A travel guide to the UNESCO Sites in Modena – Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande

My this particular trip was one of the very last Italian trips I took before
moving out of Europe. Thanks to
Emilia Romagna Tourism’s planning, the trip to cover as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as possible in the
Emilia Romagna region was possible; plus one special site – the country of San
Marino, which also has 1 UNESCO Site!

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Modena Emilia Romagna Italy

Cathedral from Piazza Grande

Preda Ringadora

Duomo del Modena | Modena Cathedral | UNESCO World heritage Site

18th C CE Mosiac work at Modena Cathedral

Duomo del Modena Torre Ghirlandina | Modena Cathedral & Torre Civica | UNESCO World heritage Site

View of Torre Civica / Torre Ghirlandina & Cathedral from Piazza
Grande

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES OF EMILIA ROMAGNA & SAN MARINO

Emilia Romagna region has 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites –
Piazza Grande, Cathedral and the Ghirlandina Tower of Modena;
Porticoes of Bologna; Ferrara city of Renaissance; and of course, the
Mosaics of Ravenna .

When I say UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I purely mean the World Heritage
Sites and not including UNESCO Creative City Networks or UNESCO Biospheres.
Apart from these 4, the country of San Marino is, in its entirety, an
exclave of Emilia Romagna region of Italy! So, this was my trip to visit 5
UNESCO Sites in 2 countries! Ofcourse, each of these UNESCO Sites require a
separate blog article to share my Travelogue to Emilia Romagna, so here’s
the first one of my first site, UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Modena.

MODENA – THE ROMAN CITY OF MUTINA

The city of Modena was born in 183 BCE as Roman City and was then called
Mutina. One of the initial discoveries were parts of the Roman wall in Piazza
Roma. Mutina was not the only city founded in 183 BCE. Via Aemilia was an
important road built during the Roman Era which connected Rimini to Piacenza,
which went via Mutina. During its period of construction several Roman Cities
were born along its whole length at Bononia (Bologna) (founded 189 BC), Mutina
(Modena), Regium (Reggio Emilia), and Parma (all founded in 183 BC).

PIAZZA GRANDE, CATHEDRAL & GHIRLANDINA TOWER OF MODENA

Walking from the Teatro Comunale di Modena Pavarotti-Freni after visiting the
Historic Center of Modena, I walked over to the Piazza Grande UNESCO World Heritage Site with my tour
guide and we stopped at Preda Ringadora. In one corner of the Piazza Grande is
the Prede Ringadora; in the opposite of Preda Ringadora are the Cathedral and
the Torre Civica. All these are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites of
Modena.

Behind & beside Preda Ringadora are the parts of Communal Palace. All
these come under the bufferzone of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of
Modena.

Preda Ringadora

What is Preda Ringadora? It was once used, in the medieval times as a stage on
which announcements & orations were made. The rock itself is Red Ammonite
rock from Verona (literally, archaeology & palaeontology together!).

Palazzo Communale di Modena | Historic Palace of Modena | UNESCO World Heritage Site

Perseus holding Medusa’s head & Renaissance Staircase

Ancient units of Measurements in medieval Europe

Units of Measurement on Cathedral’s back wall & Ancient Roman
walls

Museo del Duomo | Modena Cathedral Museum | Places to see in Modena

Roman Columns with Pagan Capitals at Modena Cathedral

Renaissance Staircase & Palazzo Communale

From there, our next stop was the Mozza Tower Room & Palazzo Communale. To
reach that from the Piazza Grande, we need to take a staircase, called the
Renaissance Staircase. The Piazza Grande has a porticoes on all sides and at
the edge of the Eastern Porticoes is the Renaissance Staircase that leads to
another portico which is on the first floor of the Palazzo Communale that
leads to the inner courtyard of the building. Right here is the sculpture of
Perseus holding Medusa’s head! It’s a 19th C art sculpted by Cesare
Aureli, who was inspired by the ancient Greek sculpture of the
Apollo of the Belvedere; the pose of Perseus in this sculpture is exactly the same as Apollo of the
Belvedere!

Atop here, are some of the historic rooms of the Palazzo Communale. This part
here is called Palazzo Vecchio (literally means Old Palace) built in 1149 CE.
(There are 3 other parts of the Palace around it – Palazzo Urbis (original
Palazzo Communale / Municipal Palace) built in 1046 CE, Palazzo Nouvo (New
Palace) built in 1216 CE, and Palazzo dei Notori (Palace of the Notaries) bult
in 1220 CE)! Some of the historic rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio can be
visited.

