Bologna

We set off for Bologna excited to be meeting up with Shannon and Theresa who were arriving the following day. It was so lovely to see them again after 3 months. We felt obliged to give them an Italian induction and made sure they did a lot of walking, sightseeing and sampled as many Italian foods as possible. Bologna is famous as the home of “bolognaise”. They are developing into a ‘food destination” and we decided to do a pasta making course in the home of a local Italian “Grazia” who not only was a great pasta teacher but gave lots of personal family insights into Italy.
The pasta in this region is made from double zero flour and eggs, different from the flour and water used in the south (like Spaghetti). So they don’t actually have Spaghetti Bolognaise but rather use a tagliatelle pasta. They also use the word “Ragu” rather than bolognaise but that may change from a marketing perspective. At our course we made tagliatelle and tortellini. She then made a bolognaise sauce or “ragu” and served us a lovely lunch of both.
After weeks of lovely weather, just as the girls arrived it turned hot with the start of a heat wave which was a real test (and excuse for gelato).
Our sightseeing highlights included a guided walking tour, a 500 step tower climb, several incredible churches, at least 5 large ones that we saw, one of which is actually a complex of 7 churches (St Stefano) built over many time periods, the Basilica of San Petronio which was funded totally by the local inhabitants and is quite easy to see where they ran out of money and trimmed back the finishes and some specific sculptures and paintings. There was also the continuous battle as to who had the power and therefore what was allowed to proceed or not. Bologna grew as a university town and had a series of covered porticos that resulted from adding student accommodation on the first floor as the demand grew. The old university library and original anatomy rooms were open for a visit too. The university is the oldest in Italy (and the world) created by the students themselves as a place to collaborate.
And there was the food induction - pizza, pasta, gelato, granita, aperitif, tiramisu and pastries. We are continually amazed at the consistently high quality of Italian food. Everything is just delicious. We had to try a few varieties of Spritzes too as Prosecco featured everywhere, Aparol, Hugo, Limone, …Read more