LowCountryIslander & Mom Go Back to Italy...A Bologna & Rome Trip Report
Dec 25th, 2010, 08:09 PM
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LowCountryIslander & Mom Go Back to Italy...A Bologna & Rome Trip Report
I've been back from my trip to Bologna & Rome for about a month, yes I spent Thanksgiving in Rome! And I really debated whether or not to write a trip a report, so I decided (after reading Julie's Italy Reprise report) that I would try my hand at a slightly different report format than I have used in the past. I have typically written day-by-day reports and I can't guarantee this won't turn into that, but I am going to try with all my might to give snap-shots of a few general categories.
This first post will list more of the logistical types of things...flights, hotels, weather and then my plan for subsequent posts will be to write about the activities we did and (of course!) the places we ate, along with some of the people we met along the way...yes, we had 3 Fodors mini-GTGs on this trip...including one on a train to Ravenna!
Trip Background:
Although slightly off the “beaten tourist track”, Bologna popped up on my travel radar a few years ago. After seeing the city featured in an episode of Passport to Europe, speaking with a colleague who had been there (and enjoyed it) and noticing references to the city more frequently on the Fodors travel talk board, I decided it was time for me to seriously consider planning a trip there.
While discussing the details with my mom, who is my travel partner, we decided since we were going, why not make it worth our while and stay for two weeks, one week in Bologna and one week in Rome, because truthfully, our philosophy is, if we’re going to Italy we need to include some time in Rome. As it turned out we spent 8 nights in Bologna and 6 in Rome.
We decided on November for a few reasons, first being we could incorporate 3 paid holidays into the 2 weeks we would be away and that “saved” using 3 vacation days, yes, we hoard our vacation days! Another reason was that airfare in November was significantly lower then in September or October which were the other months we were looking at, and lastly we were able to get a good deal on our accommodations.
Weather:
November may not be the perfect time of year to be in Bologna, but it wasn’t terrible. Yes, there were several rainy, foggy days, but we also had several days with long stretches of beautiful blue sky and sunshine. One drawback to exploring Bologna (and Rome too) at this time of year is the shorter daylight hours, but to be honest, that didn’t bother us and sitting outside, under a heat lamp at a café having aperitivo in the evening is just as much fun when the street lights are on than when the sun is sparkling during the spring and summer.
Where We Stayed:
When looking for accommodations in Bologna I knew I wanted to stay in the center of the city. I checked several hotels that were recommended on Trip Advisor and by Fodorites. They all appeared to be great, and most were upwards of €100 per night. I did some more digging and found a reference on a Fodors thread to the website www.perfectplaces.com it’s similar to VRBO and there were a few, maybe 12, listings for apartments in Bologna. I found one that I thought fit the bill for us, here it is http://www.perfectplaces.com/vacation-rentals/32702.htm
The owner, Pietro, was a dream to work with and very responsive to all my emails. This was the first time I did a bank transfer to make a deposit and it could not have been easier. The price was right too…for 8 nights, including a €50 cleaning fee we paid €600. We paid 20% deposit at time of booking and the balance in cash when we arrived. And what a fantastic greeting! We were met by the owner’s sister outside the front door of the apartment; within minutes we were ushered inside and met Pietro, the owner, and his wife, big hugs and kisses all around, like we were long-lost family.
The apartment is true to the photos on the website (after booking I did note the apartment is also posted on VRBO), small, but immaculately clean, and very secure. We had a key to the front door of the building and a second key to the area accessing the apartment and a third key to the apartment.
The location of this apartment, in my opinion, was the best thing about this place. It’s located right on Via Oberdan, smack in the middle of the center of the city, just a few blocks from Piazza Maggiore, and around the corner from the main arterial street, Via Independenzia, going directly to the train station. There were plenty of shops, cafes, banks, and gastronomia’s within a few steps of the front door.
For our accommodations in Rome I turned to my award points on my credit card and was able to cash in those points plus a few hundred dollars to stay 6 nights at the Hosianum Place (http://www.hosianum.com/en/index.htm) . I’ve stayed at this hotel before and I really like it a lot. It’s fairly small with just 28 rooms, and the location is great on a small side street between Piazza Venezia and Lago Argentina. The rooms are clean and comfortable and the staff is friendly and accommodating. The breakfast, which is included in the room price is abundant and includes not only the typical cold meats, cheeses, breads and fruits but also hot items, such as scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, and if cappuccino is what you want, be sure to ask the server.
Flight Logistics:
Mom and I typically fly Delta because we collect their sky miles. When booking these plane tickets we wanted to fly into Bologna and out of Rome. This wasn’t a problem, and for the outbound flight we flew on Delta’s codeshare partner KLM via Amsterdam into Bologna. On the return flight we flew on Delta out of Rome.
It had been a long time since I had flown KLM and I think it may be a long time before I fly them again. I was not able to print our boarding passes the night before our flight, but that did not surprise me since I had the same difficulty earlier in the year with a codeshare flight on AirFrance. We arrived at the Savannah airport early and were fortunate to get a very helpful desk agent who was able to check us in for all our flights, and print all our boarding passes, including the one to Bologna, which I thought we might not be able to get until we arrived in AMS.
The flight departing Savannah was slightly delayed, but that was not an issue because the KLM flight from Atlanta was also delayed. The KLM flight was full, and the seat configuration was 3-3-3. Because mom and I both like aisle seats I was sitting one row ahead of mom and through some grace of God, there was no one seated in the middle seat next to me. Ultimately this was not a significant benefit because I was not feeling well and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get comfortable. The flight crew was not the best I’ve ever experienced, the food wasn’t very good and I’m one who thinks Delta doesn’t do a half bad job with their food, so you know my airplane “food bar” is not set very high. Since I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t eat much, slept fitfully and had chills then sweats with headache and nausea. Believe me I couldn’t wait for that plane to land in Amsterdam!
