Wednesday 4th May

Just like it was medieval towns, castles and scenery in Umbria and Le Marche, it is FOOD here in Bologna.
Food existed in those other two regions of course, with their own specialities, but here in Bologna it goes to another level. Not that Bologna does not have its castles and old architectuure, but  for Ann it is the food - the different types, the history, the cooking of it and for Bob, the eating.
Today we explored the area of Bologna known as the "Quadrilatero".This is a relatively small area in a grid of streets around via Clavature (Street of Locksmith) and the former Roman Bologna. This bustling district is one of the city's most enticing -where colourful market stalls, full of all the vegetables and fruit from everywhere, fresh fish shops, butcher shops, condiments and oil shops and delicatessans open onto cobblestone medieval streets lined with trendy cafes, swish bars and neighbourhood eateries of all descriptions. It is the area where we had lunch on Monday with the motor scooters.  Ann reckons the Quadrilatero is just like a Vic Market but with more character, history and tradition.
This is where you will find the "Tamburini" delicatessan which has enjoyed a world wide reputation since 1932 and which has a self serve lunch set up not to be missed. But we didn't stay as it looked like a bus load of German tourists had taken the joint over for lunch.
We ventured into another delicatessan called  La Baita to have a look around and take in the aromas and found a small dining area up a flight of stairs and a table was available for us. Very different - here we were sitting amongst prosciutto, parmigiano reggiano, and wines and oils from all over Italy. The menu was limited to dishes of meats, salami and cheeses from various regions, so that if you ordered "Toscana" or "Emilio" off the menu you got meats etc from Toscana or Emilio only on your dish. It was wonderful as we could compare different meats and cheeses by sharing.

Tamburini's

Market Stall Scene

Fresh Fish

Outside our Lunch Deli

Ann Testing Toscana Cheese inside our Lunch Deli

Looking down from our table into the deli.

Tuesday 3rd May

What a day it was.
Early start - being picked up out the front of our apartment at 7.20am for the Italian Food Experience which included the Parmigiano Reggiano Factory, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and Prosciuto Ham Factory to see how it's all done, how to recognise the real stuff and how to enjoy it.
Our guide's ( Allessandro ) timing was spot on as we walked out the door at 7.15 he was there waiting for us.There were 4 others on the trip with us, both couples from the States as well as Paulo our driver. Ann got the front seat which gave her the best seat to see all the near misses in the tiny back streets. We arrived at the Parmigiano Factory in time to see the start of the process and follow it through to the end. We then went to "Cheese Street" where the cheese matures for 12 months before it is tested and stamped and guaranteed. It can then be sold but more often it is left to mature 37 months, other wheels stay for indefinite periods of time and get more exspensive the longer they mature. Some can be 25 years old. We also saw fresh riccotta being made out of the left over whey and the cream from the days milk.  

Cutting the Curds

             

Lifting cheese from the vat

         Unapproved maturing cheese   

                

Approved Parmigiano  Reggiano          

Bob and Ann in 7 million euros of Parmagiano Reggiano

Fresh Riccotta

We were then able to taste 14 month old and 37 month old parmagiano reggiano with a lambrusca which is what the Italians drink with this cheese.

From here we went to the Proscuito factory which looked like an ordinary Italian house, but how deceiving this was. Modena DOP Ham is obtained form the thighs of domestic pigs reared and fed according to rigid production requirements: all the phases of rearing, slaughtering and curing are controlled and certified.This family owned factory does 500 pig thighs a week, the pigs being 9 months old when slaughtered..  

Selected hams first salting at -4 degrees

Alessandro with a leg after 2nd salting

Molding lard and rice flour to seal leg

An approved Modena Prosciutto

After the tasting of the ham it was off to the hills surrounding Modena for the Acetaia Modena at Villa San Donnino, another family run operation which has been going for three generations. The story is fascinating but far too long to tell here. The traditional balsamic vinegar of Modena is produced from cooked grape must ripened by slow acidification due to natural fermentation and progressive concentration by means of a considerably long ageing process in a series of various types of wooden casks with no aromatic subtances added . It is aged for a minimun of 12 years and can be over a hundred years old. We tasted many differnt varieties and some with ice cream.

Barrels of aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena fermenting



All of the operations we saw were very labour intensive because the processes follows traditional methods established many hundreds of years ago and which cannot be done by machines.

