On Route 9, 40 km North West of Bologna. At the ducal court of Modena, a walled town of stormy history, Bonnie Prince Charlie learned some of his bad habits. His mother was the Duke’s daughter.

The largest cathedral in the Po plain and some undistinguished churches round about may be inspected for their examples of the Modenese painting school, especially the touching and amusing primitives. The Ghirlandina bell-tower is unusual. For all its tumultuous past, Modena is a fresh-looking, smiling town with elegant shops. It was early into high performance cars: it had one of the first Grand Prix race tracks and 18 km outside the Modena at Maranello is Enzo Ferrari’s factory.  In town, on Via Dino Ferrari, is the Ferrari Museum, (http://museomaranello.ferrari.com)

Detour – Reggio Nell ‘Emilia

On Route 9, 25 km North West of Modena. Least-visited of the ancient towns along the Via Emilia, it has a layout as pleasing as any, some fine statues and bronzes in the Piazza del Duomo, a very good civic theatre built in 1857 and an art gallery, the Parmeggiani, which displays jewellery, silks and weapons of different lands as well as pictures. Its prize exhibit is El Greco’s painting of Christ. Most agreeable in Reggio is to find a town centre which really looks its medieval part, having few foreign visitors, and to study paintings without having to look over people’s shoulders.