’s a bigger city and there’s a lot more young people, if that makes sense.

If you move inland, that’s when you gonna struggle a bit more.

But, you will find way to communicate and I wouldn’t be scared of , you know, how am

I gonna order food or am I gonna survive?

You will be able to survive.

Nowadays with your phone, you, you can use, you know, your phones.

Its like everywhere.

Essentially.

If you are in more touristic places, like in in Romagna, you’ll definitely

find a lot of people that speak English.

Generally the older people are, they might not be able to have a conversation with

you, but they will understand the basics.

But the younger generation, definitely more and more people.

It’s always been an issue all around Italy.

We do study English, essentially we start studying English when we are five.

All the way up to like 18, 19 years old, the bare minimum, like, you

know, so I mean, I think, but you have to be, you have to, you must

study until you are 15 in Italy.

And everyone studies English from when they’re five.

And just a few words, so that people who don’t speak

Italian can go with something.

Just to get into it, how would you say hello to people in Italy?

Ciao, which is probably, everyone knows ciao

Yeah.

please.

please.

is per favore.

Per favore.. Thank you.

Grazie

Grazie.

Goodbye.

Arrivederci.

And, if you’re asking another glass of Lambrusco, please.

Un altro bicchiere di lambrusco per favore..

There

we go.

Useful phrases.

Yeah,

Very

one need.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Again, like going back to the wines, obviously you mentioned the Lambrusco.

It’s not the the most famous region for wines is uh, known

specifically for that wine.

But the cool thing about Italy and the one thing that I love about my

country is that within 20 minutes, anywhere you are, you can find a

local producer from, you know, a tiny, small farmer to, more sophisticated

like, uh, proper canteen and vineyard.

You’ll be able to find a place that, that has wine tasting.

So I would look around you and try to find a spot like that because you can find

some really affordable experiences where you get to try that wines and it’s always

different trying a wine where is produced.

You might have the same bottle in a wine shop back home, but if you’ve tried that

bottle where they’ve made it, while they explain you how they made it and the

time it took to make, you know, from picking the grapes all the way down to, to

getting the juice out, like it would be a completely different experience and taste.

Especially if you’re there when the vines are in full

bloom and seeing these, the green, you’ve got the scent of the ripening

grapes.

yeah.

The other thing is like the canteens you get into, you walk into those, like

those places where the wine is held at the perfect temperature, the smell

of, of, you know, the, uh, it’s, it’s hard to describe if you haven’t been

there, but I, I’ll highly recommend it.

That’s how you want to experience places that you, you want to go, where things

are made, where everything starts.

And, and you know that that’s where you really, uh, get to

experience and try and feel.

What is like.

It’s not just where things are made naturally though.

There’s a lot of amazing things made in the region that are big machines.

I think it would be wrong of us to talk about Emilia Romagna and not talk cars.

Yeah.

The, is these like really deep connection between Emilia

Romagna and motors in general.

Is cars but you, you also have like motorbikes, obviously, some of the

best cars in the world are made like Lamborghini, uh, Ferrari, to just

name two, Ducati for the motorbikes.

Yeah.

So some of the, the biggest brand in the world when it comes to, you know,

machines are made in this region.

And there’s obviously a deep, connection to, to the motors is, uh, it’s a

region of people that like to go fast., That’s how it’s described very often.

Close to the south where I am, one of the best motorbike

rider Valentino Rossi, um, is.

It’s actually at the border is just off to Marche.

But people come there just to visit where is born and, and, uh, we’ve got

very close to, Cattolica in Misano Adriatico, the world circuit, for

motorbike for the Moto GP, and going up at the north we’ve got, in Imola,

it used to be a Formula One autodrome.

And is where the best cars in the world are produced.

So yeah, there is definitely a deep connection.

And some of them, some of them allow you to

Yeah, definitely.

You’ve got the museums, you can visit where those cars are made and yeah,

if you’re passionate about, you know, cars and, and motors in general,

whether it’s motorbikes or cars, it’s definitely like places you want to go.