Mozza Tower Room

However, with the time I had, I managed to visit only the Mozza Tower Room
which is one of the most historic parts of the city, built in 1046 CE.
However, in 1501 CE, the tower got damaged severely in an earthquake and was
later demolished and rebuilt with a dome atop and currently houses a museum.
While the paintings here belong to the late 20th C CE, there’s a fragment of
ancient Roman Mosaic tile here of 2nd C CE.

Roman Amphitheatre

Like any Roman City, there must have been an Roman Amphitheatre of Modena as
well, but it doesn’t exist anymore and we don’t know its original location!
I’m sure, like the
Roman Amphitheatre of London
under London Guild Hall, this would come up in some excavation in the
future!

Ancient units of Measurement

We came back to Piazza Grande and headed to the Cathedral, but before entering
the Cathedral, we stopped at an important spot beside the wall of the
Cathedral. That spot was the where the ancient units of measurements were
still intact. Every city had its own units of measurements in the ancient
times and mostly it would relate to the size of the palm, arm, & foot
measurements of the chief-architect. This was primarily used for 2 purposes –
uniformity while building the palace, cathedral etc ad well as for fair trade,
for those who sell or buy anything that needs to be measured.

Here on the back wall of the Cathedral, on the outside, there were 4 units of
measurements – Mattone (a rectangular hole for the standard size of a brick),
Passo (the length measure beside Mattone corresponding to the common Modenese
Pitch measurement of 1.27m), Coppo (a trapezoidal hole of the standard size of
a tile), and Pertica (the length measure of 3.14m beside Coppo which was used
to measure land)!

Dragon’s Bone at Modena Cathedral

Duomo del Modena | Travel Guide to visit Modena Cathedral | UNESCO World Heritage Site |

The Cathedral & Torre Ghirlandina/Torre Civica

The building of the Cathedral began in 1099 CE and the completion of the
Ghirlandina Tower happened in 1319 CE. The tower is more than 86m tall and
was recently, completely restored. It isn’t possible to climb Torre Civica
at the moment.

Saint Geminiano (San Geminianus) of Modena

We then started to walk around Modena Cathedral, on the outside and spotted
quite a few sculptures & bas-reliefs. One of the bas-reliefs is of the
life of the Patron-Saint of Modena Saint Geminiano who lived in 4th C CE
and was a Bishop of Modena who had performed very many miracles. San
Geminianus is believed to had hid Modena from the invading King Attila the Hun
of Hunnic Empire, who was on a conquering & ransacking mission across
Europe, by conjuring up a very thick fog, thereby hiding Modena from the
troops of King Attila!

The bas-relief about San Geminianus on Modena Cathedral was sculpted
by Agostino di Duccio in the 15th C CE, at the peak of Renaissance Era.
Agostino di duccio was a Renaissance Italian Sculptor born in Florence &
was trained under Donatello.

Another curious artefact to the outside is the ‘Dragon’s Bone’ from the dragon
which was slain by San Geminianus. Well, it had been here since the middle
ages and in the recent years, it has been discovered that it’s a whale
bone!

Frescoes, Mosaics & Sculptures at Modena Cathedral

There were some frescoes in the exterior of the Cathedral most of which were
worn-out, but the interiors of the Cathedral had very many frescoes. There
were quite a few bas-reliefs also all around the Cathedral.

To the north is the Porta della Pescheria (Pesca means Fish and this door
faced the fishmarket in those days). The bas-reliefs that caught my attention
were the lion pillars, pagan capitals on engaged columns which were originally
Roman & been reused while building the Cathedral, and the friezes atop the
doors, one of which depicted the life of Virgin Mary and another that
depicted Adam & Eve. The one with Adam & Eve was quite
interesting, esp, the scene where Eve is shown created from Adam’s side. These
friezes were sculpted by Wiligelmo, in 1099 to 1110 CE.

After the death of Wiligelmo, masters came in from Campione d’Italia from
Switzerland! The lion pillars on either side of the entrance door is a typical
of the Campionese masters of early 13th C CE. I couldn’t help but wonder is
these Campionese masters had ever visited southern India and seen the Pallava
Simha Thoon (more about it below)!!! The spiral & rosette details of the
arches around the door are very typical to the Campionese masters.

