Well, we knew that we weren't going to attempt to track down and roast a turkey for Thanksgiving, so we decided to go with something more Italian. We had found a butcher in town that always seemed to have a nice selection of rabbit. Previously we had bought some loins and made rabbit ragù to spoon over polenta. For Thanksgiving we decided to make rabbit cacciatore.
It's Wednesday. It’s drizzling and 54°F. Our apartment is scheduled to be cleaned at 13:00, so we’re up by 11:00 and thinking about where we should go for lunch so that we've out of the house when its cleaned. There are a number of places we could go which we've eaten at before, but Cinzia wants to try something new. She checks TripAdvisor and sees good reviews for Trattoria Da Gianni. The restaurant is tucked away down a small alley just off the main piazza. We bundle up and make our way there trying to take advantage of as many porticos as we can.
On Tuesday we returned to the Church of San Domenico. We were there during our first week, but the main attraction of this church was under repair. This attraction is a set of clay statues made by Niccolo Dell'Arca in 1463. This series, called Lamentation over the Dead Christ, depicts 6 figures standing around the body of Christ, lamenting his death. The figures are carved in dramatic postures, their faces etched with expressions of grief and torment. San Domenico is a beautiful church with plenty of sculptures.
More walking around the city for us today. But for dinner, Cinzia made lasagna. We picked up some fresh sheep’s milk ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and fresh pasta sheets. Cinzia made a spinach lasagna and I helped by making the béchamel sauce. It came out great. We topped it off by having some pastries we picked up earlier in the day.
With the city streets closed to vehicle traffic, we headed out into the crowds. On Via Independencia there were 20 or so tents set up as part of Cioccoshow. One group had a few gelaterias, another had more chocolates, and another displayed the 2016 Smart Fortwo. The 2016 models have been totally redesigned. Cinzia does not like their look, but after checking out the model and seeing it several times it’s growing on her. We took a bunch of photos and videos. I’ll put something together for our Smart Car Club later.
Today we were going to check off one of the larger items on our To-Do List. We were going to go to The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca. This church is located in the hills outside of the city and is home to a painting of the Virgin and Child.
Today we visited the Museo d'Arte Industriale e Galleria Bargellini. This museum housed what is known as industrial art as well as a small art gallery. What is industrial art? Think decorative ironwork used for keys, keyholes, and door knockers. The art gallery had many interesting pieces. Perhaps the loveliest were several framed pieces of ricamo from the 17th century which were made in Bologna. These were made using fine thread to make small tapestry-like pictures. If the docent hadn't pointed out that it was ricamo I would have thought it was just paint – it was that fine. Another was a large decorative box made of tortoise shell and another was a horse-drawn carriage from the 18th century. Cinzia also liked several putti – one of Cupid and another of the baby Bacchus.
You guessed it. Cioccoshow is here! There are over 80 vendors set up in tents across multiple piazzas in the city. Vendors came from all over Italy and Europe to show off their chocolate creations. Crowds are thick and the smell of chocolate is in the air. Tables are stacked to overflowing with all types of chocolates. There were so many types in such colorful and creative displays that I put together a short video montage which you can access in our Video Gallery. We sampled as much as we could and bought some candied figs and clementines dipped in dark chocolate, hot chocolate with whipped cream, vin brulé, a cone of mixed chocolates and cookies, dark chocolate covered dates and Fabbri cherries, chocolate and ruta beer, and a jar of pistachio cream. Samples we tasted included dark chocolate covered red onions (not recommended) and dark chocolate with the Pope’s salt (highly recommended). All that sampling counted as lunch, so for dinner we headed to Nicola’s for pizza.
The weather was nice, so with nothing on our schedule we decided to enjoy a walk around the city. The architecture is amazing. It seems that if there was an opportunity to add a little special touch to a building façade, whether that be a sculpted face, ornamental columns, or decorative trim, then it was added in spades – all of it carved from stone.
Our first month in Bologna has flown by. We’re very comfortable with the day to day routine. We like to sleep in late, spend some time in the apartment having breakfast, relaxing, and catching up on the news, mostly through BBC World News. We’ll head to the grocery store around noon to pick up some prosciutto, mozzarella, tomatoes, and bread for lunch. We've been making dinners, usually pasta or sausage. The weather’s been great. About two weeks ago the temperatures dropped from 75°F to 65°F. Yesterday was mild and about 69°F. Today is the first day in weeks that we've seen any rain, and it’s just a light on and off drizzle.
|