Bologna: Foodies Paradise

Scenes from Bologna

Four trains and we made it to Bologna. The station was one of the largest we had seen. Restaurants and shops flanked the center ticketing office. Dozens of platforms. High speed trains connected the mid-sized industrial city with the fashion center Milan, Rome, Firenze, Venice as well as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Dozens of regional lines spider-webbed out of the landlocked ancient city. It was a crossroads if ever I saw one. Bologna has a very different feel from all the other cities we visited during our trip. While the city has been inhabited since Etruscan times, it seems to have been rebuilt over and over. Only one small section of the medieval wall (that replaced the Roman that replaced the Etruscan wall) exists. The city once was filled with canals to power textile and flour mills. The canals, no longer serving their purpose, were interned in the last century. Despite a long history, Bologna feels newer compared to many of the other Italian cities. Much of it was built in the last three-hundred years. The distinguishing mark of the city are the wide boulevards buttressed with expansive covered sidewalks. Most of the city sidewalks are proper promenades 10 feet across and covered in slabs of Italian stone.  The elegant walkways are completely covered with arches called porticos. The city has a natural slope but the walkways of varying heights disguise the uneven terrain making walking the city feel flat and not unlike walking the shops at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Bologna by Day

We allowed 5 days for Bologna to fully honor the region’s food. Bologna is nicknamed the fat city. It is in the center of Emilia-Romagna home to the town of Parma (where Parmesan cheese is from and prosciutto) as well as Modena (home to the #1 restaurant in the world and famous for its Balsamic vinegar). Our intention was to use our exquisite centrally located apartment in Bologna and the train system to do day trips to Parma, Modena, Verona, etc. However after our harrowing experience on the Ligurian coast and some bad weather we ended up spending the whole time in Bologna (save for a 9 hour food tour that took us to many of the locations we hoped to see on our day trips).

Bologna hoped to make a name for itself in the world by building the world’s largest church. The gothic Basilica was started in the 1390s with the grand plan of being bigger than St. Peter’s at the Vatican emerging in the 1500s. However the Papal state would not allow such a feat and so while the church remains the largest Gothic church in the world and one of the top 10 biggest, it never did make it to number 1 (nor is it bigger than St. Peter’s). Also, it was never completed. The inside of the cavernous space is simple and largely lacking ornate design. The ceiling is partially painted and the façade is only complete to the doors. Entering the church is free but they charge 2 Euro for the right to take photographs (totally worth it). And clearly they need every penny to go towards completing the monumental space.

Scenes from the Bascilica of San Petronio including a life size diorama of Jesus in the Tomb

Distant view of a CRAZY fresco in the church depicting a scene from hell. It costs an extra 3 euro to get close to it and presumably they use the additional cost to vet people before they get close as in addition to it showing a demon eating a man and shitting another one out it also shows Muhammad being killed as has been targeted by extremists for attack (all thwarted).

Bologna to me was very much the “Portland, Oregon” of Italy. The city boasts being a foodie paradise, has a huge bike riding campaign, hails as a music and cultural center, has more bookshops than any city I have ever been in and three daily markets that combined put the Saturday market to shame. (Sean might also add a not very good soccer team but of course Timbers fans might disagree).   We tried to embrace all that Bologna had to offer.  In addition to visiting the main church, we also visited this sprawling Abbey with 5 buildings built in different time periods all connected together in a delightfully haphazard way. It was cool to see the different styles of architecture and working monks. The Abbey also included a large WWI monument with the names of men from Bologna who died at various locations separated on the walls by year.

Scenes from the Abbey

We went to all three of the markets in town and bought provisions to make a four course dinner at home. We started with freshly sliced prosciutto from a butcher with ripe succulent local peaches. We then had a salad with parmesan and apples, followed by freshly made cheese tortellini from a local shop and then Osso Bucco for the main course. We had gelato rolled in a cannoli from a gelato shop down the street for dessert.

Home cooked Market dinner courtesy of Sean! Osso Bucco $5 a pound. Also we learned in Italy there are different words for the age and gender of cow. So the Osso Bucco was from a female cow under 2 who had never given birth. Very specific. The final image is Krystal's leftover inspired salad breakfast complete with bone marrow toast!

Due to a mishap we were able to use the meal for both dinner and ‘salad breakfast’ the next morning!

Our apartment in Bologna had a beautiful roof top terrace where we enjoyed wine and aperitifs each night serenaded by the sounds of bells from three different bell towers marking the hour and half hour.

