Modena: The Heart of Balsamico

As some of you may know, balsamic originated from Modena, Italy. My classmates and I had the pleasure to visit a balsamic-making family in the heart of Modena. The place was called Acetaia Bellei Acento Balsamico di Modena and they actually ship their products to Di Bruno Bros. in the Philadelphia area. So coming off of that knowledge you would expect it to be a substantially-sized place, no not really. Once we stepped off the bus all we saw was this barn-sized warehouse that had a sun damaged sign hanging on top of it. But the man waiting at the door for us was someone that made the trip worth it. Mr. Bellei was an 88-year old man, dressed in a suit and tie, waiting for us to enter his home. That’s right, this man was a part of a family of balsamic making masters, and after all his years of service to the company, he’s still running it.

This man was gracious enough to provide us with a tour of the factory, even if it was a full 2 hour tour on a hot day.  Before we started the tour we all had to wear these ridiculously hideous smocks and hats for sanitary regulations. I gotta say, I think I was rocking it. Who said Milan is the fashion capital of the world? Modena has to be a close second. 

Left to Right: Noreen, Lauren, Me, Jimmy, Ashley, & Mary...
aka THE group.

We began the tour by viewing their bottling process and seeing how the end product gets to the user through a packaging facility. Then things got a little more interesting. As someone extremely interested in Italian food and food in general, I really wanted to understand how balsamic is truly made. All I saw in the next room were these huge towers of balsamic, sitting there for months, aging. The smell of the acidic vinegar was overwhelming, yet intoxicating.

The next room was my favorite, a room filled with hundreds of barrels of balsamic aging for years. I took the liberty in popping one of the corks on the barrel to get a nice long whiff of this balsamic that has been aging since 1988. Once I put my face over it I felt a huge wave of balsamic air rushing towards my face, like that air inside hasn’t seen daylight in 20+ years.

Mr. Bellei brought us to this one part of that room where he told us about these unorthodox barrels sitting in the top corner. The wood on these barrels turned black because the balsamic has been sitting in there since God knows how long. They were dowries for every man in the balsamic family. Once a new member joined the family, they would make a barrel just for them, and then it would just sit there till the end of time. It was one of the family traditions that kept their family alive. It was something you wouldn’t see at some cliché bottling company.

Once we were down with the tour, Mr. Bellei took us over to his office so we could have a little tasting of his 15 year old balsamic. This man kept amazing me with his youth; there he was pouring all 26 of us a small cup of his balsamic. Once we tried it, I fell in love with it. It was acidic, thick, and had a lot more taste than your average balsamic purchase in a supermarket. Once it ages it reduces down to a thicker consistency and those added years really make all the difference. Once I thought my heart couldn’t be filled with more balsamic love, Mr. Bellei surprised me with one last golden egg.

After we finished the tasting he put this picture of this woman on top of the table and we all began to wonder who she was. But once he put it down, he quickly left the room, upset. All of us fell silent and confused. The English speaking tour guide told us that that woman was his wife that passed away not too long ago and he always gets upset when he sees her picture. Once he returned into the room he told us that she was, “The light to his world.” (in Italian). My heart sank, sank in a barrel of balsamic and into this man’s huge heart. That’s love. Just by looking into his eyes you could tell how much pain he has endured since she left his world. We began to finally react after holding our tears back by telling him how grateful and inspired we were that we had the pleasure of meeting this Renaissance man. Then he said this…

Senza i figli e non niente.”
“Without children, there’s nothing.”

THIS MAN. Like wow! Can he get any more perfect? UGH. From what the English speaking tour guide explained, he was telling us that without sharing his passion with his children, life isn’t worth living. This man represents such a beautifully strong generation that I hope is never forgotten. After thanking him for his generosity and his little gift of balsamic he gave all of us, I quickly wanted to run back on the bus to find a tissue in my backpack. He hit me deep, and I wasn’t ashamed of it. You don’t meet people like that every day, and when you do it’s something that should be deeply cherished.

Grazie mille Mr. Bellei,

Dom