One of my favorite things about Italy? The blackout curtains. Finally in a room with air conditioning, we were able to sleep in complete comfort, silence, and darkness. A testament to how tired we were, we didn’t stir until well after 8am. After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the Mercato Maggiore. One of the most fascinating things about Bologna is that the city’s walkways are covered (porticos). There are over 24 miles of porticos in the city of Bologna. And in 85 degree heat, it makes walking the city an absolute joy:
Once at the mercato, we sampled many of the offerings:
As the 1 o’clock hour approached (Italy shuts down from 1p-3p), we returned to our hotel to retrieve books, crosswords, and postcards to keep us occupied in the piazza while we waited out the city-wide siesta. I can’t remember the last time I had an hour to read, relax, and people watch. It felt luxurious. At 3p, we headed to vodaphone to get SIM cards for our phones and spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering the Jewish neighborhood window shopping for gift ideas. Bologna is known for their mortadella, parmesan, and ceramic. None of these are easy to transport. I’ll have to keep thinking of new gift ideas.
Dinner was at the Michelin rated Teresina where I finally got to try the Bolognaise specialty of tortollini di brood (tortellini in chicken broth.) A very simple dish, it serves as the Bolognaise version of chicken noodle soup. Next time I’m sick, this is what I will be craving. It was delicious. And let’s take a minute for the sheer amount of mortadella I’ve been consuming. I’ve always considered mortadella mort-ifying (heh), but oh dear lord in heaven, the meat here is ridiculously good:
After dinner, we headed back to Piazza Maggiore for the food and wine festival and associated concert. Italy has refreshed me and I am excited for our day trip tomorrow to Parma – home of parmesan cheese!
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