BORLENGO ROUTE

"Borlengo" is not simply a special and absolutely unique foodstuff, such as to be considered a typical product. It also represents a world full of history, culture and traditions belonging to a territory situated in one of the most suggestive areas of Modena and Bologna Appennine. The text deals with Borlengo, and with the people and places that gave birth to it. It is a book, a guide or simply an instrument useful to get to know better a territory rich in natural, architectural and gastronomic attractions.

WHAT IS BORLENGO?

The name "borlengo" defines that foodstuff prepared cooking a liquid dough, made mainly of flour and water, called "colla", in a tinned copper pan called "sole", dressed with a mixture of bacon and/or bacon fat, garlic and rosemary, called "concia", and grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and immediately eaten with the hands after folding it into four.

EATING IN DIALECT

21 classical and traditional gastronomic specialities of the Este Duchy in rhyming lines.


"[...] When we want to talk about past traditions, there are not more effective subjects than dialectal poetry and gastronomy. As a rule, every civilization, every age and every culture have always been characterized by a particular approach to food."

This is not a recipe book. Here, the author, who is not new to this kind of works, has given vent to his poetic vein realizing this collection of 21 delicious dishes written in hendecasyllabic lines which narrate - in a witty way - Modena gastronomic specialities.
"In Levoni's book past experiences come to life again: the smell of stock along the stairs, which meant great celebrations, at the time when "tortellini" were eaten at Easter and Christmas with brass spoons, or when "tortelloni di ricotta" were reserved for grandfather Amilcare's birthday; the rites of the tomato sauce cooked in a special open-air fireplace called "fuocone", or of croquettes made with left soup, so tasty that only at home you could enjoy them."
Opposite each poem you can find a literal or free translation, to make understanding easier to those who are not very familiar with Modena dialect. The book is also illustrated with very beautiful lithographs by Giuseppe Graziosi.
For those who are more curious, more interested or simply more lazy, the author has recited the poems to the sound of music, and has enclosed a free music cassette to listen to in complete relax.

The virtue of Arts. ADEODATO MALATESTA and the Atestina Academy

THE EXHIBITION
"The exhibition is part of the programme of cultural events for the 4th centenary of Modena as a capital city and it is connected to the two exhibitions held in Modena and Reggio Emilia entitled "Modelli d'arte e di devozione. Adeodato Malatesta 1806-1891" (Models of art and devotion. Adeodato Malatesta 1806-1891). Their subject is Adeodato Malatesta and his influence on the Emilian art in the second half of the 19th century. The exhibition in Vignola opens to the public another 'closed shrine', rich in souvenirs and artistic wealth: the Academy collection of art objects usually kept in the Institute of Arts 'A. Venturi' in Modena".

THE CATALOGUE
The catalogue, divided into three parts, offers a vast selection of works accompanied by the relevant information on the artist or on the work itself. It is also enriched with the following essays: "The Academy: yesterday and today" by Jadranka Bentini, "Adeodato Malatesta and the historical work for preservation" by Andrea Emiliani, "From the Academy to the Institute of Arts" by Sandro Ferrari, "Giuseppe Maria Soli and the founding of the Academy" by Vittorio Sala and Vincenzo Vandelli, "Models to teach arts: books and prints in the Academy" by Luciano Rivi, "Plaster casts of the Academy: first reflections" by Maria Luigia Pagliani, "Malatesta, the director, and the arts of drawing in Modena" by Daniela Ferriani, "The historical picture gallery" by Lucia Peruzzi, "Relationships with the School of Arts in Reggio" by Elisabetta Farioli, "The awards during the Duchy period" by Lidia Righi Guerzoni, "Exhibitions and awards during the post-unity period" by Graziella Martinelli Braglia.
Exhaustive bibliography.

