I stayed 4 nights in Modena on a road-trip a couple years ago (1600+ miles frankfurt-paris via italy & the med). The purpose of the Modena stay was to see a town that wasn't touristy, and to get a taste (more like a big-gulp) of Italian car culture. Right in and around Modena is the Enzo Ferrari Museum, Maserati factory, Ferrari Factory and Museum in Maranello (Enso museum has more race-car stuff), the Panini collection (
CUP Collezione Umberto Panini | © West s.r.l. ), Lamborghini, Pagani. And Ducatti in Bologna.
Also check out:
CarGuyTour not necessarily to book a tour with Frank, but to plagiarize ideas of places to go.
We stayed at Canalgrande Hotel, and I feel it was a good value charm/location/comfort/price canalgrandehotel.it
About the Panini collection. I thought it was super cool. You drive out to a dairy. get to pet the cows that make cheese for the pope, wander around and no-one speaks english. I talked to a guy in the office and he said the museum is open and to just go walk around. Its a smallish collection, but impressive. There was no charge to explore and photograph to my hearts content. When we went in, we were the only ones there. After we were done, we bought a bunch of cheese from their little store. I thought it was a really great experience. A tip - if you go, you might want to only tell customs that you went to a car collection, and not to a farm. But, if you can, get a tour of the dairy and cheese making
The food in town was fantastic, but I love norther italian style food. I'm sure tripadvisor can find you some good restaraunts. A food story: one afternoon, while walking in town we stopped to get some gelato. They had these packaged breads with tiny chocolate chips in them. It looked like a good treat for my 1yr old son to eat, not too messy, not too sweet. So we ordered one of the breads, a scoop of espresso and a scoop of pistachio. The girl at the counter takes the bread, slices it open like a hoagie bun, and scoops in the gelato. Voila, ice cream sandwich. It was brilliant! The bread was insulation to keep the gelato from melting, and absorbed the bit that did melt.
My regrets from the trip was not getting to tour a Balsalmic vinegar factory
Aceto balsamico tradizionale - consorzio di Reggio Emilia
How to Visit a Balsamic Vinegar Maker in Italy | Italy Travel Guide )
Or getting to visit a prosciutto maker, and getting to visit Schedoni leather.
Have fun on your trip!