After a good night’s sleep in our air-conditioned rental, we hit the streets early. Bologna has a huge market with vendors selling all sorts of clothing, especially scarves. Cinzia can never have enough scarves even though we live in Florida. She bought a number of them in 2014 and loves them all. I got my scarf at the market in Bologna and love it too. So off we went with high expectations. These market days across towns in Italy have really changed ever since I had starting going to them. Italian vendors use to sell nice everyday tablecloths, wooden spoons and other kitchen gadgets, hand-painted ceramics, shoes, handbags, and garments of all types. These days the market stalls are manned by Chinese or Middle Eastern vendors selling cheap textiles all manufactured in China. Prices are still relatively low, but the quality has all but disappeared.
The very first stall we hit was the one I remember buying my scarf from. They had a great selection of better-than-average quality scarves. We both immediately saw several very nice ones. I think one or two jumped into Cinzia’s bag – either for herself or to be given as gifts. If you’re reading this, odds are very good that you’ll be getting one. Keep in mind that your odds are very good compared with the general public that isn’t reading this – you’re already ahead of billions of Chinese and Indians, so like I said, very good odds.
Many of these vendors will have huge tables with bins filled exclusively with, say, women’s underwear priced for €1, or shirts priced for €5. The table will be surrounded by women of all ages and backgrounds sorting through the loose garments looking for that one special item. I refer to these ladies as chickens. They pick through the tables like hens scratching for feed. Cinzia doesn’t like having to hunt for items to buy. She prefers them sorted by size and color, clearly marked, and above all else in some sort of packaging. Picking through loose garments that hundreds of hands have touched is not her idea of a fun day at the market. Haggling is also not on her list of fun activities.
After looking at everything, we’ve earned ourselves a tasty lunch. We have a short list of two places for lunch while we’re in Bologna. Either Nicola’s Pizzeria or Scalinatella (I’ve included links to both, so just click the name of the restaurant to jump to their website and check out their menus). Scalinatella is a little more formal, so we head that way. Cinzia’s internal GPS is finely tuned and we get there by what I’m sure is the shortest route. We take a table inside, one we’ve sat at a time or two before, and settle in for a comfortable lunch. I already know what I’ll be having – Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. I saw a woman order this in 2014. It looked amazing – a big plate of gnocchi in a light tomato sauce covered with mozzarella. And only €7! The bread served with it made a wonderful contrast between the soft little pillows of gnocchi and the hearty crust of the freshly baked bread. Cinzia scrutinizes the menu; torn between pizza and pasta. She goes with something a little adventurous – a pizza without mozzarella, but with ricotta stuffed into the crust. The puffy crust is meant to be torn off and dipped into the pool of marinara sauce and oregano in the center. She loved it! Over at the next table a gentleman ordered the muscles. They’re huge and plentiful. I’ll be ordering that next time.
Cinzia is trying to annotate these detailed on her smartphone as we go. If it were left to me I wouldn’t be able to remember where I ate or what I ordered last week. She uses the voice-to-text feature so she can just speak into the phone. The problem is that it’s expecting English and very often she’ll use Italian words, so the software does its best. She said I had ordered “gnocchi Sorrentina” and it was transposed as “monkey sore in Tina”. Not very tasty. Guanciale was also transposed as “gone Charlie”.
Many of these vendors will have huge tables with bins filled exclusively with, say, women’s underwear priced for €1, or shirts priced for €5. The table will be surrounded by women of all ages and backgrounds sorting through the loose garments looking for that one special item. I refer to these ladies as chickens. They pick through the tables like hens scratching for feed. Cinzia doesn’t like having to hunt for items to buy. She prefers them sorted by size and color, clearly marked, and above all else in some sort of packaging. Picking through loose garments that hundreds of hands have touched is not her idea of a fun day at the market. Haggling is also not on her list of fun activities.