Allessandro, who created Italian Food Experiences two years ago is a  food nutter who has a passion for all Italian food. He had a great sense of humour and his knowledge of all the processes and products was amazing, as well his english was excellent. 

After all this knowledge gathering we needed to eat and so it was to a little ristorante in the hills for an amazing lunch. We had the local fried bread with lard, rosemary and garlic, followed by more breads with various toppings, then three  different pastas, then meats and cheeses, all accompanied by prosecca, and lambrusca. This was then followed by another type of fried, puffed up bread called fried gnocci which we had with the fresh ricotta from this morning and various jams and nutella. Very nice!! All this was followed by coffee and liquors, limoncella and noccine. Italians seem to drink a lot of grappa and liquors during the day. We had a really great day and were so full when we got home we had to have a rest.

Bob and Allessandro toasting each other with Limoncella

Monday 2nd May

Having got a bit of a feel for Bologna yesterday it was time today to do some in depth study of this culinary capital of Italy which started life in the 6th Century BC.
However we first went in search of a particular outlet clothes shop for Ann. Her intensive research back home revealed that this outlet was to found be in Bologna and, you wouldn't want to know, but it was virtually around the corner from where we are staying. We found it and they were able to relieve Ann of  some of the available credit we had on the Visa card.
Bologna is best explored on foot although today we are initially taking the hop on / hop off opened top red bus which, for an hour, takes you around the city allowing you to hop on and off at 14 different places of interest or significance. Your ticket allows you to do this all day and this reduces the walking to within those places and the bus does the gap filling with commentary.
We went the total loop in the morning to get the feel and marked down the Santo Stefano complex to visit after lunch.
We had lunch in the middle of a restricted traffic street just off the Piazza Maggiore. Cars were barred from this street but motor cycles and scooters along with push bikes weren't. It is rather strange sitting eating your tortoloni and have a scooter wizz by your back.

Lunch in the street - can you spot Ann?

The Santo Stefano complex goes back some 2,000 years and is a group of seven churches built in a cluster and  intertwined through connecting passageways and courtyards. This quite an amazing complex and we spent probably an hour there and then walked the Piazza in front of it.

We caught the last red bus back. Here are some photos of the complex

Sunday 1st May

Although it rained quite heavily overnight and we thought our first day in Bologna could be a bit damp we woke to a fine, calm, spring Bologna day and after a bit of a lie in ( it was Sunday ) we set forth on foot to the historic section of Bologna.
It's not that far, some couple of hundred meters through the porticos which feature here. Soon we were in the Piazza Maggiore where we found a jewelery market and a political rally ( it was May Day today ) and a heap of people. A lot of tourists in the heap - something we haven't experienced for a while. Strange to be jostling for the best photo position.
There is a lot to talk about Bologna. It appears to be a big place but you can walk from one end to the other, I would guess, in an hour. The buildings are big, the Piazzas are big, it is a University place from way back (in fact the first University in the western world, if not the world was established here in 1088) and a lot of student types in town, and restaurants, osterias, cafes and bars and what are called birrerias ( beer places) abound in the area around the centre of town.
Here are some photographs of what we saw.

May Day crown in Piazza Maggiore, Bologna

One of a few modern sculptures just off Piazza Maggiore

Gate over Porta to side entrance of Palazzo d' Accursio in Piazza Maggiore

Typical Portico'd sreet in Bologna

The "Symbol" of Bologna - Le Due Torri. Two of the remaining 200 or so towers of Bologna. The taller one is being restored hence the protective wrapping

The smaller tower doing a Pisa

Ann in a not so comfy stone carved chair

The stone chair. No, it rained before Ann sat in it.

Typical Bologna street scene.

