It’s Sunday. We changed the clocks ahead one hour this morning here in Italy. The last time I blogged was a week ago. What have we been doing since then? Plenty…but mostly eating. So let me bring you up to speed on a few of the restaurants we've gone to. You can click the title of each and it’ll open a new window and bring you to their website where you can see pictures, menus, and more.
One of the reasons we chose to stay in Bologna was to visit some of the surrounding towns made famous for their products. One of these is Modena. Even Americans know the name Modena as balsamic vinegar has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. Modena is not just the balsamic vinegar capital of Italy, it is the only community authorized to produce aged balsamic vinegar, known as Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP. DOP stands for “Denominazione Origine Protetta” and means “Protected Designation of Origin”. About 138 products carry the DOP designation. This means that Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena must use grapes grown in Modena and the product must be produced in Modena. But more about balsamico later.
One of Bologna’s titles is “Bologna the Learned” due to their University which was founded in 1088. Because of the university there are a lot of museums in the city. On Thursday we decided to visit the Museo Civico Archeologico (Archaeological Museum). On the walk there we passed Piazza Maggiore where a demonstration was taking place. I’m not sure what this one was about, but clearly this group had enough of the Socialists.
On Monday I wanted to find a good sandwich shop like the one we frequented in Florence in 2011. I found Panini Farciti recommended on Yelp. We located the shop at lunchtime. It was packed full of university students with the crowd pouring out into the sidewalk. A use the word “crowd” because Italians don’t seem to stand in a line, but rather squeeze in anywhere they can fit. Cinzia chose to stay outside as I jumped into the scrum. After a few minutes I emerged with a couple of prosciutto sandwiched with assorted toppings and a couple of Diet Cokes.
This morning was not so unlike most mornings. I wake up at 08:45 and log on to check my e-mail, Facebook, and other websites. Then I turn on my tablet and check in on my Clash of Clans base, run a few attacks and upgrades in Boom Beach, and then work the farm on Hay Day. Cinzia joins me about an hour later. She makes herself a café and is on her tablet doing much of the same. Later in the morning one of us will check restaurants or attractions in Bologna and as lunchtime rolls around we’ll get ourselves out of the apartment.
We were up and out of the apartment early this morning. Why? Because today was the start of "Mortadella BO" – the 4 day festival honoring the "Pink Queen" of Bologna. This gastronomic beauty is not only one of the symbols of Bologna, but is one of the main ingredients on the stuffed tortellini pasta served in every restaurant throughout the city.
Here we are in Bologna. We took the 11:57 train from Senigallia which put us into Bologna at 14:21. Our landlord, Giancarlo, met us at the station and we made our way, on foot, to the apartment. Since our last visit to Bologna the city has decided to close off the downtown roads to weekend traffic, so Saturday found the streets packed with pedestrians. In addition to the usual weekend crowd, it was also the last day of the Festa of San Petronio (the patron saint of Bologna), so the main piazza was packed with the royal court in costume, flag throwers, thousands of onlookers, and tents selling all sorts of goodies to include the traditional tagliatelle bolognese and mortadella sandwiches.
With plenty of time relaxing in our apartment, we’ve watched several TV programs. Many series are American programs that have been dubbed into Italian – The Big Bang, CSI, Law & Order, etc. There are plenty of Hollywood movies too, even old black and whites, also dubbed into Italian. Here are some of the Italian shows we've caught.
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