We arrived about one hour late and it took approximately 30 minutes to get through passport control and security before we got to our connecting gate for the KLM City Hopper flight to Bologna. We had about one and a half hours to wait and left for Bologna just after 3pm.
For as unpleasant as the KLM flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam was, the KLM flight to Bologna was pure bliss…maybe that’s because it was only a one and a half hour flight!
We arrived in Bologna right on time at 4:45pm. We took a taxi from the airport to the apartment for €20. The ride into the city took about 30 minutes from the airport.
The return flight from Rome was a breeze. As we have done in the past we used Rome Cabs (http://www.romecabs.com/) to take us to the airport at the ungodly hour of 6am for our 9:45am flight. This is my 5th time using them and the drivers have always been on time for me, and very courteous.
Fortunately for us, I was able to score an upgrade for our Atlanta to Savannah flight segment, so although we were in economy for the flight from Rome, our luggage was tagged as priority…and was at the luggage carousel before we were! And we were able to board as priority passengers and get settled before the swarms descended upon the gate agents at boarding time.
The flight from Rome was a very pleasant one, there appeared to be a George Clooney look-alike sitting diagonally across from me, so at least there was a bit of eye-candy for the 11 hour flight! The flight crew was really great; they were a fun bunch and funny too.
Next Up....What We Did In Bologna
This first post will list more of the logistical types of things...flights, hotels, weather and then my plan for subsequent posts will be to write about the activities we did and (of course!) the places we ate, along with some of the people we met along the way...yes, we had 3 Fodors mini-GTGs on this trip...including one on a train to Ravenna!
Trip Background:
Although slightly off the “beaten tourist track”, Bologna popped up on my travel radar a few years ago. After seeing the city featured in an episode of Passport to Europe, speaking with a colleague who had been there (and enjoyed it) and noticing references to the city more frequently on the Fodors travel talk board, I decided it was time for me to seriously consider planning a trip there.
While discussing the details with my mom, who is my travel partner, we decided since we were going, why not make it worth our while and stay for two weeks, one week in Bologna and one week in Rome, because truthfully, our philosophy is, if we’re going to Italy we need to include some time in Rome. As it turned out we spent 8 nights in Bologna and 6 in Rome.
We decided on November for a few reasons, first being we could incorporate 3 paid holidays into the 2 weeks we would be away and that “saved” using 3 vacation days, yes, we hoard our vacation days! Another reason was that airfare in November was significantly lower then in September or October which were the other months we were looking at, and lastly we were able to get a good deal on our accommodations.
Weather:
November may not be the perfect time of year to be in Bologna, but it wasn’t terrible. Yes, there were several rainy, foggy days, but we also had several days with long stretches of beautiful blue sky and sunshine. One drawback to exploring Bologna (and Rome too) at this time of year is the shorter daylight hours, but to be honest, that didn’t bother us and sitting outside, under a heat lamp at a café having aperitivo in the evening is just as much fun when the street lights are on than when the sun is sparkling during the spring and summer.
Where We Stayed:
When looking for accommodations in Bologna I knew I wanted to stay in the center of the city. I checked several hotels that were recommended on Trip Advisor and by Fodorites. They all appeared to be great, and most were upwards of €100 per night. I did some more digging and found a reference on a Fodors thread to the website www.perfectplaces.com it’s similar to VRBO and there were a few, maybe 12, listings for apartments in Bologna. I found one that I thought fit the bill for us, here it is http://www.perfectplaces.com/vacation-rentals/32702.htm
The owner, Pietro, was a dream to work with and very responsive to all my emails. This was the first time I did a bank transfer to make a deposit and it could not have been easier. The price was right too…for 8 nights, including a €50 cleaning fee we paid €600. We paid 20% deposit at time of booking and the balance in cash when we arrived. And what a fantastic greeting! We were met by the owner’s sister outside the front door of the apartment; within minutes we were ushered inside and met Pietro, the owner, and his wife, big hugs and kisses all around, like we were long-lost family.
The apartment is true to the photos on the website (after booking I did note the apartment is also posted on VRBO), small, but immaculately clean, and very secure. We had a key to the front door of the building and a second key to the area accessing the apartment and a third key to the apartment.
The location of this apartment, in my opinion, was the best thing about this place. It’s located right on Via Oberdan, smack in the middle of the center of the city, just a few blocks from Piazza Maggiore, and around the corner from the main arterial street, Via Independenzia, going directly to the train station. There were plenty of shops, cafes, banks, and gastronomia’s within a few steps of the front door.
For our accommodations in Rome I turned to my award points on my credit card and was able to cash in those points plus a few hundred dollars to stay 6 nights at the Hosianum Place (http://www.hosianum.com/en/index.htm) . I’ve stayed at this hotel before and I really like it a lot. It’s fairly small with just 28 rooms, and the location is great on a small side street between Piazza Venezia and Lago Argentina. The rooms are clean and comfortable and the staff is friendly and accommodating. The breakfast, which is included in the room price is abundant and includes not only the typical cold meats, cheeses, breads and fruits but also hot items, such as scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, and if cappuccino is what you want, be sure to ask the server.
Flight Logistics:
Mom and I typically fly Delta because we collect their sky miles. When booking these plane tickets we wanted to fly into Bologna and out of Rome. This wasn’t a problem, and for the outbound flight we flew on Delta’s codeshare partner KLM via Amsterdam into Bologna. On the return flight we flew on Delta out of Rome.
