Getting to Know Bologna
16 ottobre 2025, Italia ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
We kicked off our Bologna adventure with a relaxed first day, starting with a leisurely breakfast, some grocery shopping, and a stroll through the beautiful Centro Storico (historic center).
Our steps first led us to the iconic Due Torri (Two Towers), built between 1109-1119 … Asinelli, the taller of the two leaning towers, and Garisenda. Sadly, neither is open to visitors due to their pronounced tilt.
We were a bit surprised by the bustling — chaotic one might say — atmosphere around the towers. Of course, we were in what is probably the most touristy part of the city. We’ll have to see how the residential neighborhoods compare once we begin our recon in earnest.
Next, we headed to Piazza Maggiore, the heart of the city … which preserves Bologna’s 15th-century layout. We admired the beautiful palazzos, like d’Accursio (the city hall) and Biblioteca Salaborsa (the main public library), checked out the Fontana del Nettuno, and studied the architectural details all around us.
We had not planned to go inside any particular building, but we couldn’t resist checking out the Basilica di San Petronio, which was open and had no lines. The façade of this minor basilica, the construction of which began in 1390, remains incomplete to this day. Intentional or not? We’ll find out when we tour the city in earnest after we move here 🤞🏻. Inside, we found some cool murals and beautiful stained glass windows.
We continued our stroll, wandering by more palazzos and exploring the city’s UNESCO-listed arched porticos. One in particular caught our eye with its fresco-decorated roof vaults. The signs explained that Bologna’s porticos are an old architectural style that has stayed the same while changing over time. Contradictory? Sounds like it. We look forward to learning more about them.
Around 1:00p, we headed back to our neighborhood for lunch at a trattoria that Camilla, the manager of our AirBNB, had suggested. “The ragù tastes almost like my nonna’s!” … couldn’t ask for a better endorsement.
Trattoria La Montanara, with its striking red entrance, perfectly captured the Italian neighborhood vibe we were hoping for. The menu was entirely in Italian, and the owners and servers didn’t speak a word of English … which added to the authentic experience. The place was booked up inside, but we wanted to eat al fresco on the sidewalk anyway.
We knew exactly what we wanted: tagliatelle al ragù, a dish Bologna is famous for … more commonly known in the USA as Pasta Bolognese. It was absolutely delicious, and we enjoyed a ½ liter of the house red along with our pasta. For dessert, we shared a chocolate torta with Mascarpone and a Zuppa Inglesa. Yummy!
After lunch, we headed back to the apartment. Mui took a nap and then we started planning our neighborhood recons for the next few days. We have a short list of the areas we are considering and want to explore one of them each day before meeting with a realtor early next week.
A light dinner and now to bed.Leggi altro
Hello Bologna!
15 ottobre 2025, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
After two uneventful flights, we landed at BLQ … Bologna’s Marconi G. Airport … a small facility that saw us deplaning directly onto the tarmac, walking to the terminal, and going through immigration formalities.
Just three days prior, the EU rolled out the new EES program. The initials stand for Entry/Exit System, marking the first step toward the long-awaited ETIAS program, which — once implemented — will require advance travel authorizations for visa-exempt travelers to enter 30 European countries.
With EES now active, we were able to join the shorter immigration queue to use the automated e-Gates to enter Italy … something we hadn’t been able to do when we visited Switzerland and Italy this summer. What a relief! From deplaning to exiting the airport with our bags, it took 15 minutes or less. Then, we hopped on the Marconi Express, an elevated electric monorail that connects the airport to Bologna Centrale, the train station.
The Via Valdonica AirBNB we rented for the first part of our stay in Bologna was just a 20-minute walk from the train station … a pleasant stroll even with bags in tow. I had to keep my phone in my purse to avoid stopping every few minutes to snap photos of everything that caught my eye along the way.
The apartment is in the Old Jewish Ghetto district of Bologna’s Centro Storico (historic center). Finding it was easy thanks to the directions provided by the apartment manager. Bright and airy — and with some quirky furnishings — it looks and feels like this will be a comfortable place for our stay. … and convenient too, since it’s pretty much walking distance to everything the city has to offer.
After checking out the amenities in the apartment, we headed out to grab a few groceries to tide us over until Mui goes to Conad City, the larger supermarket down the street tomorrow.
Our bags are now unpacked, the groceries are neatly stored, and our bellies are full after a simple dinner — a deconstructed caprese salad off sorts with juicy tomatoes, creamy burrata, olive oil, and aged balsamic vinegar … and a side of prosciutto. We were too tired from a long day of travel, especially after spending yesterday showing our friends from the US and Canada around İzmir, so we skipped the wine and beer this time. We’ll definitely make up for it tomorrow!