You want to go there and feel same thing, like, you know, for, if you’re

passionate about wine, you wanna smell the, the, the rotting vice, I dunno

how to describe the, not rotting, but it’s like that smell of like, you

know, yeast and, and, uh, the producer.

But if you’re passionate about cars, you wanna smell maybe like the, the

grease and the motor, like, and, and what it’s made and, uh, yeah,

really experienced things from where they start and what they’re made

Is there one in particular , because there are so many, is there

one which is, a great one to start for

Uh, I would say Maranello, like, you

know, for, for the Ferrari.

You’ve got the museum and, and you, I would highly recommend visiting there.

That’s where you wanna start from and that’s where it all started for Ferrari,

it, it is amazing.

This area, which isn’t huge, has had such an impact in the, the luxury motor

world and the competitive motor world.

And then the thing that surprised me the most was that Lamborghini started out with

tractors,

Yeah.

It’s definitely like a crazy start.

It is weird, but , in some cases, like some car producer that produce

something really, really good, uh, they might not necessarily

make most of their money on that.

They might have to produce something else.

You’re talking about something that is so premium that very few people can afford.

It’s like a dream.

So sometimes , you know, Lamborghinis made more money in tractors than

it does in cars, because you can sell a lot more tractors

that’s so funny.

I’ve got one last question before we get into our quick fire

round, and that is about tipping.

If you go to a restaurant or if you’re going on a tour, are you expected to tip

the guide or the person who served you?

Not generally, no.

I mean, Italians don’t generally tip,

I personally do.

I’ve worked in hospitality and I think, if you’ve had a good meal and

you’ve had a great experience and people have been nice to you, why not?

There is no service charge in Italy.

And hopefully that will never come too, but generally restaurants charge one

or two euros for a coperto, which is essentially translated as cover, which

pays for your table and your breads.

You get normally free bread and olive oil.

But yeah, it’s not a service charge.

It goes to the restaurant.

Even if you were to leave, like, you know, if it was 96 pound, 97 pound,

then you were to leave a hundred euros.

I think that’s, that’s nice, but it’s not expected.

You’re not expected to be tipping.

Looking at the whole area of Emilia Romagna so you can answer with

any of that region in mind, what would you say is the top thing to see or do?

So hard to pick one.

I really love Rimini, so I, I I would probably say, um, the historic center of

Rimini, and then going back to the food and do one of the food or wine tasting,

either in the Modena or Parma region.

That’s one side that we haven’t covered much actually.

Let me give some justice to Parma, which is, I think it’s one the only,

the only place that is UNESCO heritage for gastronomy, I might be wrong on

this, but they are one of the only places they recognize for like unesco,

uh, for gastronomy essentially.

So it’s obviously where Parma ham, Parmesan is made.

So I would say one of the things that you want to do would be going in a Parmesan

factory and see when they open a wheel of Parmigiano in front of you and taste

the Parmigiano straight from the wheel.

That’s one of the things that I would recommend.

Definitely.

There are some requirements in terms of how old, I believe it’s 12 months minimum.

So it has to be aged for a certain period of time.

They can only use milk from a certain cow.

There are some restrictions, so in order to be called Parmigiano,

it has to have those requirements.

The same with, you know, you were saying with the balsamic vinegar and the time.

So in order to be a balsamic vinegar from Modena and be recognized with

that name, you have to have those standards, if that makes sense.

I think that’s one of the good thing about the , European Union, is that it

protects small producer or, or products from being copied and named the same way.

What would you say is a tourist trap to avoid in Emilia ‘Romagna?

Generally, I don’t think Emilia Romagna has as many tourists

trap because as I said earlier, we tend to have a lot of, like Italian

tourists visiting, so it’s quite uncommon to actually have tourist traps.

Anywhere in Italy, , I would stay away if there is a big tourist attraction,

if that makes sense, you’ll find a few shop, a few restaurants or bars right

in front of it, and those are generally the place that tend to be more expensive

and the quality won’t be the best.

In Emilia Romagna, because we don’t have those extremely overcrowded

places, you might find that it’s more a case of being overpriced

rather than being really bad quality.