It had been a long time since I had flown KLM and I think it may be a long time before I fly them again. I was not able to print our boarding passes the night before our flight, but that did not surprise me since I had the same difficulty earlier in the year with a codeshare flight on AirFrance. We arrived at the Savannah airport early and were fortunate to get a very helpful desk agent who was able to check us in for all our flights, and print all our boarding passes, including the one to Bologna, which I thought we might not be able to get until we arrived in AMS.
The flight departing Savannah was slightly delayed, but that was not an issue because the KLM flight from Atlanta was also delayed. The KLM flight was full, and the seat configuration was 3-3-3. Because mom and I both like aisle seats I was sitting one row ahead of mom and through some grace of God, there was no one seated in the middle seat next to me. Ultimately this was not a significant benefit because I was not feeling well and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get comfortable. The flight crew was not the best I’ve ever experienced, the food wasn’t very good and I’m one who thinks Delta doesn’t do a half bad job with their food, so you know my airplane “food bar” is not set very high. Since I wasn’t feeling well, I didn’t eat much, slept fitfully and had chills then sweats with headache and nausea. Believe me I couldn’t wait for that plane to land in Amsterdam!
We arrived about one hour late and it took approximately 30 minutes to get through passport control and security before we got to our connecting gate for the KLM City Hopper flight to Bologna. We had about one and a half hours to wait and left for Bologna just after 3pm.
For as unpleasant as the KLM flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam was, the KLM flight to Bologna was pure bliss…maybe that’s because it was only a one and a half hour flight!
We arrived in Bologna right on time at 4:45pm. We took a taxi from the airport to the apartment for €20. The ride into the city took about 30 minutes from the airport.
The return flight from Rome was a breeze. As we have done in the past we used Rome Cabs (http://www.romecabs.com/) to take us to the airport at the ungodly hour of 6am for our 9:45am flight. This is my 5th time using them and the drivers have always been on time for me, and very courteous.
Fortunately for us, I was able to score an upgrade for our Atlanta to Savannah flight segment, so although we were in economy for the flight from Rome, our luggage was tagged as priority…and was at the luggage carousel before we were! And we were able to board as priority passengers and get settled before the swarms descended upon the gate agents at boarding time.
The flight from Rome was a very pleasant one, there appeared to be a George Clooney look-alike sitting diagonally across from me, so at least there was a bit of eye-candy for the 11 hour flight! The flight crew was really great; they were a fun bunch and funny too.
Next Up....What We Did In Bologna
Dec 25th, 2010, 11:13 PM
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You're killing me---all set and ready to read about Bologna and you tease me! Eager to also see your Rome restaurant suggestions since I looked at Kristina's list and will be in Rome on my way back to Bologna in January......looking forward to reading more! Did not do Giusti in Modena but Osteria Francescana with son and girlfriend and will post later....
Kathy
Kathy
Dec 26th, 2010, 03:40 AM
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LowCountryInsider,
I also prefer trip reports that pass along the practical info up top.
Please don't take it amiss if I offer some more precise spellings, for the super-googler trip planners among us:
In Bologna, it is the via dell'Indipendenza
In Roma, it is Largo Argentina, or even more properly, Largo di Torre Argentina.
I've noticed a great many middle aged Italian men have taken to cutting their salt-and-peppery grey hair in George Clooney's very trim style. It does make for a few pleasurable double takes.
I also prefer trip reports that pass along the practical info up top.
Please don't take it amiss if I offer some more precise spellings, for the super-googler trip planners among us:
In Bologna, it is the via dell'Indipendenza
In Roma, it is Largo Argentina, or even more properly, Largo di Torre Argentina.
I've noticed a great many middle aged Italian men have taken to cutting their salt-and-peppery grey hair in George Clooney's very trim style. It does make for a few pleasurable double takes.
Dec 26th, 2010, 04:38 AM
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Hi Marcy - I was wondering if you were doing a trip report. I started one a few days ago but got side tracked by Christmas and this morning just now I added another post to it when it went back to the main page there was your report right next to it! Great minds think alike. Can't wait to hear how the rest of your trip went.
Dec 26th, 2010, 05:28 AM
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Thanks everyone for the encouragement!
Kathy...I will hopefully get my Rome infomation posted before you are there in January. Oddly enough (for us), all but 2 or 3 of the restaurants we went to in Rome were repeats, but we repeated for good reason, we like them!
Dina & Marigross...we really, really liked Bologna...most certainly worth a visit.
AnnMarie & Beachgirl...I knew I could count on you 2 to read this...but beachgirl...you are in Paris and should be out enjoying the city at holiday time...not scanning Fodors posts!
Zeppole..thanks for the help...I always get confused with Largo Argentina...that's how I usually say it, but I seem to recall seeing a sign or two (maybe it was on the buses) that said Lago (isn't that the Italian word for lake? wouldn't make sense to call it a lake now would it?) Usually when I write my trip reports I have a map handy, but last night I was "free-wheeling" so didn't consult the map on the street spelling. I agree location references should be as accurate as possible for those looking for helpful info in trip reports...thanks again!
Isabel...I'll have to check out your report...looks like I'll have some good reading today!
Kathy...I will hopefully get my Rome infomation posted before you are there in January. Oddly enough (for us), all but 2 or 3 of the restaurants we went to in Rome were repeats, but we repeated for good reason, we like them!
Dina & Marigross...we really, really liked Bologna...most certainly worth a visit.
AnnMarie & Beachgirl...I knew I could count on you 2 to read this...but beachgirl...you are in Paris and should be out enjoying the city at holiday time...not scanning Fodors posts!
Zeppole..thanks for the help...I always get confused with Largo Argentina...that's how I usually say it, but I seem to recall seeing a sign or two (maybe it was on the buses) that said Lago (isn't that the Italian word for lake? wouldn't make sense to call it a lake now would it?)