Bedtime!
P.S. You’ll see a lot of graffiti in the photos from our neighborhood. If we hadn’t already learned that graffiti is a way of life in Bologna, we might have left as soon as we arrived.
So what makes graffiti a way of life here? Here’s the AI response I got when I did a search on the web (an answer confirmed earlier by the Bolognese man Mui was walking with on the plane): “… due to its large student population, long history of political expression through street art, and the presence of a thriving street art scene. The city's historic architecture, particularly the iconic porticoes, provides abundant canvas space for both artistic works and unauthorized tags, creating a constant debate about vandalism versus art.”Leggi altro
Bologna: Residency Recon
15 ottobre 2025, Turchia ⋅ ⛅ 54 °F
Our days visiting family in İzmir tend to be busy anyway. They have been especially packed since making the decision to pursue being expats in Italy by applying for an ERV (Elective Residence Visa).
We’ve been looking into what it all means, and it’s given us a bit of confidence that things might actually work out.
🇮🇹 We better understand the tax stuff … the good news is that the tax treaty between the USA and Italy helps soften the blow.
🇮🇹 We’ve got a list of what we need to do to get an ERV … and it looks like we’re well-qualified for meeting those requirements.
🇮🇹 We’ve picked Bologna as our home base.
Why Bologna? Why not! Can you imagine eating as much tagliatelle al ragù as you want? Or mortadella? Or ricotta and fig gelato? And so much more. All specialties of what some call “Italy’s most delicious city!”
Seriously, though. We want to be in the north of the country. We want somewhere less crowded and less touristy than Rome, Venice, or Florence. We want a spot that’s easy to get around … that is a good transportation hub. We want a place that has a good mix of culture and history. And we want it to have easy access to all the services necessary for setting up residency. Bologna fits the bill.
But! And it’s a big but … we’ve never been to Bologna! We don’t know the city firsthand. Our knowledge comes only from what we’ve read about it in our research.
So, to rectify the situation, we are leaving today for a three-week recon trip to Bologna.
Most of our time will be spent ‘working’, so to speak. But we’re expecting to have fun too as we get to know the city we’re hoping will be our home for a while.Leggi altro
It Started With A Dream
16 settembre 2025, Turchia ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
When: April 2024
Where: Crossing Australia’s “Red Center” on The Ghan
It was the third day of our train journey from Darwin to Adelaide, and we were about to explore the opal mining town of Coober Pedy. We were enjoying breakfast as The Ghan chugged along to the Manguri rail siding, where we’d be detraining for a couple of hours for our excursion.
Mui, sipping his coffee — iced as usual to avoid burning his mouth — started sharing a dream he’d had the night before—or maybe it was in the early morning hours. “I was walking the hallways of the FAO headquarters in Rome,” he said, “on my way to a meeting.”
FAO, the Food and Agricultural Organization — a specialized agency of the United Nations — was where his father had worked in the early 60s … when Mui was just a kid. That assignment had taken the family to Rome for three years, sparking Mui’s lifelong love affair with Italy.
There was more to the dream, but let’s skip ahead.
We chatted about the possibility of moving to Italy to live there as expats for a year or two, or maybe even longer. If he had a job, our expenses would be covered. Maybe the dream was an omen. So, Mui started looking into job opportunities with the FAO, found one he was well-suited for, and submitted his application. Then the waiting began … while we went about life as usual. Eight months later, he got a letter saying the position was canceled because of funding issues.
In the meantime, we were thinking about other options. We could use the 90/180 Schengen rule to spend shorter spurts of time in Italy. Or, we could apply for an elective residence visa (ERV) for a longer stay.
We started focusing on these two ideas.
We talked back and forth about what to do. Then, our travels took us to Northern Italy as part of our summer 2025 road trip. Spending a week in Orta and Verbania sealed the deal … we decided to apply for the ERV and see where it would take us.
But there was a challenge we had to overcome first.
Our residence being in Colorado, we would have to wait to apply for the ERV after we returned home at the end of December. But we could use the time until then to make plans … figure out where we wanted to base ourselves and maybe even squeeze in a recon trip … find out what the tax implications of the move might be … research the nitty-gritty of the requirements for the ERV … get advice from a friend who lives in Bologna when he is not on a ship somewhere around the world … etc, etc.
Decision made. The real work started.Leggi altro