After looking at everything, we’ve earned ourselves a tasty lunch. We have a short list of two places for lunch while we’re in Bologna. Either Nicola’s Pizzeria or Scalinatella (I’ve included links to both, so just click the name of the restaurant to jump to their website and check out their menus). Scalinatella is a little more formal, so we head that way. Cinzia’s internal GPS is finely tuned and we get there by what I’m sure is the shortest route. We take a table inside, one we’ve sat at a time or two before, and settle in for a comfortable lunch. I already know what I’ll be having – Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. I saw a woman order this in 2014. It looked amazing – a big plate of gnocchi in a light tomato sauce covered with mozzarella. And only €7! The bread served with it made a wonderful contrast between the soft little pillows of gnocchi and the hearty crust of the freshly baked bread. Cinzia scrutinizes the menu; torn between pizza and pasta. She goes with something a little adventurous – a pizza without mozzarella, but with ricotta stuffed into the crust. The puffy crust is meant to be torn off and dipped into the pool of marinara sauce and oregano in the center. She loved it! Over at the next table a gentleman ordered the muscles. They’re huge and plentiful. I’ll be ordering that next time.
Cinzia is trying to annotate these detailed on her smartphone as we go. If it were left to me I wouldn’t be able to remember where I ate or what I ordered last week. She uses the voice-to-text feature so she can just speak into the phone. The problem is that it’s expecting English and very often she’ll use Italian words, so the software does its best. She said I had ordered “gnocchi Sorrentina” and it was transposed as “monkey sore in Tina”. Not very tasty. Guanciale was also transposed as “gone Charlie”.
After lunch we walk around a bit. Too stuffed for Bombocrep, but always ready for gelato, we head towards Cremeria di Cavour. We ate at 13 different gelaterie in Bologna back in 2014, but never Cavour. It looked good, but was either too crowded or they were out of some flavor I really wanted. Who remembers? Anyway, Cinzia guides us there but when we turn the corner I spot a line out the door. Now, keep in mind that it’s October 13th at 4:55pm. People are wearing fall weather clothing (and scarves). I count 45 people in line. No Cavour for me today. Instead we find another gelateria, ranked 8 out of 13 on my 2014 list of Bologna gelaterie. Yup, not that great. I’ll get some Cavour before we leave town (I hope).
Back in the main piazza there is some “Let’s Solve Hunger in Africa” event with people selling crackers, or some such thing, with a red heart balloon attached. You’re supposed to put the crackers on one of the 10,000 plates covering the piazza to show your “solidarity”. I really have no idea how this solves hunger in Africa, or why you’d want to, but the balloons look pretty.
Speaking of hunger, we stroll under the lovely porticoes looking for a certain specialty shop that sold all sorts of sweets. They had a wonderful window display filled with Christmas baskets and panettone back in 2014, but try as we may we could not find the shop. I trust Cinzia’s GPS, so we agreed that it either closed or move locations. Sad loss for Bologna (and me). We also were on the lookout for the shop where we purchased our tablecloth. Busatti has locations all over Italy but has had their production center in Tuscany for the last 170 years. They produce wonderful linens, of their own designs and colors, handmade on their own looms. The shop was not where it was suppose to be, but we happened upon it at a new location. It was having its grand opening today. We had a look, but they were still unpacking and setting up. Nice to see that this shop is still doing well. If you’re in the market for a new tablecloth, I’d definitely recommend checking out Busatti.
After more walking around, a café for apertivo sounds appealing. We plop ourselves down at an outdoor table along the main tourist route to relax and people-watch. Cinzia smiled when one of the waiters from Da Giovanni passed by, spotted her, nodded, and said, “Signoria Galante”. Italians love shorts with English writing. Here are a few of the odd ones we spotted:
“Cheap Monday”
“Double Cheese Makes Life Better”
“My Scoop. Seven Dwarves. Who’s knocking at my door?”
Interesting, but not as perplexing as one we saw years ago that read: “Glacial Speed Pussy”.