Usually when I write my trip reports I have a map handy, but last night I was "free-wheeling" so didn't consult the map on the street spelling. I agree location references should be as accurate as possible for those looking for helpful info in trip reports...thanks again!Isabel...I'll have to check out your report...looks like I'll have some good reading today!
Dec 26th, 2010, 02:00 PM
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This post includes what we did in Bologna, along with some food "activites":
Mercato di Mezzo:
Being the food lovers we are one of the first things we did was to venture to the market area that spans along Via Pescherie and Via Clavature not far from Piazza Maggiore. This is a must see spot for anyone remotely interested in food and it’s also a great place to wander about with camera in hand. The shops and fruit, vegetable, fish, and flower stalls were some of the most colorful places in the city, great for photographing, and I did my fair share of snapping my shutter button. Especially interesting was the treviano radicchio ( I believe that’s the name), it was an unusually shape, almost looking like fingers curled up into a fist.
The Church of Santa Maria della Vita:
Located on Via Clavatura, this church is definitely worth a visit. If it wasn’t for a post of Fodors I read during my trip planning I may have overlooked this gem of a church. The church interior is lovely, but the real stunner is the terracotta Lament over the Dead Christ by Nicolo dell’Arca. The grief and terror portrayed on the faces of the statues took our breath away. We noted on a sign at the church the artist studied the expressions of family members of patients dying in a local hospital. This artist was truly gifted, just seeing these statues I could feel the pain.
Basilica di San Petronio:
Located on Piazza Maggiori. This basilica is enormous. The day we were there they were having a special ceremony to bless tractors. There must have been between 10 and 15 John Deere tractors lined up outside the basilica. Inside it was packed wall to wall with parishioners and the mass was clearly being broadcast because giant scaffolding was erected along the sides of the interior and cameramen was precariously perched behind their cameras filming everything. Huge spot lights were lighting up the altar. There was a rather lengthy procession to the altar and behind the altar was a larger, rather impressive sounding choir. It was a great experience to see all this going on. The unfortunate side was that we weren’t able to get a good look at the interior of the basilica that day, a return visit was in order and when we went back it was a much less crowded scene and really quite a pretty interior.
Monastery of Santo Stefano:
Located in a piazza along Via Santo Stefano. This is a complex of several churches and a cloister. Maybe because we were there later in the day with heavy clouds and the sun sinking quickly in the sky, this complex felt very dark and almost foreboding to me. Also because of the time of year, the cloister, although some-what interesting did not strike me as being beautiful. But again, I’m the time of year had a lot to do with my impression of the place.
Antique Market surrounding the piazza in front of Santa Stefano:
We did peruse through this interesting market, that I believe is held on Sundays only (maybe only one Sunday a month? Other Fodorites in the know please chime in here!). We aren’t huge antique buffs, but there was some interesting items here and I was able to purchase a couple old(ish) advertising posters that I thought would look good framed and hanging on my walls at home.
Italian Food Days Tour:
There were several activities for our week in Bologna I booked prior to arriving and this was one. I found this tour listed on Trip Advisor as the number 1 activity to do in Bologna and after reading the reviews posted there and a few on Fodors I thought this sounded like a great option. We were not disappointed and it turned out to be one of, if not the best, days we had in Bologna. The Italian Food Days website is here:
http://www.italiandays.it/
This tour was all the website promises and more…seriously, if you are in the Bologna area and are “into” food…please, do yourself a favor and spend the money on this tour. We paid €135 per person and as good fortune would have it, we ended up being the only 2 people on the tour the day we went, so it turned out to be a private tour for us. I’m sure it would be great with several other people, but believe me, the guide, Alessandro Martini had no problem filling in quiet times in the mini-van with really interesting information.
Alessandro met us at our apartment at 7:30am…yes, that early, but the reason was because we needed to get to the parmigiano reggiano factory in time to see the milk arriving and the cheese being made. Yes, we were standing on the production floor watching the 25 vats being carefully tended to by the cheesemaker. This was fascinating and now when I see the price of “the real deal” parmigiano reggiano cheese, I know why it is so expensive. We not only got to taste the parmigiano reggiano we also got to taste the warm fresh ricotta cheese that was made just hours before. The fresh ricotta with little chunks of parmigiaono regiano tossed in, sounds weird, and tasted wonderful was the best breakfast a girl could ask for.
After the cheese factory we were off to an acetaia were the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (traditional balsamic vinegar) is painstakingly produced. To think the amount of time and effort and not to mention the amount of money these balsamic producers go through to produce such a small annual amount of vinegar it’s no wonder the cost of the product is so expensive. We were able to taste 12 year, 25 years and 100+ year old vinegar and as you might imagine the older it was the better it tasted.
The next stop on the tour was a Prosciutto di Modena factory. Wow! An entire factory floor of hanging pork. Again, the process to produce this tasty treat is mind-boggling, but I, for one, am glad this process continues, because quite frankly I do enjoy some pork products!