Views from our Apartment in Bologna

While much of the city has been rebuilt there are still relics of its former days. Notably there are two medieval towers of varying levels of straightness in one of the plazas. According to the museum on the city of Bologna, the city had as many as 50 towers at one point with each noble house building one to honor and protect the city. Each family trying to outdo the others, much like in ancient Valyria. Aside from being very cluttered, all the towers required upkeep and many fell into disrepair becoming safety hazards. Eventually all but a handful were torn down. Having our fill of stairs for this trip we did not seek to climb them although it was an option.  The History of Bologna museum was an interesting visit. It is a brand new and flashy museum with minimal content. All of the signage was in Italian but they offered free audio guides in English. Sean realized how much he hates audio guides as he feels like it was difficult for us to talk and share the experience as it was happening. But it was very educational. The city has a very diverse and unique history and it was the only place we learned about the former canals and the towers and the wall the circled the city. Not surprisingly it was pretty light on modern history. It didn’t mention Mussolini at all, even though his hometown is right down the road. Similar to our experiences in Spain, Italy is still very much a country divided over its darker history with some portions of the population still sympathetic to that time period.

Scenes from the History of Bologna Museum

  Of course, we had some excellent meals in Bologna.

Teresina



We went to a traditional Italian lunch at a Michelin plate restaurant called Teresina. The whole restaurant was outside in a makeshift garden between two buildings. The walls of the brick covered with ivy and the sun peeking through the clouds made it feel like we were in a secret garden. A secret garden full of delicious pasta! We started with fried zucchini blossoms that were light and crunch like a good fish and chip batter but inside was creamy ricotta and the tender orange blossom of the zucchini. Next we each ordered a pasta course, Sean had the local specialty tagliatelli a ragu (which was bastardized into spaghetti Bolognese) and I had ravioli. For the main course, Sean had roasted pork with caramelized onions and I had stuffed rabbit with braised ramp. The onion on Sean’s plate was one of the best preparations of caramelized onions either of us had ever had. They cut the onion into large sections and pressure cooked it down until the onion was nearly melted in with the sweet tangy sauce. Both meat dishes were flavorful and juicy. We split dessert, Tiramisu served in deep mousse cup. The mascarpone filling taking up 3/4s of the cup with only a crumble of soaked cookie at the base. It was delicious.  

Osteria dell’Orsa



This gem was half a block from our apartment and had a line forming out the door before they even opened for lunch (another subtle reminder of Portland). Of course we had to try it. We went on a weekday for lunch, no line but we were whisked passed the full restaurant down into the basement that was decorated a bit like a beer hall. Long tables that sat 8 people each and if there were small parties they sat them together until the table was full. When we got to the stuffy basement there was an opening on the end of one of these long tables. As we made our way over, the couple sitting next to us (Americans) decided they couldn’t handle sitting in this arrangement and left. We slid down and another American couple left. We slid down again and two more couples filled in the ends. We were sardined into the table but for handmade fresh daily pasta for 6 euro a plate it is hard to complain. The restaurant had an extensive menu of sandwiches, salads, charcuterie boards, flat breads and of course pasta. I had been craving a salad for over a week. Eating Italian had left me with woefully few vegetables and none raw. When our server came he took each couple’s order separately on a carbon copied pad leaving one side at the table and one with him. When he reached us I tried to order a salad to start and then the pasta of the day but he gave me a look and shook his head and said to me “No. You did not come here for the salad. Salad is for rabbits, it is grass. You are not here to worry about health. You are here to eat the pasta. If you eat the pasta and you still have room and desire the salad then I will bring you salad.” I was dumbstruck. I have never had a server down-sell me on anything but certainly not a salad. Nonetheless it was hard to argue with that logic so I just went for the Tagliatelli a ragu and Sean ordered gnocchi in a cream broth. The water told us water was for the grass too and so we just had wine and pasta. It was in my opinion the best pasta we had the whole trip. It was perfectly cooked and wicked cheap. Next door to the restaurant was a small counter that sold the pasta fresh to cook at home (which we used for our home-cooked meal). It was a memorable experience. Rarely do you spend $20 for two people to eat (and drink) and have it be an experience worth writing about.