Back in the main piazza there is some “Let’s Solve Hunger in Africa” event with people selling crackers, or some such thing, with a red heart balloon attached. You’re supposed to put the crackers on one of the 10,000 plates covering the piazza to show your “solidarity”. I really have no idea how this solves hunger in Africa, or why you’d want to, but the balloons look pretty.
Speaking of hunger, we stroll under the lovely porticoes looking for a certain specialty shop that sold all sorts of sweets. They had a wonderful window display filled with Christmas baskets and panettone back in 2014, but try as we may we could not find the shop. I trust Cinzia’s GPS, so we agreed that it either closed or move locations. Sad loss for Bologna (and me). We also were on the lookout for the shop where we purchased our tablecloth. Busatti has locations all over Italy but has had their production center in Tuscany for the last 170 years. They produce wonderful linens, of their own designs and colors, handmade on their own looms. The shop was not where it was suppose to be, but we happened upon it at a new location. It was having its grand opening today. We had a look, but they were still unpacking and setting up. Nice to see that this shop is still doing well. If you’re in the market for a new tablecloth, I’d definitely recommend checking out Busatti.
After more walking around, a café for apertivo sounds appealing. We plop ourselves down at an outdoor table along the main tourist route to relax and people-watch. Cinzia smiled when one of the waiters from Da Giovanni passed by, spotted her, nodded, and said, “Signoria Galante”. Italians love shorts with English writing. Here are a few of the odd ones we spotted:
“Cheap Monday”
“Double Cheese Makes Life Better”
“My Scoop. Seven Dwarves. Who’s knocking at my door?”
Interesting, but not as perplexing as one we saw years ago that read: “Glacial Speed Pussy”.
After a quick rest back at the room it was time for dinner at Trattoria dal Baissanot. Before we knew it we were settled into our table and perusing the menu. Hmm…nothing very adventurous. No hare. No unusual preparations. I don’t even see interesting desserts lined up along the counter as they were in 2014. Cinzia asked our server if there are new owners, and was told “yes, the new owner have operated the restaurant for the past 3½ years. That explains it. We have a nice dinner, but nothing memorable. I have strangozzi with a spicy tomato sauce with guanciale followed by a grilled veal chop with roasted potatoes. Cinzia has a tortino di parmigiano with porcini followed by braised cinghiale with polenta. With nothing amazing for dessert, we decide to give Cavour another try.
By now it’s 10:00pm and we find the lines at Cremeria di Cavour more manageable – only 10 people. We first pay at the counter, then are led to the pots of gelati to make our selections. Cinzia opts for a cup with chocolate and rum, and one of their custom flavors which is named “Cavour”. I go with a bigger sugar cone with 3 flavors: chocolate and rum, and two custom flavors named “Amarenata” and “Il Gigante”. What wonderful ingredients are in these gelati? Check out Cinzia’s #19 and my #20 flavor in our Gelato-A Day section. Fantastic gelato – well on par with La Carraia in Firenze.
After walking back through the main streets, checking in on one of the churches that were opened with the organist playing away, and seeing that the jewelry shop where I purchased Cinzia’s sapphire heart earrings was still in business, we called it a night. We had a 10:00am check-out in the morning and needed our rest. Buonanotte!
By now it’s 10:00pm and we find the lines at Cremeria di Cavour more manageable – only 10 people. We first pay at the counter, then are led to the pots of gelati to make our selections. Cinzia opts for a cup with chocolate and rum, and one of their custom flavors which is named “Cavour”. I go with a bigger sugar cone with 3 flavors: chocolate and rum, and two custom flavors named “Amarenata” and “Il Gigante”. What wonderful ingredients are in these gelati? Check out Cinzia’s #19 and my #20 flavor in our Gelato-A Day section. Fantastic gelato – well on par with La Carraia in Firenze.
After walking back through the main streets, checking in on one of the churches that were opened with the organist playing away, and seeing that the jewelry shop where I purchased Cinzia’s sapphire heart earrings was still in business, we called it a night. We had a 10:00am check-out in the morning and needed our rest. Buonanotte!