As if all this wasn’t enough, the final “leg” of the tour was a lunch stop at the Corte d’Aibo (http://www.cortedaibo.it/eng/index.html), which is an organic winery and agritourismo. All I can say is that when Alessandro tells you it will be a “light lunch” do not under any circumstances believe him! This lunch was a feast that put us in a food coma! For us, because the day was so incredibly foggy, we could not enjoy what must be the amazing view from this winery, but that did not stop us from indulging in a fantastic meal. We started with a sparkling wine and a meat and cheese plate…6 different meats and 6 different cheeses! Honestly, we thought that was plenty for lunch, but then another wine arrives at the table, this time a barbera made with no added sulphates and a huge dish of the best cannelloni I have ever had, stuffed with a combination of veal and pork and bathed in a béchamel sauce this dish was superb. Then a 3rd red wine appears on the table, which I can’t remember the name of because we were so taken with the barbera, we didn’t want to stop drinking that one! Just when we were ready to say, “Basta”, a beautiful coffee pannacotta arrives. I thought, there is no way I can eat this, but one spoonful and I was hooked, I could not stop myself and the thought occurred to me that I really wanted to lift the plate up and lick it clean, but don’t recoil in horror, I refrained! Now we are saying there can’t be any more, when our faithful mini-van driver, Fabrizio, (also known as “the food pusher”) appears in the dining room doorway with a plate full of apple strudel and cookies! We did not indulge in that sweet treat, but we did ask for 2 cups of espresso that appeared instantly like magic and once we had taken the last sip of espresso Fabrizio appears again with a bottle of grappa and kindly tells us the way to get the last drops of espresso from the cup is to fill the cup with grappa and have a coffee “infused” digestive “treat”, not be outdone the crowning touch of the whole meal was a little glass of the local nocino, a green walnut liquor that I could have easily had more of.
Now that we could barely move it was time to decide if we wanted to purchase any of the wines. The barbera was just too good not to take, so we purchased 4 bottles of that along with a panetonne the chef was “whipping” up for the upcoming holidays!
You can imagine the ride back to Bologna was a quiet one, with our eyelids resting at half-mast. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and thought it was a great way to explore a bit of the region outside Bologna. And, now the Corte d’Aibo winery is on our radar for possible future stay in the country-side of the Emilia-Romanga region!
2 Fodorite Mini-GTGs in Bologna:
Another highlight of this trip was not, 1 but 2 Fodorite mini get togethers in Bologna. While research and planning this trip I was happy to find a growing number of posts on the Fodors travel talk boards about Bologna. An added bonus was finding Fodorites kathrynj and Isabel would be in Bologna the same time us. The first GTG was with katherynj one evening at a local wine bar. Before we knew it 3 hours had gone by and we found we had a lot in common, including knowing Fodorite Kristina and her mom, in a round-about way…such a small world! We decided we couldn’t leave Bologna without a second meeting, and planned to have lunch later in the week, which flew by just as quickly as our aperitivo meeting.
The second GTG was with Isabel and this was a rather unique GTG. We met at the Bologna train station and took the train to Ravenna together. Since we all wanted to do a day trip to Ravenna this worked out perfectly. We chatted about all things travel for the 1 hour and 20 minute train ride, and had a cappuccino together in Ravenna. Does this count as the first moving Fodors GTG ever?
It was great meeting both and hopefully our travel paths will cross again one day!
We did have a 3rd GTG but that comes later in the Rome part of the trip when we do a day trip from Rome to Florence to see a favorite Fodorite friend and talented jewelry maker, La Artista.
Day Trip To Ravenna:
We took a morning train to Ravenna and spent the day exploring the city. Upon leaving the train station we found our way to the tourist office and got a proper map of Ravenna then walked to San Vitale to purchase a combo ticket for €8.50, which allowed entry into 5 sites in Ravenna. The sites were the Basilica San Vitale including the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, two sites with beautiful mosaics. My preference was for the stunning mosaics in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, maybe I preferred these because it’s a much smaller place then the basilica and I could get closer to the mosaics. In any case, all were stunning. The next sites included in the combo ticket were the Museo Arcivescovile, which we skipped, the Neonian Baptistry which had a beautiful ceiling mosaic and the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, which to me felt a big lighter and airier than San Vitale.
Not included in the combo ticket, but since we passed it along the way was the House of the Stone Carpets located inside the Church of Sant’Eufemia on Via Barbiani. We paid the €4 admission and walked down the rather modern staircase to find ourselves alone in the basement with the most extensive range of stone floor mosaics I have ever seen. I could hardly believe we were the only people there. It was really quiet interesting to see all the different animals, and people in these mosaics, not to mention all the different geometric shapes.
A Day of Cooking:
Another activity I booked prior to the trip was a market visit/cooking/pasta making lesson with Bluone Cooking Tours (http://www.bluone.com/) . As with the Italian Food Days tour I found this cooking lesson via trip advisor reviews. It seemed like something “right up our alley”.
We met Rafaella and Marcello in the morning for a 2 and a half hour walk through the market streets in the center of Bologna. Most of this was with Rafaella and what I liked best about this, was she took an hour to walk with us through the market area stopping at various shops and pointing out in the windows and inside the shops some of the local items and the differences between the many varieties of pastas, meats and local specialties. The second hour and 30 minutes was spent buying the items we would be cooking with later in the day. At about 12:30 we parted ways until 4pm when we met Marcello and he took us to their apartment for the cooking lessons and dinner.
This part was the most fun I’ve had cooking! Rafaella was at the apartment with their daughter, Francesca, and we got right to work preparing the ragu and the zuppa inglese for dessert. Then it was time to get the pasta going, and I’m not talking about boiling the water, I’m talking about making the pasta…yup, we made from scratch 2 types of pasta dough. One was egg dough and one just with flour & water. What a lengthy process this was…but it was fun, I’m not sure I’d be able to make a living as a pasta maker, but Francesca was incredible, she is a very skilled pasta maker, and she hopes to one day open a shop of her own…I hope she does, because she sure made it look easier than it was! Once the pasta dough was ready we rolled out both types and made tagliatelle and strozzapreti, also known as priest strangler pasta
Back in the kitchen the ragu was progressing and we then made pork involtini stuffed with mortadella and parmigiano cheese, a prosciutto sauce to mix with one of the pastas and fresh zucchini seasoned with all kinds of flavorful herbs.
By 8pm dinner was ready to be served. We sat down with Rafaella and her whole family, 7 of us, and enjoyed a fantastic meal that we truly made with our own two hands. By 11pm it was time to say good-night and Marcello drove us back to our apartment.
