Modena

But he still gave really good recommendations because Italy is the land or Bologna specifically is the land of tortellini.

It's where tortellini was allegedly invented, though Modena also claims it.

And one of the things that was so amazing that I think every taste buddy should try is we had a Cacio e Pepe tortellini.

So any kind of Cacio e Pepe I would try this on.

I don't know why I've never tried that.

But I've had several meals since that I added balsamic vinegar to because it is so good.

Modena, which is I guess the only place you can get real balsamic vinegar.

We've learned a lot about like the way real Parmesan is only from certain areas and same with prosciutto and With the balsamic vinegar, it has to be, for it to be completely legit balsamic vinegar, it has to be in this total special bottle.

Yes.

This was his name, Shmuel Kohan of Modena.

You got very good at pronunciation.

My pronunciation's terrible.

But you don't have-

...

Modena, Italy.

Th- this actually shocks me, 'cause you must get, and I used to have this, uh, where yeshiva guys would reach out to me and be like, "What's your starter pack? What's your starter pack of like..." And I had a starter pack of like, "Here are the books that really contributed." And my starter pack wasn't exclusively Jewish history.

We do have a nest and I was the one that decided that we definitely had to have some sort of nest with all this moving around to help the kids feel that they do come from somewhere or they can come back here if they ever need to or whatever.

Here is in Italy because I'm in Modena right now in Italy.

Anyway, I think I'm rambling, but...

But it's exactly that.

And I see that now in my children, well, my Young adults, yeah.

I see them, you know, struggling, but then also dealing with it and, you know, calling us, asking for advice, but then not all the time.

They don't call all the time, which it's funny, actually, because my husband and I are actually in Modena for three weeks, which is quite unusual.

Usually we're down in Puglia.

Not to mention that he made medals of Signor Giovanni Bentivogli, in which he appears alive.

and of an infinite number of princes who would stop in Bologna on their way through the city whereupon he would make their portraits in wax for medals and afterwards having finished the matrices of the dies he would send them for which besides immortal fame he also received very rich presents as long as he lived he was ever master of the mint in Bologna for which he made the stamps of all the dies both under the rule of the Bentivogli and also during the lifetime of Pope Julius after their departure as is proved by the coin struck by that pope on his entrance into the city which had on one side his head portrayed from life and on the other these words Bologna per Juliam a Tirno liberata so excellent was he held in this profession that he continued to make the dies for the coinage down to the time of Pope Leo and the impressions of his dies are so greatly prized and those who have them hold them in such esteem that money cannot buy them now it came to pass that Frantia being desirous of greater glory and having known Andrea Mantegna and many other painters who had gained wealth and honors by their art determined to try whether he could succeed in that part of painting which had to do with color his drawing was already such that it could well bear comparison with theirs thereupon having made arrangements to try his hand he painted certain portraits and some little things keeping in his house for many months men of that profession to teach him the means and methods of coloring insomuch that having very good judgment he soon acquired the needful practice the first work that he made was a panel of no great size for Messer Bartolomeo Feluccini who placed it in the Misericordia a church without Bologna in which panel there is a Madonna seated on a throne with many other figures and the said Messer Bartolomeo portrayed from life this work which was wrought in oil with the greatest diligence was painted by him in the year 1490 and it gave such satisfaction in Bologna that Messer Giovanni Bentivogli desiring to honor his own chapel which was in San Jacopo in that city with works by this new painter commissioned him to paint a panel with the Madonna in the sky two figures on either side of her and two angels below sounding instruments which work was so well executed by Frantia that he won from Messer Giovanni besides praise a most honorable present wherefore Monsignore de Bentivogli impressed by this work caused him to paint a panel containing the nativity of Christ which was much extolled for the high altar of the Misericordia wherein besides the design which is not otherwise than beautiful the invention and the coloring are worthy of nothing but praise in this work he made a portrait of Monsignore de Bentivogli from the life a very good likeness so it is said by those who knew him clothed in that very pilgrim's dress in which he returned from Jerusalem he also painted a panel in the church of the Nunziata without the Porta di San Mamolo representing the Madonna receiving the Annunciation from the angel with two figures on either side which is held to be a very well executed work now that Frantia's works had spread his fame abroad even as his painting in oil had brought him both profit and repute so he determined to try whether he would succeed as well at working in fresco Messer Giovanni Bentivogli had caused his palace to be painted by divers masters of Ferrara and Bologna and by certain others from Modena but having seen Frantia's experiment in fresco he determined that this master should paint a scene on one wall of an apartment that he occupied for his own use there Frantia painted the camp of Holofernes guarded by various sentinels both on foot and on horseback who were keeping watch over the pavilions and the while that they were intent on something else the sleeping Holofernes was seen surprised by a woman clothed in widow's garments who with her left hand was holding his hair which was wet with the heat of wine in sleep and with her right hand she was striking the blow to slay her enemy the while that an old wrinkled handmaid with the true air of a most faithful slave and with her eyes fixed on those of her Judith in order to encourage her was bending down and holding her basket near the ground to receive therein the head of the slumbering lover this scene was one of the most beautiful and most masterly that Frantia ever painted but it was thrown to the ground in the destruction of that edifice at the time of the expulsion of the Bentivogli together with another scene over that same apartment colored to look like bronze and representing a disputation of philosophers which was excellently wrought with his conception very well expressed these works brought it about that he was loved and honored by Messer Giovanni and all the members of his house and after them by all the city in the chapel of St. Cecilia which is attached to the church of San Jacopo he painted two scenes wrought in fresco in one of which he made the marriage of Our Lady with Joseph and in the other the death of St. Cecilia a work held in great esteem by the people of Bologna and indeed Frantia gained such mastery and such confidence from seeing his works advancing towards the perfection that he desired that he executed many pictures of which I will make no mention it being enough for me to point out to all who may wish to see his works only the best and most notable Nor did his painting hinder him from carrying on both the mint and his other work of making medals as he had done from the beginning.

Francia, so it is said felt the greatest sorrow at the departure of Messer Giovanni Bentivogli for he had received such great benefits from Messer Giovanni that it caused him infinite grief.

However, like the prudent and orderly man that he was, he kept at his work.

After his parting from his patron he painted three panels that went to Modena in one of which there was the baptism of Christ by St. John.

In the second, a very beautiful Annunciation, and in the last, which was placed in the church of the Frati del Osservanza, a Madonna in the sky with many figures.

The fame of so excellent a master being spread abroad by means of so many works the cities contended with one another to obtain his pictures whereupon he painted a panel for the Black Friars of San Giovanni in Parma containing a dead Christ in the lap of Our Lady surrounded by many figures which panel was universally held to be a most beautiful work.

So that the sight of their delicate whiteness was a moving thing for the eye to behold.

He was literally poaching works from the greatest collections in Europe and spending fortunes doing it.

sending out his agents to do his bidding in places like Florence, Modena, Venice, Rome, all over Europe.

He realised soon that he needed his own court painter to produce magnificent works of art.

And in his court painter, he found the greatest at the time, the greatest artist in Europe, a prodigy that had come out of...