October in Bologna
Though it wasn't part of our initial plan, we're so grateful that Bologna is where we ended up spending the month of October.
Our tentative plan for fall in Italy had been northern Italy/Florence in September, central Italy/Rome in October, and southern Italy/Sicily & Puglia for November. When we had a difficult time finding an apartment in Rome for October, we went back to the drawing board.
We ended up in Bologna, and we LOVED it. It's a city filled with beautiful porticos, medieval towers, and the very best of Italian food.
Bologna sits in the heart of the Emilia Romagna region, which is considered Italy's "bread basket." The food was incredible, and the city was positioned perfectly for side trips to Lake Como and Venice by easy train rides. We were also fortunate to have beautiful weather during our entire stay in Bologna. Every day, the weather forecast was 60s-70s & sunny.
The city itself was charming. We loved our Airbnb, which was a flat situated in the center of Bologna, allowing us to benefit from the walkable city center.
Bologna has three nicknames: La Dotta, La Grassa, and La Rossa.
La Dotta means "the learned." Bologna's university claims the title of oldest university in continuous operation, established in 1088!
La Grassa means "the fat." The food offerings are incredible and are not meant for a light eater.
La Rossa means "the red." Bologna's skyline is full of red rooftops!
Here are some of our highlights and favorite memories of Bologna.
Porticoes
Something that we noticed on our first day of exploration was the porticoes. Everywhere we walked, we were covered by a beautiful portico! We quickly learned that it was a core architectural feature of Bologna.
Each portico is unique and range in age, built across centuries. Porticoes put sidewalks to shame, offering a more spacious stroll away from pesky car and moped traffic, but also relief from sun, rain, and snow! We're questioning why porticoes aren't prominent in other places (like Seattle and Portland!).
Bologna is also home to the longest portico in the world (2 miles long!), which we had the chance to visit. We took a quirky little train called the "San Luca Express" up to Basilica di San Luca in the hills. The Basilica is connected to the city center (formerly surrounded by walls) by this long portico, which features over 666 arches. After exploring the church and taking in views of the surrounding area, we enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the city through the seemingly-endless portico.
The Food (& The Best Homemade Meals Ever)
As with our first month in Italy, we took pasta "day breaks," with one day on/off of pasta consumption to ensure we didn't lose our appetite for tasty tortellini and tagliatelle. Being here a couple days demolished our pasta rankings - everything we ate was incredible. It's overwhelming to try to explain all of the incredible dishes we had, so I'll be dedicating a separate post to it (stay tuned!).
The meals we cooked in our apartment were some of the best we've ever had. We loved going on dinner "scavenger hunts," picking up amazing ingredients from different shops for dinner the same evening. We would find the best, fresh, handmade pasta from a pasta shop, rosemary foccacia from a bakery, the best ragu from a salumeria, our favorite Lambrusco from a wine shop...Jeff would even prepare our own little aperitivo hour beforehand.
Our favorite night was the "tasting flight" we made of three different types of tortelloni; we enjoyed each one individually, along with dance breaks in the kitchen in between courses. Each tortelloni was better than the last!
First course was “pagode caprese” filled with mozzarella di bufala, pomodoro, and basil; we topped it with a butter sage sauce and freshly-grated parmesan. Round two was black truffle tortelloni topped with parmesan cream sauce. Our finale was tortelloni filled with culatello, mascarpone, and robiola. Everything was incredible. We realized we had made an amazing, wide range of tortellini and tortelloni at home, all of which landed in the “best pasta we’ve ever had” category.
Modena
We took a day trip to Modena, a city which neighbors Bologna. It's famous for being the home of balsamic vinegar. Modena was heavily featured in the recent second season of Aziz Ansari's show Master of None, which Jeff and I were fans of watching.
We hopped on a regional train to Modena and enjoyed wandering the quiet streets of what seemed like a mini Bologna.