Saturday 30th April

After our two weeks in Cagli it was time to move onto our next adventure of Emilia Romagna and our new lodgings in Bologna. This time we will be in an apartment in the heart of the city, quite a change from our rural locations of the last month.
Bologna is about 220 kms from Cagli along the old traditional route prior to the building of the Autostrada of 130 kms/hour ( plus ) speed limit. The road heads East to the coast and then turns North West to Bologna virtually alongside the autostrada but through the villages and towns. We were booked in for 4 pm so no rush.
We pulled into Faenza, a town about 60 kms from Bologna, with a medieval heritage and a reputation for fine and different majolica ceramic ware. We searched several shops out and found a piece which will grace a wall in Bundanoon. We had a simple lunch in a kebab house mainly to avoid the lunch time downpour. It wasn't the most memorable meal in this land of food but it satisfied the inner dog.
We headed off for Bologna taking directions from our man in the GPS, but the Bolognese road gangs tricked him and had the main road through the city blocked off and didn't tell him. We ended up in car parks, one way streets going the wrong way, and narrow lanes which the Romans wouldn't drive a single chariot down. But we did arrive at our destination about 30 mins later than planned.
Got the gear into the apartment, and Daniella, our apartment minder, said "come we go to park the car".
She drove and after going around the rather larger block to comply with one way signs she whipped into this car park, up to the first floor, and somehow got the Citroen into this tiny space. It can stay there for a couple of days until I get my breath back and ponder how to get it out. The 200 meter walk back to the apartment was without incident.
We did a bit of a reconnoiter of the area, found the mini marts and cheese and salami shops and settled in.

A Street Scene in Faezna

Friday April 29th

As tomorrow is moving day we will be staying close to base camp but still putting in the hard exploration yards. We have a determination to find these Roman bridges and other Roman "leftovers" which are still in use today, after 2,000+ years.
The first on the list is the Ponte Mallio which we failed to find  a few days ago but now armed with some reliable local knowledge we found it in a trice. It is still in use and supports a road, the via Flaminia (the Roman Road from Rome through to the Adriatic Coast), and which still provides access to small holdings along its route around this bridge.

Ponte Mallio with Ann in the top middle to  right hand

via Flaminia supports after the bridge

The original via Flaminia

 ( redressed a couple of times I daresay, but the original route and road)

The next on our archeological search list was the Galleria del Furlo, a tunnel dug by the the Romans in 76AD and its forebear built in 217BC again along the via Flaminia in the Furlo Gorge but easier to find as this section of the road was still the main access road from this part of Le Marche to the coast up to 20 years ago when the Autostrada was built and the larger tunnels dug through the mountains.
We found it, drove through it, backtracked, parked the car and walked to it for photos and closer inspection and attempted to find the 217 BC tunnel. We became aware later at lunch, from the waiter, that the older tunnel was right alongside the new tunnel but gated and fenced for safety reasons. We understand you can still see the chisel marks from the 2,228 year old excavations.

The Furlo Gorge and the via Flaminio upgraded to take modern traffic

Galleria del Furlo, 76AD and the gate and fence restricting access to 217 BC tunnel

A 1072 Abbey along the Road

A fresco inside the Abbey

The "Cave"and wine cellar in our lunch restaurant in Furlo

Thursday 28th April

The Macerata district in the east of Le Marche was settled by the "Picena" tribe some 3,000 years ago and despite its age is still not really on the tourist radar apart from offering one of Italy's most famous opera festivals in Macerata and days of  wonderful scenery and sights throughout the territory.
We were enticed to go and see see some of this wonderful scenery and sights today and ventured far into this  "unexplored" territory and were not disappointed. I am sure others have ventured into Urbisaglia but not today. We were there on our own and there is nothing quite like being a tourist in a magnificent former Roman colony like this and having it to yourself with the locals - eat your hearts out those tourists in Rome and Venice jostling for a view or ticket.
But not only were the sights restricted to the ancient towns. The countryside in this part of Italy is fantastic -majestic rolling hills and green lush valleys and every turn on a country road presents a new scene which surpasses the last one.
Caldarola is south west of  Urbisaglia and its name refers to ancient thermal soothing sources that had disappeared by the 16th Century - no therapeutic baths for the toothache but plenty for the eyes. The town is described as "Terra di Castelli e d'Arte" - the Land of Castles and Art.
 Unfortunately these sights were restricted to the outside views as the local tourist system does not swing into being until May when the tourists from the Adriatic Coast start to arrive in town. So we had to be content with looking at the photographs of inside the Castello Pallotta, the I Pittori and the Castello di Vestignano in the Italian language brochure we picked up in the restaurant where we had lunch.

Fortifications in Urbisaglia

Balcony and Plaque over Municipio Offices in Urbisaglia 

Street Scene in  Caldarola

1st Stage Steps to Castle - 2 to go - we didn't.

View of Castle from Bottom of Stairs

The magnificen "Room of Paradise" in the
"Palazzo dei Cardinali Pallotta"
(which we didn't get to see - Palazzo not open )

Ruins of Ancient Brick Kiln

Entrance to One of Many Tunnels Travelled Through