NOBILITAS ESTENSIS cones, minting dies and coins from the Este Numismatic collection

by Jadranka Bentini and Lisa Bellocchi

For the first time the collection of cones and minting dies from the Este Gallery in Modena is exhibited: about 1,200 objects employed, during the centuries, to prepare coins in many Italian Mints.
Nobilitas Estensis (quoting a usual motto on Este coins) presents two hundred years of modern economy.
The collections of cones and minting dies are extremely rare compared to the ones of coins. Each pair of cones (one for the obverse and one for the reverse of the value) produced hundreds or thousands of coins, and for this reason they are numerically inferior. Moreover, till recent times, people were not aware of the historical value of such objects, simply considered as tools.
THE CATALOGUE follows the guided visit to the exhibition through explanatory tables for every kind of cones, minting dies and coins divided by the chronological order of the different dukes of Modena.
In the first part, the very beautiful paintings on show are illustrated in colour.
The second part includes the essays by Lisa Bellocchi, Marco Cattini, Angelo Spaggiari, Elena Corradini and Giorgio Boccolari.
35 unpublished illustrative cards with the reproductions of Este cones and minting dies from the 16th to the 18th century close the catalogue.

(THE FRUIT OF PARADISE
history and culture of Vignola cherries)

"Anyone who has passed, at least once in his life, through the streets of Vignola during the month of April, cannot surely forget the blossoming of cherry trees, those little fragile petals which transform the country completely, giving it a "paradisiac" aspect.
… It is also a recognition to everyone who has contributed to the making of its epic. A history more than one century long, involving thousands of people; however, up to now, it has remained isolated within technical studies, section analysis, reports written by experts for experts, unknown, therefore, to the general public."

Vignola and its cherries have lived side by side through last century; the history of the town identifies, from the middle of 1800, with the growth of the cherries production in the Panaro Valley.
Nonetheless, among cultural publications about Vignola there was no book on cherries.
The authors have recreated a sort of historical compendium about Vignola during last century, about people who have contributed to the economic boom of the Panaro Valley, and their brilliance in generating, besides the agronomic event, a series of industrial and technological activities which still represents the most important part of the economy of the region.
In appendix, there is a nice anecdotal and encyclopaedic dictionary on cherries (illustrated by Maria Claudia Di Genova) for the ones who are not familiar with the language of cherries or want to know curiosities and secrets.

(A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD LIFE
Vignola and its inhabitants, memories - Love and homesick for the native village - Meditations)

With this publication, the Lions Club of Vignola carries out its double institutional undertaking: rendering homage to the memory of one of its charter members and, at the same time, serving the broadest interest of the Community of Vignola. The present work, in fact, reports memories, authentic testimonies of recent history, the meditations and experiences through a life of about one hundred years of an authoritative fellow-townsman - head town clerk for more than 30 years.
A series of illustrations of events and local personages completes the volume.
Photographs by Claudio Soli.

(MOUNTAIN-BIKE
itineraries in and around Vignola)

19 itineraries to face strictly by Mountain-bike to discover the places surrounded by nature a few steps from Vignola, Castelvetro, Marano and Savignano.
These itineraries, experimented personally by the author, are supported by the relevant topographical map, by a technical card with the description of the route length, the supposed mileage time, the difficulty and the characteristic of the track.
Let us lead by Giovanni Zanasi through these "streets of adventure" covered with white dust or grey-blue asphalt, following, above all, his experienced advices.
SUITABLE FOR BEGINNERS AND EXPERTS

WORDS ARE MAGIC

"To enter, as a reader, a private and intimate collection of letters can be very delicate, but it allows people to discover things which may concern everybody and each one of us. In this case the letters follow an engagement, therefore they contain both expressions of courtship and of falling in love. The word engagement recalls both faith and trustworthiness and could be thus interpreted as the time when we learn to trust one another, to have faith, to become sure and to have and inspire confidence."
"Those who will read these letters can reflect on something very important: the human condition is a struggle against endless inadequacies, a series of regular or sudden examinations of one's own limitations. Incompleteness is part of the human condition, which struggles to overcome or to hide, to mask its own limitations. We do not like our incompleteness as it makes us feel sad and, sometimes, in order to defeat the sadness of our inadequacies, we get away. We can hide in ignorance, in excesses and in false passions."
"These letters can make us understand how in love and in the process of falling in love there is mutual, never ending knowledge. There is no object to make the acquaintance of, but an alterity that in its evolution enters in my nature modifying it and thus needing a new process of knowledge. It is a mutual exchange that never ends. The confirmation lies in the fact that these letters are available for reading. The happiness in discovering one's incompleteness in the process of falling in love is not a document to be kept in archives. It is a true reality. For those who will read these letters, please do it with sensibility."