Day Trip To Modena:
Since Bologna has really great train travel options we decided a day trip to Modena was a good idea, especially since it was a short 20 minute train ride.
Modena surprised us. I think we were expecting a smaller, more provincial feel to the town, and instead we got a lovely, vibrant town bustling with lots of people. Our main focus for going to Modena was to have lunch at Hosteria Giusti, so I will save the description of that for the “What We Ate” section. But we did have a nice leisurely walk around the center of the city and went to the Duomo. Unfortunately the Duomo is covered in scaffolding and we couldn’t see much of the exterior but the inside is rather lovely. I was not expecting such a dark interior, and maybe it was because it was a cloudy day and many of the windows were blocked with the outside scaffolds but I was really taken with the beautiful dark wood on the interior.
Weekend Market in Piazza dell’8 Agosto:
Located in the Piazza dell’ 8 Agosto.
We took Fodorite kathrynj’s advice and went to this weekend market on a Friday morning, and although crowded, not nearly as bad as what we had seen the Saturday before, which made me walk away saying, “ no way…too many people.”
If you happen to be in Bologna and need anything, and I do mean anything, this market is the place to go. There is everything from shoes, clothes, scarves and underwear to kitchen gadgets and the market seems to go on forever. We must have been there a couple hours and just scratched the surface of it. It was fun to walk around and we did find a few things, like adorable felt purses for my nieces that were in the shape of owls, they were a huge hit with the girls!
Next post will be what we ate and where we ate it!
Mercato di Mezzo:
Being the food lovers we are one of the first things we did was to venture to the market area that spans along Via Pescherie and Via Clavature not far from Piazza Maggiore. This is a must see spot for anyone remotely interested in food and it’s also a great place to wander about with camera in hand. The shops and fruit, vegetable, fish, and flower stalls were some of the most colorful places in the city, great for photographing, and I did my fair share of snapping my shutter button. Especially interesting was the treviano radicchio ( I believe that’s the name), it was an unusually shape, almost looking like fingers curled up into a fist.
The Church of Santa Maria della Vita:
Located on Via Clavatura, this church is definitely worth a visit. If it wasn’t for a post of Fodors I read during my trip planning I may have overlooked this gem of a church. The church interior is lovely, but the real stunner is the terracotta Lament over the Dead Christ by Nicolo dell’Arca. The grief and terror portrayed on the faces of the statues took our breath away. We noted on a sign at the church the artist studied the expressions of family members of patients dying in a local hospital. This artist was truly gifted, just seeing these statues I could feel the pain.
Basilica di San Petronio:
Located on Piazza Maggiori. This basilica is enormous. The day we were there they were having a special ceremony to bless tractors. There must have been between 10 and 15 John Deere tractors lined up outside the basilica. Inside it was packed wall to wall with parishioners and the mass was clearly being broadcast because giant scaffolding was erected along the sides of the interior and cameramen was precariously perched behind their cameras filming everything. Huge spot lights were lighting up the altar. There was a rather lengthy procession to the altar and behind the altar was a larger, rather impressive sounding choir. It was a great experience to see all this going on. The unfortunate side was that we weren’t able to get a good look at the interior of the basilica that day, a return visit was in order and when we went back it was a much less crowded scene and really quite a pretty interior.
Monastery of Santo Stefano:
Located in a piazza along Via Santo Stefano. This is a complex of several churches and a cloister. Maybe because we were there later in the day with heavy clouds and the sun sinking quickly in the sky, this complex felt very dark and almost foreboding to me. Also because of the time of year, the cloister, although some-what interesting did not strike me as being beautiful. But again, I’m the time of year had a lot to do with my impression of the place.
Antique Market surrounding the piazza in front of Santa Stefano:
We did peruse through this interesting market, that I believe is held on Sundays only (maybe only one Sunday a month? Other Fodorites in the know please chime in here!). We aren’t huge antique buffs, but there was some interesting items here and I was able to purchase a couple old(ish) advertising posters that I thought would look good framed and hanging on my walls at home.
Italian Food Days Tour:
There were several activities for our week in Bologna I booked prior to arriving and this was one. I found this tour listed on Trip Advisor as the number 1 activity to do in Bologna and after reading the reviews posted there and a few on Fodors I thought this sounded like a great option. We were not disappointed and it turned out to be one of, if not the best, days we had in Bologna. The Italian Food Days website is here:
http://www.italiandays.it/
This tour was all the website promises and more…seriously, if you are in the Bologna area and are “into” food…please, do yourself a favor and spend the money on this tour. We paid €135 per person and as good fortune would have it, we ended up being the only 2 people on the tour the day we went, so it turned out to be a private tour for us. I’m sure it would be great with several other people, but believe me, the guide, Alessandro Martini had no problem filling in quiet times in the mini-van with really interesting information.
Alessandro met us at our apartment at 7:30am…yes, that early, but the reason was because we needed to get to the parmigiano reggiano factory in time to see the milk arriving and the cheese being made. Yes, we were standing on the production floor watching the 25 vats being carefully tended to by the cheesemaker. This was fascinating and now when I see the price of “the real deal” parmigiano reggiano cheese, I know why it is so expensive. We not only got to taste the parmigiano reggiano we also got to taste the warm fresh ricotta cheese that was made just hours before. The fresh ricotta with little chunks of parmigiaono regiano tossed in, sounds weird, and tasted wonderful was the best breakfast a girl could ask for.
After the cheese factory we were off to an acetaia were the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (traditional balsamic vinegar) is painstakingly produced. To think the amount of time and effort and not to mention the amount of money these balsamic producers go through to produce such a small annual amount of vinegar it’s no wonder the cost of the product is so expensive. We were able to taste 12 year, 25 years and 100+ year old vinegar and as you might imagine the older it was the better it tasted.