Trattoria da Pietro

Another traditional Italian meal in a quiet corner restaurant. We wanted to have a nice dinner and Sean bookmarked a few places in town. We didn’t have reservations so we just kind of wandered and looked at the menu of each of three places. We decided on the Trattoria da Pietro because it had some unique items we had not seen offered other places such as duck and beef carpaccio. We skipped the antepasta and went right for the pasta this meal. Sean had a ziti style pasta with fresh peas and ground pork. It was a light herbaceous broth that dressed the noodles and felt very pastoral. I had a spinach ravioli with pancetta in a cream sauce that was deliciously decadent. I don’t generally like cream sauces for pasta and wouldn’t have ordered it had I known it was that but the pasta was fresh and tasty. I gingerly plucked the pockets from the smothering cream and enjoyed each bite. For our main course Sean got the duck and I had the beef carpaccio. The duck left a bit to be desired but the beef carpaccio was incredible. The raw meat was sliced paper thin and cured. It was served with fresh peppery arugula and creamy burrata cheese. Each morsel was heaven. We were too full for dessert but it was nice to go to a restaurant full of locals. The sound of Italian families and older couples sitting down to dinner. Our waitress appeared to be one of the owners and while it was a bustling restaurant the service was like being at someone’s home.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood For a Day: A 9 hour tour of all things food

For me, the highlight of our time in Bologna was the 9 hour food tour we took on our last full day. We woke up early and made our way to the main promenade to wait for the van to pick us up. The motor coach sat 19 people and was entirely full after making a handful of stops around the city. Our tour guide was a lovely woman born and raised in Bologna. She told us about the history of the Emilia-Romagna region particularly that the area was founded largely by the Romans who to stave off Celtic invasion populated the area by building settlements 20 miles apart (the distance the Roman troops could travel in a day). So Parma is 20 miles from Bologna. Modena is 20 miles from Parma, etc. She also told us that every woman in Bologna carries Mary with her. She then pulled out a black and white photo of a painting of the Virgin Mary. This particular painting is housed in a church on the top of a hill just outside the city. Every year for Easter they bring the painting down (supposedly painted by St Luke the Evangelist and taken from Constantinople during the crusades) from the church on the hill to the Church of the Mary in the center of Bologna. Legend has it that one year in the Middle Ages when the painting was coming down it started to rain. They covered the painting with make-shift umbrella to protect it but when the painting reached the gates of the city, it magically stopped raining. Or so they say. After this miracle, the city built a series of porticos from the city wall to the hill. It is the largest continuous portico covered walkway in the world nearly 2 miles (with another mile of sporadically covered areas to the city center). The portico has 666 arches representing the devil which the Mary tramples during her descent. Unfortunately we did not make it up to the church which no doubt has amazing views as we only really heard about it on the last day we were there and saw the impressive porticos leading to the hill from the highway but certainly something to do on our next trip to Italy!

Parmesan

Our first stop was at a Parmesan factory first thing in the morning. We donned hairnets and booties and smocks and then entered the large workroom with 52 vats each capable of holding 500 gallons of milk. It takes 500 gallons of milk to make two 88lb rounds of Parmesan cheese. The men who worked in the factory were BUILT. The copper vats heated the milk and produced the cheese but these burly men stirred the vats and when the cheese was formed hauled it out of the milk in giant swaths of cheese cloth with nothing but brute strength. A conveyer belt system transported it to the next area but we were told this was a recent modernization after the 2012 Earthquake damaged part of the factory and they used the opportunity to upgrade equipment. Parmesan is made 365 days a year, even on Christmas because it is made each morning with fresh milk. Indeed to be considered Parmesiano Reggiano which is a DOP product, the milk must come from cows within 2 kilometers of the factory (which sadly means Sean and I cannot steal their secrets and make authentic Parmesan in Ballard as there are no cows within 1.2 miles of our house). Cows are milked twice daily and the morning milk makes the first batch of Parmesan along with some of the refrigerated milk from the evening before. The milk must be used within 24 hours otherwise it cannot be considered Parmesan.

After the milk is cooked for a couple hours in Copper vats and a soft fresh “mozzarella” type cheese forms it is lifted by burly men and put into plastic molds. It stays in the mold for 24 hours until it is in the big wheel shape. While in the mold each 88lb wheel has to be turned every 2 hours so it can drain and shape evenly. After 24 hours it spends another few days drying in a metal ring mold before it is put in a salt water bath. Basically it goes through about a month or so of processing before it is put in a massive warehouse to age for 24-36 months. The warehouse was epic, the part we saw contained about 30,000 wheels worth that we estimate was worth at least 24 million USD street value.  After the tour, we had wine and cheese and savory pastries for breakfast. We were given the opportunity to buy 24 or 36 month aged Parmesan for about 15 euro per kilo or about 8 USD per lb. So of course we brought home a giant block to ration.

