I'm Italian (from north Tuscany) and I've visited most of the historic centres of northern Italy medieval towns.

I reached Modena only because is on the List and, after visiting, I could say that this is, by far, one of the most poor and totally overrated WHS.

The Duomo is nothing special, very small and under refurbishment by decades, although the inside is nice (and free, not so usual in Italy).

The Piazza is one of the ugliest of italian's "comuni": there is NOTHING, not even a nice Town hall, so common in this part of Italy.

For me it was a short ride from home, but for foreign visitors, allow maximum half an hour to visit Modena.

In conclusion, I still don't understand why that church and that piazza are on the list, assuming that Lucca, Parma, Sarzana, Pietrasanta ect. are, by far, more impressive and with more historical and architectural significate.