The next stop on the tour was a Prosciutto di Modena factory. Wow! An entire factory floor of hanging pork. Again, the process to produce this tasty treat is mind-boggling, but I, for one, am glad this process continues, because quite frankly I do enjoy some pork products!
As if all this wasn’t enough, the final “leg” of the tour was a lunch stop at the Corte d’Aibo (http://www.cortedaibo.it/eng/index.html), which is an organic winery and agritourismo. All I can say is that when Alessandro tells you it will be a “light lunch” do not under any circumstances believe him! This lunch was a feast that put us in a food coma! For us, because the day was so incredibly foggy, we could not enjoy what must be the amazing view from this winery, but that did not stop us from indulging in a fantastic meal. We started with a sparkling wine and a meat and cheese plate…6 different meats and 6 different cheeses! Honestly, we thought that was plenty for lunch, but then another wine arrives at the table, this time a barbera made with no added sulphates and a huge dish of the best cannelloni I have ever had, stuffed with a combination of veal and pork and bathed in a béchamel sauce this dish was superb. Then a 3rd red wine appears on the table, which I can’t remember the name of because we were so taken with the barbera, we didn’t want to stop drinking that one! Just when we were ready to say, “Basta”, a beautiful coffee pannacotta arrives. I thought, there is no way I can eat this, but one spoonful and I was hooked, I could not stop myself and the thought occurred to me that I really wanted to lift the plate up and lick it clean, but don’t recoil in horror, I refrained! Now we are saying there can’t be any more, when our faithful mini-van driver, Fabrizio, (also known as “the food pusher”) appears in the dining room doorway with a plate full of apple strudel and cookies! We did not indulge in that sweet treat, but we did ask for 2 cups of espresso that appeared instantly like magic and once we had taken the last sip of espresso Fabrizio appears again with a bottle of grappa and kindly tells us the way to get the last drops of espresso from the cup is to fill the cup with grappa and have a coffee “infused” digestive “treat”, not be outdone the crowning touch of the whole meal was a little glass of the local nocino, a green walnut liquor that I could have easily had more of.
Now that we could barely move it was time to decide if we wanted to purchase any of the wines. The barbera was just too good not to take, so we purchased 4 bottles of that along with a panetonne the chef was “whipping” up for the upcoming holidays!
You can imagine the ride back to Bologna was a quiet one, with our eyelids resting at half-mast. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and thought it was a great way to explore a bit of the region outside Bologna. And, now the Corte d’Aibo winery is on our radar for possible future stay in the country-side of the Emilia-Romanga region!
2 Fodorite Mini-GTGs in Bologna:
Another highlight of this trip was not, 1 but 2 Fodorite mini get togethers in Bologna. While research and planning this trip I was happy to find a growing number of posts on the Fodors travel talk boards about Bologna. An added bonus was finding Fodorites kathrynj and Isabel would be in Bologna the same time us. The first GTG was with katherynj one evening at a local wine bar. Before we knew it 3 hours had gone by and we found we had a lot in common, including knowing Fodorite Kristina and her mom, in a round-about way…such a small world! We decided we couldn’t leave Bologna without a second meeting, and planned to have lunch later in the week, which flew by just as quickly as our aperitivo meeting.
The second GTG was with Isabel and this was a rather unique GTG. We met at the Bologna train station and took the train to Ravenna together. Since we all wanted to do a day trip to Ravenna this worked out perfectly. We chatted about all things travel for the 1 hour and 20 minute train ride, and had a cappuccino together in Ravenna. Does this count as the first moving Fodors GTG ever?
It was great meeting both and hopefully our travel paths will cross again one day!
We did have a 3rd GTG but that comes later in the Rome part of the trip when we do a day trip from Rome to Florence to see a favorite Fodorite friend and talented jewelry maker, La Artista.
Day Trip To Ravenna:
We took a morning train to Ravenna and spent the day exploring the city. Upon leaving the train station we found our way to the tourist office and got a proper map of Ravenna then walked to San Vitale to purchase a combo ticket for €8.50, which allowed entry into 5 sites in Ravenna. The sites were the Basilica San Vitale including the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, two sites with beautiful mosaics. My preference was for the stunning mosaics in the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, maybe I preferred these because it’s a much smaller place then the basilica and I could get closer to the mosaics. In any case, all were stunning. The next sites included in the combo ticket were the Museo Arcivescovile, which we skipped, the Neonian Baptistry which had a beautiful ceiling mosaic and the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, which to me felt a big lighter and airier than San Vitale.
Not included in the combo ticket, but since we passed it along the way was the House of the Stone Carpets located inside the Church of Sant’Eufemia on Via Barbiani. We paid the €4 admission and walked down the rather modern staircase to find ourselves alone in the basement with the most extensive range of stone floor mosaics I have ever seen. I could hardly believe we were the only people there. It was really quiet interesting to see all the different animals, and people in these mosaics, not to mention all the different geometric shapes.
A Day of Cooking:
Another activity I booked prior to the trip was a market visit/cooking/pasta making lesson with Bluone Cooking Tours (http://www.bluone.com/) . As with the Italian Food Days tour I found this cooking lesson via trip advisor reviews. It seemed like something “right up our alley”.
We met Rafaella and Marcello in the morning for a 2 and a half hour walk through the market streets in the center of Bologna. Most of this was with Rafaella and what I liked best about this, was she took an hour to walk with us through the market area stopping at various shops and pointing out in the windows and inside the shops some of the local items and the differences between the many varieties of pastas, meats and local specialties. The second hour and 30 minutes was spent buying the items we would be cooking with later in the day. At about 12:30 we parted ways until 4pm when we met Marcello and he took us to their apartment for the cooking lessons and dinner.