Their primary market, Mercato Albinelli, was our favorite market in Italy! After exploring the town and the market, we had lunch at Hostaria Giusti, which we had seen featured on Master of None. It was incredible - likely the best meal of our trip so far. It's a unique restaurant; there's a room with only four tables above a salumeria (deli) that serves only lunch. The restaurant specializes in pasta, and lucky for us, they offer half portions of their dishes! This allowed us to go pasta crazy and try each of the four pastas they offered.
After lunch, we visited an acetaia, which produces balsamic. Acetaia Giusti is a balsamic producer in Modena, and it’s the oldest one in Italy! We learned the history of Giusti, the creation process for balsamic, and the different categorizations. There’s “black gold,” the real deal traditional balsamic, which only 70 acetaias in Modena produce. Then there’s two other categorizations which make up what most of us consume in America. It was fascinating to learn about the complex process of how to produce traditional balsamic (including how it must be aged in five different types of wood barrels!). Getting the opportunity to smell barrels of different ages, as well as the “mother” barrel with balsamic dating back to 1605 was incredibly interesting (did you know that balsamic vinegar is made from Lambrusco grapes!?). It definitely gives me a greater appreciation for it. At the end of the tour, we had the opportunity to taste multiple different balsamic vinegars of different categorizations and years, including one that was 100 years old!
Towers
There's a pair of iconic towers in central Bologna known as Due Torri. The landmark is found on Bologna souvenirs, and it's a popular tourist activity to climb the larger one (Asinelli). What's more interesting, though, is the fact that Bologna used to be full of these medieval towers during the Middle Ages - there was once more than 100 of these towers filling the Bologna skyline! We saw an artist's rendition that referred to it as a "medieval Manhattan," which is crazy to imagine! There are still some medieval towers scattered throughout the city, including one that is now a B&B (Torre Prendiparte), and one that we could see out the window of our Airbnb (Torre Galluzzi).
Quadrilatero
Just off Piazza Maggiore is Quadrilatero, an area of amazing alleys full of shops selling local specialties and fresh pasta, and restaurants lining the streets with tables serving tagliere with accompanying tigella. We loved enjoying "alley aperitivo" on Via Pescheria Vecchia. It was here that we discovered our love for Lambrusco through a reasonably-priced bottle called Otello; it makes for a perfect pairing with local meats and cheeses!
Piazza Maggiore & T Days
Our Airbnb was conveniently located near Piazza Maggiore, the main square and hub of activities for Bologna. Flanked by Quadrilatero. It features the Basilica di San Petronio, a massive church with a unique exterior - it's unfinished!
We loved passing through the piazza, which was always lively, on our strolls around town. During the weekends, the city had "T Days" in which a couple of key streets near the piazza were blocked off to car traffic, allowing a fun, safe area to explore.
Aperitivo
We continue to marvel at the concept of aperitivo in Italy! As Jeff asks everytime we enjoy it, "why isn't this a thing in the US!?" We've loved munching on fun snacks with a glass of wine as either a light meal or a precursor to a late dinner. Caffe Zanarini, which was just around the corner from our apartment, offered some of our favorite aperitivo finger foods.
Whisper Walls & Hidden Canals
Bologna had its own quirky, charming secrets. We accidentally discovered one of its "hidden" canals, which sat across the street from an authentic, fantastic cheesemonger we visited multiple times to pick up wedges of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
We also had the chance to stop and try the "whisper walls." There’s a space within Palazzo del Podesta where you can stand in opposite corners, facing the corner wall, and whisper to your partner on the other side. It was a surprising little experience that felt a little magical, to hear Jeff’s voice through the brick wall - almost like a ghost was talking to me!
Panoramic Views
We climbed to the panoramic terrace of Basilica di San Petronio, which was just around the corner from our apartment, twice during our stay: once in the beginning of the month to get a better perspective of Bologna, and once at the end of our stay to catch a sunset.
We also climbed the bell tower of Cattedrale di San Pietro. There was a foggy haze over the city, and it was good to enjoy Bologna from a new angle. We liked the juxtaposition of the medieval towers vs the modern towers beyond the city center.
We miss you, Bologna! You were an unexpected delight.