A powerful epistolary novel that cries love.

The colour paintings reproduced are by Domenico Simonini.

(LAND AND PEOPLE OF MY FRIGNANO)

Once upon a time there was Ca' Suladèra, a farm of about 14 biolche… This is the beginning of the story about Giuseppe and Domenica, the characters, with their six children (Anita, Antonio, Maria, Anna, Andrea and Giacomino), of the present novel, which narrates, with simplicity and immediacy, the life of a big family of Pavullo. Their values are not peculiar to the land and people of Frignano, but they belong to every Modenese.
A story completely based on the memory of the author; a clear and exact memory, like a magnetic tape or a film taken at the time and in the places of her childhood.

(MODENESE DIALECT 2
dictionary of proverbs, sayings and curiosities in Modenese dialect)

The present second volume complete the collection with the most usual and known sayings.

(GRAMMAR AND RHYMING DICTIONARY
of Modenese dialect)

A simple and concise grammar and rhyming dictionary (for poetry lovers) suited for anyone who wants to approach Modenese dialect for the first time, for the ones who have already learned its bases, and for all the lovers interested in Modenese culture and its past.
When talking about grammar, one inevitably moves into the field of historical culture, because the language, with its forms and structure, is integral part of the history of a people. So the author, in a pleasant way, contributes to maintain the thread of Modenese origins.

(DIALECT PROJECT
games, nursery-rhymes, proverbs, poems in the Modenese tradition)

This publication, with an attractive and exacting title, describes the Modenese customs and traditions of the past, through the games of children, the nursery-rhymes, the lullabies and the proverbs linked to the months and to the Saints.
The poems taken into consideration are by different authors from Modena, Carpi, Mirandola, San Felice, Finale Emilia, Fiumalbo, Pievepelago, Frassinoro and Lama Mocogno.
The volume divides and compares the diverse dialects of the city, of the "Bassa" (areas in the plain land) and of the Appennines.

THE AREA OF THE EX FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET IN VIGNOLA: THREE CENTURIES OF ALTERNATING SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS EVENTS

series Quaderni del Museo n.2

The fruits of deep archive research, the author leads us within the most important events characterizing, for over three centuries, first from a religious then from a commercial point of view, a place of particular interest for the whole community of Vignola: the fruit and vegetable market.

CANCER SIMONDAI MEYER in the Pliocenic clays of the river Panaro
+ QUADERNI DEL PALESI N.1

Scientific and documentary monograph about fossil findings of the Panaro Valley devoted to the "Crab". Herewith enclosed the "Quaderni del Palesi" n.1, by the homonymous association, which illustrates the Museum in Vignola.

(ART THROUGH THE CENTURIES
from XIII to XVIII)

Annotated catalogue of painting and sculpture reproducing the works of famous artists - Picart, Hupin, Spadino, Recco, Realfonso, Ruoppolo, Vicenzino, Boselli, Cittadini, Mezzadri, Crespi, Beck, Trey, Cambiaso, Bagnacavallo, Tintoretto, Calvaert, Brandi, Magnasco and Alibrandi.

(TESTIMONIES BY MODENESE ARTISTS BETWEEN 1800 AND 1900)

Catalogue of the exhibition - June 1990 - of paintings and sculptures by A.Malatesta - N.Malatesta - G.Bellei - G.Graziosi - C.Jodi - A.Roncaglia - T.Pelloni - I.Soli - L.Masinelli - E.M.Bertoli - M.Gherardini - N.Annovi.