This part was the most fun I’ve had cooking! Rafaella was at the apartment with their daughter, Francesca, and we got right to work preparing the ragu and the zuppa inglese for dessert. Then it was time to get the pasta going, and I’m not talking about boiling the water, I’m talking about making the pasta…yup, we made from scratch 2 types of pasta dough. One was egg dough and one just with flour & water. What a lengthy process this was…but it was fun, I’m not sure I’d be able to make a living as a pasta maker, but Francesca was incredible, she is a very skilled pasta maker, and she hopes to one day open a shop of her own…I hope she does, because she sure made it look easier than it was! Once the pasta dough was ready we rolled out both types and made tagliatelle and strozzapreti, also known as priest strangler pasta
Back in the kitchen the ragu was progressing and we then made pork involtini stuffed with mortadella and parmigiano cheese, a prosciutto sauce to mix with one of the pastas and fresh zucchini seasoned with all kinds of flavorful herbs.
By 8pm dinner was ready to be served. We sat down with Rafaella and her whole family, 7 of us, and enjoyed a fantastic meal that we truly made with our own two hands. By 11pm it was time to say good-night and Marcello drove us back to our apartment.
Day Trip To Modena:
Since Bologna has really great train travel options we decided a day trip to Modena was a good idea, especially since it was a short 20 minute train ride.
Modena surprised us. I think we were expecting a smaller, more provincial feel to the town, and instead we got a lovely, vibrant town bustling with lots of people. Our main focus for going to Modena was to have lunch at Hosteria Giusti, so I will save the description of that for the “What We Ate” section. But we did have a nice leisurely walk around the center of the city and went to the Duomo. Unfortunately the Duomo is covered in scaffolding and we couldn’t see much of the exterior but the inside is rather lovely. I was not expecting such a dark interior, and maybe it was because it was a cloudy day and many of the windows were blocked with the outside scaffolds but I was really taken with the beautiful dark wood on the interior.
Weekend Market in Piazza dell’8 Agosto:
Located in the Piazza dell’ 8 Agosto.
We took Fodorite kathrynj’s advice and went to this weekend market on a Friday morning, and although crowded, not nearly as bad as what we had seen the Saturday before, which made me walk away saying, “ no way…too many people.”
If you happen to be in Bologna and need anything, and I do mean anything, this market is the place to go. There is everything from shoes, clothes, scarves and underwear to kitchen gadgets and the market seems to go on forever. We must have been there a couple hours and just scratched the surface of it. It was fun to walk around and we did find a few things, like adorable felt purses for my nieces that were in the shape of owls, they were a huge hit with the girls!
Next post will be what we ate and where we ate it!
Dec 26th, 2010, 09:36 PM
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Really enjoying your trip report. I had Bologna on my list of places to visit, but then it was getting dropped lower down the list. But after your report it is back up there near the top.
Your food tour and cooking lessons sounds wonderful, I will investigate them further. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Thanks for taking the time
Your food tour and cooking lessons sounds wonderful, I will investigate them further. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Thanks for taking the time
Dec 27th, 2010, 07:52 AM
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AMW...thanks!
Aussie_10...good to know you are bringing Bologna back to the top...isn't there a saying about the cream rising to the top...Bologna is worth a visit!
annhig...do try to get to Bologna...weren't we talking about language class options there before I went?
maestrette...I was going to post my Rome restaurant info towards the end of this report, but off the top of my head a few of our repeat favorites in Rome are:
Tonino, a little trattoria full of locals, there is no sign out front but the place gets packed, without my notes I can't even recall the street it's on, but if you look at my Oct. 2008 trip report (3 Coins in the Fountain) the location information is there.
Trattoria Moderna between Campo dei Fiori and Largo Argentina, again I can't recall the street name, but if you google the restaurant name they do have a website.
Osteria del Pegno, again I can't recall the street name, it's a small little street off Via dei Coronari, love this place, it was recommended by several other Fodorites.
Sorry I can't be more helpful with location info, I don't have my trip notes with me right now. But do take a gander at my previous Rome trip reports, I was there in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
I'm working on the Bologna Restaurant info and hope to have it posted in the next couple days...it's this pesky thing called work that's cutting into my trip reporting time!
Oh, and as I read through my previous posts today with "fresh" eyes, I apologize for the fairly significant number of spelling errors...sometimes my fingers can't keep up with the toughts in my head!
Aussie_10...good to know you are bringing Bologna back to the top...isn't there a saying about the cream rising to the top...Bologna is worth a visit!
annhig...do try to get to Bologna...weren't we talking about language class options there before I went?
maestrette...I was going to post my Rome restaurant info towards the end of this report, but off the top of my head a few of our repeat favorites in Rome are:
Tonino, a little trattoria full of locals, there is no sign out front but the place gets packed, without my notes I can't even recall the street it's on, but if you look at my Oct. 2008 trip report (3 Coins in the Fountain) the location information is there.
Trattoria Moderna between Campo dei Fiori and Largo Argentina, again I can't recall the street name, but if you google the restaurant name they do have a website.
Osteria del Pegno, again I can't recall the street name, it's a small little street off Via dei Coronari, love this place, it was recommended by several other Fodorites.
Sorry I can't be more helpful with location info, I don't have my trip notes with me right now. But do take a gander at my previous Rome trip reports, I was there in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
I'm working on the Bologna Restaurant info and hope to have it posted in the next couple days...it's this pesky thing called work that's cutting into my trip reporting time!
Oh, and as I read through my previous posts today with "fresh" eyes, I apologize for the fairly significant number of spelling errors...sometimes my fingers can't keep up with the toughts in my head!