What’s your favorite time to visit Emilia Romagna in the yeear?

I would say spring is lovely.

You start to get the first, the first like really like sunny

days and it’s not too hot.

I love going in July as well, ’cause it’s my birthday and,

because I go in the Romagna side.

It’s a lovely time of the year.

Every evening there are parties, there are festivals, a bit of

nightlife as well, that fireworks.

If you want a bit of like a kind of a beach side holiday and, and you want to

enjoy yourself at, at the beach and also having some, you know, uh, aperitivos in

the evenings and walks along the beach with all the festivals, and a bit more

lights and colors, then the summer, July, August is a very nice time of the year.

Although it, it does tend to be a bit more busy.

Definitely August, uh, where all the, all the Italians are

normally on holiday in, on August.

So it’ll be one time maybe to avoid.

June could be a good one.

Uh, start of June, uh, because you, the schools are like start of June.

The schools are still, uh, they’re still no school holiday in Italy, so

you tend to still have a summer holiday vibe, but not so over overcrowded.

When it comes to the big cities like bologna, Parma, Modena, I

would say springtime is probably the best ’cause it’s not too hot.

The colors are, as soon as you get out the town, you start to have the

flowers, the green, all around you.

It’s beautiful.

Definitely spring or autumn.

Possibly more spring

mm-hmm.

What’s a good book or film or TV show about the destination area , if

people want to get in the mood for Emilia Romagna before they go?

It has to be Fellini, so it has to be La Dolce Vita or Amarcord.

It gives you an insight of, of the characters, of people from Emilia

Romagna, the hospitality, the way of being the people from the south

in the north, if that makes sense.

The next one I think is gonna be a really hard question.

What is the top food or drink to try in Emilia

Romagna?

It’s really hard.

So, um,

so I mean.

When it comes to drink?

Uh, I, I think in terms, yeah, so the lambrusco, in my opinion,

the one from Sorbara, which is on the hills essentially.

They do a rose version sparkling, but it’s, it’s a bit dryer, not too sweet.

So I would, um, I would recommend that one.

Then in terms of food, you know, the thing is I don’t want to go in something

obvious like, uh, you know, the, the cheese , the ragu, which is, you know,

what, everyone has tried, but it is great.

So it’s hard to, it’s hard not to say.

But, um, if you haven’t tried, I would say if, if haven’t tried before.

Um, ’cause I don’t want go into the Parma ham, which is quite obvious, but there are

different qualities of Parma Hams and you get a really, really good and sweet one.

But I would go for the Culatello di Zibello, which is a ham that is

produced, around the Parma area as well, but specifically to one area.

It’s super nice and sweet, soft, like, you know, it just melts in your mouth.

Go around Parma and find a culatello.

You could probably find another, other areas of Emilia Romagna, but,

you know, again, go to the place and find the people that produce

it and try to straight from there.

And final question, if you wanna take home a really

good authentic souvenir from Emilia Romagna, what could you be looking for?

I tend to take food, but the only problem is

that it runs out really quick.

I tend to always take, uh, balsamic vinegar, when I visit Modena.

And I mean, every place you go, you can bring one and then keep the bottle.

’cause generally they’re very cool.

It’s a good souvenir.

You, have a nice meal.

Think about the time you’ve had and, and, you know, think about the memories

and enjoying whether it’s the lambrusco or, having your balsamic vinegar on,

on a bit of Parmesan cheese, which you’ve seen opening in front of you,

just thinking about those memories.

And that’s the best souvenir at the end of the day, together with some nice pictures.

Francesco from Cyclo Holidays.

Thank you so much for unlocking Emilia Romagna for us.

Thank you for having us.

Well, that’s all for this episode of the

Destination Unlocked Podcast.

Thank you again to Francesco from Cyclo Holidays who has just added so many things

to my list of what to see and do in Italy, which as anyone who knows me knows, is

one of my absolute favorite countries.

Hope you enjoyed this talk, and if you would like to join us for another

one, make sure you follow the podcast wherever you’re currently listening.

I’ll catch you next time.

Bye-bye.