Piazza Grande together with the Duomo and the Ghirlandina tower were recognised as a Unesco site in 1997. The Piazza was first and foremost home to the market. The local community established the time and place of trade and the layout of stalls in the Piazza, portable makeshift structures which on Saturdays or other market days had to be lined up in long parallel rows. Piazza Grande was also the place from which the political power of the citizens’ representatives was exercised and justice administered, mainly on Saturday, the market day. The terrible spectacle of the justice system manifested itself in the Piazza with the use of the gallows, the chopping block, instruments of torture, and the Preda Ringadora, on which unidentified corpses were laid so that they might be recognised.

On June 9th 1099 the construction of the Duomo (cathedral) began. This masterpiece is considered to be a magnificent example of Romanesque Art which astonished society at the time and still fills us with wonder today with its extraordinary beauty and originality.

The Albinelli Market, the place of tradition, is one of the visits to do if you decide to come to Modena. The indoor market, whose Liberty style structure was created in 1931 to accommodate the market that had always been held in Piazza Grande, is a point for meeting and trade. All types of food are sold on the market stalls, with a wide range of typical and certified products, such as traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena, Amaretti of Modena, the cherries of Vignola, Lambrusco doc of Sorbara, Grasparossa di Castelvetro and Salamino di Santa Croce, crescentine (or tigelle), zampone and cotechino, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Modena ham, as well as more local specialities.

The running joke in Emilia Romagna is that the region’s layout seems to have been designed by a government committee. But in actual fact, it probably was. Sometime near the close of the Second Punic War, some Romans came up with the plan for developing this newly acquired territory. The biggest expanse of flat land in Italy gave them a chance to put the Roman passion for rationalism into practice on a massive scale, and their pragmatism has marked everything in the region’s life for the last 2,200 years: its politics, its ways of thinking, and even at times its art. That straight-as-an-arrow Roman road, the Via Emilia, gave the land its character along with its name.

Piazza Mazzini is one of the most elegant part of the old town, thanks to its particular history and to its wonderful houses. The whole area was crowded with buildings from 1638, when the Duke of Modena, Francesco I, decided to create the Ghetto of the city. In 1893 the area was demolished to open out a square – at the time called Liberty Square – setting off the main Synagogue built twenty years before. The houses were then rebuilt in the prestigious style of the early XX century.

Modena’s former Jewish quarter became the ghetto in 1638. The narrow medieval streets have been completely opened up, widened during the vast renewal projects of the early 20th century that give the city its appearance today. A beautiful oriental-style synagogue stands in the Piazza Mazzini, which is located on part of the formar ghetto. Constructed between 1869 and 1873, the synagogue has a double facade.

Once known as ‘Rua Grande’, via Farini owes its name to Lugi Carlo Farini, who led the region to the Unification of Italy in the middle of the 19th century. Here a stone column stood for centuries: built to commemorate the mass grave of the Germans dead in the wars with Frederick Barbarossa (12th century). Along the street the Giusti delicatessen, the oldest in Europe, established in 1605

The magnificent Palazzo Ducale is the protagonist of the beautiful and recently renewed Piazza Roma. At the time of the Dukedom, the square was used for official celebrations and to receive Princes and Popes who came visiting the Este family.

The Palazzo Ducale was built where once a medieval castle stood. When, in 1598, the capital of the Este's Dukedom became Modena (Ferrara had been forcedly passed on the Pope), the Estes set themselves up in the fortress. However, it was unfit for an European court, so the Estes decided to build a new palace trusting the project to the most famous architects of the period. When Modena became an Italian city the ducal palace was used for other purposes, now It is on of the two most prestigious Military Academies in Italy. (As a Military Academy we are not allowded in the palace)