My Bologna has a First Name...
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
1
21
22
Trip End
Jun 18, 2008
Bologna,
Emilia-Romagna,
Italy
Saturday, May 24, 2008
So, my friend Jess and I decided to take a little overnight trip to the Emilia-Romagna region (just south of Milan and Lombardy) to take in the atmosphere and especially the FOOD!
Emilia-Romagna is the home to a lot of dishes that we in America call "Italian food" - Lasagna, Spaghetti Bolognese (meat sauce), Tortellini, Prosciutto, Parmesan (Parmeggiano-Reggiano) cheese, and Balsamic vinegar, to name a few. So we set out to towns of Bologna, Modena, and Parma to try them all!
Our first stop was Bologna, the oldest university town in Europe - yep, it's home to the oldest university, which is still functioning and one of the best in the country
Piazza Maggiore - Bologna
. There's a lot of students in Bologna which gives the city a really young and hip feel. It's a very cool place. We also saw the famous towers in Bologna (one is leaning because of an earthquake, so they built another one next to it!), the duomo, and ate a good helping of Spaghetti Bolognese (of course). The next morning we made a short stop in Modena, about 20 minutes north. This little picturesque town is home to Balsamic vinegar and Luciano Pavarotti - two great things, right? While walking around the town we came across a great outdoor food market (this is where you catch Italians in there element, GREAT people watching) and the local Military School graduation - the whole town was out for the big ceremony, it was really cool to witness!
Finally, we made it to Parma in time for lunch, which was HUGE. A whole plate of Prosciutto di Parma and Parmeggiano to start, followed by tortelloni, along with the local SanGiovese wine - DELICIOUS! Actually it was SO good, we didn't even stick around for dinner - we were too full!
