"All you see I owe to spaghetti."
Sophia Loren
Okay, so Bologna is not the birthplace of Oscar Mayer (Bavaria, Germany, holds that honor). But this beautiful city, affectionately referred to as La Grassa (the fat one)is noted to have the best cuisine in Italy. We wouldn't disagree. We ate a memorable lunch at Diana, a restaurant that boasts it's own wine label. I guess you know the bolognese sauce was utter perfection, as was the dolce (dessert), a red pear poached in a liqueur you can't even get outside Italy.
Even the open air food markets there have their own street. An entire pedestrian walkway dedicated to artful displays of the most beautiful fruits and vegetables you can imagine.
Lychee nuts nudged up against plums, purple artichokes rubbing leaves with frisee' lettuces. And the tomatoes! Your nonno (grandpa) would be proud to grow these in his garden.
Bologna boasts the oldest university in Italy, so the younger part of its population keeps the town quite lively and liberally bent. Still there is no mistaking the medieval influence on its architecture. The city invented porticoes with arcades to shelter it's people from the elements.
Nice touch, I'd say, since it snowed a bit while we were there.
I'd like to say something about the fountain in the Piazza Maggiore, dedicated to Neptune, but it speaks quite loudly for itself.
Susan, who, now and then, also enjoys Oscar's baloney sandwiches
p.s. If you'll take a look at the last post, "The Pope's Night Out", you'll see I've added a couple of photos of Tyson, the Mighty Chihuahua of Rome
Even the open air food markets there have their own street. An entire pedestrian walkway dedicated to artful displays of the most beautiful fruits and vegetables you can imagine.
Lychee nuts nudged up against plums, purple artichokes rubbing leaves with frisee' lettuces. And the tomatoes! Your nonno (grandpa) would be proud to grow these in his garden.
Bologna boasts the oldest university in Italy, so the younger part of its population keeps the town quite lively and liberally bent. Still there is no mistaking the medieval influence on its architecture. The city invented porticoes with arcades to shelter it's people from the elements.
Nice touch, I'd say, since it snowed a bit while we were there.
I'd like to say something about the fountain in the Piazza Maggiore, dedicated to Neptune, but it speaks quite loudly for itself.
Susan, who, now and then, also enjoys Oscar's baloney sandwiches
p.s. If you'll take a look at the last post, "The Pope's Night Out", you'll see I've added a couple of photos of Tyson, the Mighty Chihuahua of Rome
Thanks for this nice view of Bologna. It has been a long time since I visited it! Too bad , living in Italy and don't get the chance to go around a lot!
ReplyDeleteI miss you and Jim already ! you must be flying overthe ocean at this time!!
love you
rossella