Many frescoes in the interiors of the Cathedral were intact, especially the
ones in the walls of the shrines. The frescoes on the rood screen, over the
bas-reliefs were absolutely exceptional. The most important was, ofcourse, the
last supper. The rood screen & the main nave at a mezzanine level, built
in the 12th C CE – 14th C CE, is still maintained as it was. Many of these
frescoes were done by Christoforo & Lorenzo Canozi of Lendinara, Agostino
Duccio, Dosso Dossi, Michele of Florence etc.

Apart from the frescoes there were also Mosaic works on both the apse, under
the dome. However, both are modern, 18th C copies of Byzantine mosaics from
Rome.

Miracles of San Geminianus – Bas relief by Wiligelmo

Marble arches with floral designs by Campionese masters

Story of Genesis (Adam & Eve) by Wiligelmo

Crypt of Modena Cathedral

Modena Cathedral’s crypt, ofcourse, holds the relics of San Geminiano. Inside
the cathedral’s crypt is this very interesting set of life-size terracotta
sculptures of Madonna & Child with 2 more people, sculpted by Guide
Mazzoni c.1450-1528. This reminded me much of the terracotta sculptures
of Sacrimonti di Ghiffa, though the Sacrimonti sculptures were made after about 2 centuries.

Torre Civica (or) Torre Ghirlandina

While the UNESCO Listing mentions Cathedral & Torre Civica, both are
essentially the same thing. Torre Civica or Torre Ghirlandia is basically the
bell tower atop the Cathedral. It isn’t possible to climb Torre Ghirlandina.

Museo del Duomo (Cathedral Museum)

There is a museum inside the Cathedral which houses some of the rich
tapestries that belong to the cathedral. These were made in Brussels in 16th C
CE. One of the tapestries was about Adam & Eve and right behind Adam is a
unicorn! There were the cloak, scarf and headgear of the Bishop, which were
majorly embroidered. The amount of workmanship that had gone into it was just
wow. It looked like a painting, but was made of long & short stitch. It
just looked phenomenal.

There was also a copper sculpture of San Geminianus made in 14th C CE. This
was originally atop the Porta Regia door overlooking the Piazza Grande.

SOMETHING TO PONDER!

Were the Campionese masters inspired by Pallavas of South India?

I have a question and trying to find some connection… The Lion Pillars in
Modena in Italy which were sculptured in early 13th C CE. I was wondering if
there’s any connection between Pallava Simha Thoon & these Lion Pillars
of Modena. The sculptors were from Campione d’Italia. Ofcourse, Pallava
thoon are much older and were sculpted in 8th-9th C CE. I tried to
look into travelers who might have visited the Pallava temples and made
accounts of the Simha Thoon & took it to Italy and ofcourse, Marco Polo
popped up. Marco Polo visited South India in 1292 on his way back and
reached his home Venice in 1295. However, the Campionese masters made these
lion pillars of Modena in the last decades of the 12th and the early 14th
centuries. Did Marco-Polo make drawings of the Pallava Simha Thoon in his
chronicles? Did the Campionese sculptors see it and get inspired by it and
make it here?

Lion Pillars by Campionese Masters at Modena Cathedral

Terracotta sculptures in Modena Cathedral’s crypt

PLACES TO VISIT IN MODENA

1. Piazza Grande, Modena Cathedral & Torre Ghirlandina

BEST HOTELS IN MODENA

BEST VEGETARIAN & VEGAN RESTAURANTS IN MODENA & DISHES TO
TRY

The best thing about Italian Food is that it is, by default, vegetarian
friendly – pizza, risotto, and most things are generally vegetarian
friendly. There are a couple of purely vegan restaurants in Modena and I
chose Monari Federzoni for lunch, Erbavoglio for dinner and stopped at a
couple other places for snacks.

Entry Tickets of Piazza Grande, & Modena Cathedral: All the sites are free to go except Museo del Duomo (Modena Cathedral
Museum).

Entry Tickets of Modena Cathedral Museum: €6.00

Entry Tickets to climb Torre Civica / Torre Ghirlandia: €6.00

Timings of Piazza Grande : Open 24×7

Timings of Modena Cathedral : 7:00 to
19:00 everyday

Timings of Modena Cathedral Museum: 10:00 to
14:00 & 15:00 to 18:00 pm from Tuesday to Friday Open till 19:00 on
Saturdays and Sundays. Closed on Mondays.

How to reach Modena? Modena is well connected by Trenitalia.
It is just 25 mins from Bologna which is connected by RyanAir flights.

How to reach Piazza Grande, Modena Cathedral & Torre Civica?
Piazza Grande is just 1km (15 mins walk) from Modena Railway station

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