Emilia-Romagna is the gastronomic heartland of Italy. It is in this passionate countryside that homemade pasta, prosciutto and parmigiano are produced without equal. And it is here where each and every town has its own specialty as remarkable and unique as the next.

Bordered by six other regions, this extremely fertile land skirts both the Po River and the Apennines. Most of the region's important towns lie on the Via Emilia, a road built in Roman times that cuts a swath from Piancenza at the top of the region to Rimini on the Adriatic. The area from Bologna to the north is Emilia; from Bologna to the south is Romagna. The region's capital is Bologna, which is located just about dead center and draws characteristics from both Emilia and Romagna. The foods of both regions are robust, drawing on all three cooking fats: butter, oil and lard.

Emilia-Romagna is the motherland of homemade pasta. In Bologna, tagliatelle, lasagne, and tortellini are favorites. In Emilia, housewives prepare pasta at lightning speed with the region's trademark one-handled rolling pin.

In Parma they say Il maiale e come la musica di Verdi: tutto buono, niente da buttar via ("The pig is like the music of Verdi: it's all good, there's nothing to throw away."). And indeed pork is a cornerstone of Emilia-Romagna's cuisine. Prosciutto, the most famous of Italy's pork products, is made in Parma (pigs feed on the whey of parmigiano reggiano, which is said to make them fatter and sweeter than in other regions). Coppa and pancetta are specialties of Piacenza in the north, just above Parma. The delicate meat that is often passed off in other countries as bologna is in fact the famed Mortadella of Bologna.

Romagna has a tradition of fish dishes, which find their apotheosis in brodetto, the most flavorful of fish soups. Parmigiano Reggiano, the unrivaled king of cheese (each fat wheel is made from 170 gallons of milk), has been made in the provinces of Parma, Reggio, and Emilia for over 700 years. So revered is Parmigiano in this region that it is among the first foods given to babies.

Another of Emilia-Romagna's great culinary contributions (as if there aren't enough already) is balsamic vinegar, which has been made in Modena for centuries.

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