North of the Apennine mountains Italian recipes are based more on milk, butter and cream as opposed to olive oil that ubiquitous in the rest of the country to the south. 

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Pasta dishes are rich and distinctive: broth served with pork-filled tortellini, beef-filled anolini or passatelli (little dumplings of breadcrumbs, eggs, parmigiano and nutmeg); rich egg pasta like tagliatelle is dressed with sugo or layered into le lasagne, large tortelli filled with wild greens are served with a few drops of balsamic vinegar on top and the tortelli di zucca (actually from Mantua to the north) are a masterpiece of agrodolce, savory/sweet with a rich pumpkin mixed with parmigiano, amaretti cookies and mostarda, spicy candied fruit. 

 

You will see pork and all parts of the pig in every apparition imaginable including the zampone stuffed pig’s foot (a very rich sausage served on holidays with zabaglione on top), various salame and prosciutto including the culatello from Zibello which many consider as the best prosciutto made in Italy, and ciccioli the sinfully tasty pork rinds made as crunchy bites or pressed together for a sort of a pate. Beef is most often served as bollito, a wide variety of cuts boiled to make a rich broth for serving tortellini, the meat is then served with a sauces like mayonnaise, green sauce (parsley, capers, anchovies) and mostarda. 

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Mostarda also goes very well with parmigiano reggiano, the most noble of cheeses made only in a restricted zone in the farmlands surrounding Parma and Reggio and following a strict set of regulations. In just a few tastings you'll distinguish subtleties attributed to the milk from different breeds of cow, the time of year and the length of aging as some of them go toward creamy while others are savory and crunchy with little fat crystals. 

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Balsamic vinegar is traditionally made in the area of Modena and Reggio. Fresh grape juice is reduced to a syrup before being consigned to barrels in vinegar attics that are open to the elements so the juice can ferment naturally. They use a battery of small barrels each made of a different wood and the a solera process which requires that a percentage of each year's vinegar be moved into the next barrel in a series, withdrawing balsamico only from the smallest barrel in the battery after at least 12 years so that you find vinegars from as many as 80 years ago or more.    

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Breads in Emilia Romagna are varied, the most interesting is the version from Ferrara, fanciful shapes made from a dough made with lard and has a unique smooth, almost chalky crumb. Dessert is often almond cookies or a tort made with rice and spiked with anisette, sometimes fruit accompanied by a tiny stemware glass of aged balsamic vinegar.

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WINES of Emilia Romagna include versions of the ubiquitous Italiano Sangiovese from the east/Romagna and a great variety of grapes grown in the hills of the west/Emilia. Emilian wines are often farmer style fizzy, with more personality than elegance, having undergone a second in-bottle fermentation whereby after bottling, residual sugar sets off a second fermentation creating CO2 that remains trapped in the bottle creating sparkle. They are made from autochthonous grapes with good acidity, both red and white. For red Lambrusco there are seven production zones in Emilia Romagna, the more common are Lambrusco Grasparossa da Castelvetro (tannic, dark, flavors of chocolate and red fruits), Lambrusco di Sorbara (tenuous red in color, great acidity, ethereal on the palate with aromas of rose, wild strawberries and moss) and the Salamino di Santa Croce (light with well balanced tannins and acidity, savory notes). The aromatic white malvasia makes a luscious fizzy wine (great acidity, aromas of yellow fruits and citrus flowers and more or less pronounced savory notes) as does the white spergola (with notably important acidity). The style in general tends toward rough and ready but of course attentive producers create wines of beauty and elegance within the general style. 

Many of these fizzy wines have a noticeable fondo, sediment, which is simply the remains of the yeast cells that drove the fermentation and which contributes the savory notes. You can either mix the sediment gently into the wine before opening the bottle, pour carefully to not disturb it or flip a coin to decide who gets the last, most flavorful, glass. 

Some Emilian cantine to keep an eye out for are Camillo Donati, Cinque Campi, Ca’ del Noce, Podere Magia and Massimilliano Croci but there is a host of small producers making interesting wines that are fun to drink so ask your server to recommend something made locally by an artisan and they’ll have good ideas.