It’s alway worth visiting the county seat of Emilia Romagna, at least once in a lifetime. Traditions and modernity blend perfectly in the city where the first Italian university was born, whose foundation, according to some scholars, goes back as far as 1088.
We wanted to try a hit-and-run, that many people are used to do for work, and that we decide to do with a pinch of madness, for the pure pleasure of starting our day in a different place. We leave from Marsala at 10.15 in the morning, we have to go up the whole Italy. We let ourselves be enjoyed the different landscapes: conversation, reading and listening to some good music help us to spend time. We’re comfortable in a chaise-longue, and we’re not in a hurry for once…
The arrival of darkness make us to fall asleep, and the night runs fast.
We arrive on time, as our buses do every day, at about 6.00 in the morning. Bologna is already awake, it is a city that never sleeps. The nightlife has given way to everyday activities, you run to work and school, the markets come alive.
A thousand different expressions in people’s faces: ours is a wonder… It is autumn, the weather still pleasant, perhaps the best time to visit the city. Immediately in the direction of Piazza Maggiore, we want to capture the atmosphere with a rich breakfast in one of the many outdoor cafes. Surrounded by the Basilica of San Petronio and the Palazzi dei Notai and the Podestà, we breathe lively air, freedom and culture, and you can already feel the first aromas of traditional cuisine, which we will make entirely ours later
The walk in the center gives us shades of terracotta and intense colors: we walk under the arcades, candidates to become World Heritage Site, an endless network along which we cross charming squares, shops of yesteryear and elegant modern shops, historic buildings, churches of many eras and the numerous towers that draw the city skyline. The Garisenda and the Asinelli Tower, the entry point in Bologna from the ancient Via Emilia, are the symbol universally known throughout the world, but the “turreted” counts over 100 towers and tower-houses of the medieval age. We promise to come back here soon and climb the eleven floors of Torre Prendiparte, they say that from there the view is lovely…
Lunch time is coming and we are ready for the exciting encounter with one of the richest and tastiest cuisine of Italy. Choosing where to stop isn’t easy: the old town offers a large number of excellent restaurants and trattoria… We sit in one of these, we want to feel intimately Bolognese.
Tortellini, tagliatelle with meat sauce, mortadella? Bologna cuisine is much more than this, a range of flavours that includes the entire agricultural Emilia and expresses itself in a thousand dishes, from the tasty simplicity of the “poor” cuisine to the personal interpretations of the starred chefs.
In a land of avgreat wine tradition, we are surprised by the great variety of labels: Lambrusco and Sangiovese are the most famous ones and other wines satisfy both the simple need to accompany food and the passion of the most experienced wine-lover.
In Bologna and its surroundings, autumn is rich of food and wine events. If you think about your stay in Bologna, we suggest you to ask about the several events to discover the city as well as possible.
We still have a couple of hours, our bus leaves in the middle of the afternoon, just time to visit an exhibition at Palazzo Albergati. 160 rare works by Marc Chagall, from private collections: a very pleasant excursion into the poetic and magical sensibility of the great Russian author, who alone justifies our Emilian incursion!
At 5.30 we are on board… we back home.
Bologna deserves to be visited: the exhibition of Chagall lasts until 1 March 2020 is the excuse to take a few days off and immerse yourself in its long history and the liveliness of the Bologna people, day and night… what are you waiting for? There is always your bus, Autoservizi Salemi links Sicily and Bologna every day.