Prosciutto

Our next stop was a nearby family Prosciutto producer. Prosciutto it turns out is pretty easy to make. Historically it was only made in the winter as it requires months of curing at lower temperatures but refrigeration allows it to be made year around. It takes about 16 months to make prosciutto from start to finish. It is someone’s job to inspect the legs of the pigs to select which ones will become prosciutto. The producer gets legs from all over and then goes through a salting and curing process. A month drying in salt. Rinse and re-salt and then another month cold drying. Rinse and resalt then a month hot drying. And then letting it age. Unfortunately it is illegal to import meat to the U.S. so we were able to sample the incredible prosciutto at the producer but not able to bring it home.

Lambrusco: Winery Tour

Next we visited a local large scale winery (they produce about a million bottles under their premium label and another 24 million under their lower tier labels). They were in the process of harvesting which was exciting. The local specialty is Lambrusco which is a red sparkling wine. It is not aged very long so the start to finish is about 3 months. Sean who does not typically care for sparkling wines really fell in love with this style. We drank a lot of it on our trip. The winery tour was very basic and ended with a tasting of 4 wines including two whites and two reds. All the bottles from their premium label were between 6-8 Euro each which is crazy cheap. We bought a few bottles of white sparkling wine to bring home. Ironically for all Sean’s love of Lambrusco he didn’t care for the ones we sampled at this winery.

Balsamic Vinegar:



Our final educational stop was at a traditional balsamic vinegar producer. This was really cool and I learned a lot. Traditional balsamic vinegar was historically used as a medicine - a cure-all elixir for colds and digestion. Every family (every wealthy family) in the region would start a series of barrels for each child when they are born and then continue the process until the children were married. The barrels from each side of the family would be the wedding gift for the married couple and give them their own supply of medicine for their family. Only recently was it used as a condiment.

The process involves 5-7 barrels of various sizes. The smallest is like a cask for making wine and the largest is 40 gallons. Much like nesting dolls the Barrels are stored smallest to largest in order. When you start a set you fill each barrel with cooked grape juice from that year’s harvest. Traditionally they use the white Trebbiano grape although cooking it with the skin makes the juice dark. So you fill all the barrels and then let it evaporate. Traditionally this process happens in the attic of each family. Pastoral families would have their own small vineyards for making their own wine and vinegar. The producer we visited makes most of their money selling cooked grape juice to the local people so they can make their own vinegar. At the end of the year much of the juice as evaporated (mostly from the smallest barrel but each barrel loses volume). So you then refill each barrel from the next biggest barrel. So the smallest gets refilled from the slighter bigger and slightly bigger. And the fresh cooked grape juice from the next harvest only goes into the big 40 gallon barrel.

This process is repeated year after year for a minimum of 12 years to be considered traditional balsamic vinegar. The producer we visited, his family has been making vinegar for 4 generations. They have barrels with 150 year old vinegar. After 12 years you can bottle some from the smallest barrel and keep making more. You can harvest about 2 gallons of vinegar per year from the smallest barrel starting at year 12. The cool thing is what you’re tasting in an old vinegar is the grapes from decades of harvests. Each year is going to taste different and then the type of wood used for each barrel makes a difference. The producer was saying the smallest barrel influences the taste most so you could have the final barrel be a fruit wood like cherry or apple and it would impart some of that taste or you could use a small herbaceous or floral wood like juniper for a different flavor. Over and over with a thick accent he repeated “The only ingredient is time”. The scale of production is tiny. The producer we visited supplies hundreds of families with the cooked grape juice for 5 Euros a liter (which means it would cost about 200 Euros per year per child to keep the cycle going). But the actual finished vinegar they only produce 25 gallons per year for sale.

Of course we came home with a bottle of 15 year balsamic that we will nurse for as long as possible. It only takes a drop or two to flavor foods. It can be used very sparingly. My coworker Monica used the same bottle of vinegar for almost a decade following her trip to Italy. While there we sampled both 15 and 30 year balsamic. The flavor gets more complex as it ages and the consistency gets thicker. They have the viscosity of maple syrup with a tangy sweetness. We tried the vinegar on bread, Parmesan cheese and my favorite vanilla ice cream. It tasted incredible on pretty much everything.

6 course lunch:



After four tours we were quite tired but not particularly hungry. Each stop included a spread of meat, cheese and goodies served with wine. However they will not let you go hungry in Italy. So after all this, our tour stopped off at a large locally owned restaurant. The second floor was filled with open windows where older Italian women stood hand making tortellini. We enjoyed a 6 course lunch that included 3 pasta courses. The meal was served family style with wine. The first course was a puffed pastry with prosciutto followed by three pasta courses. The first pasta was large pillows of cheese tortelli in a garlic butter sauce followed by tiny meat filled tortelinni in a broth and then tagliatelli a ragu. The main course was grilled steak with potatoes and grilled vegetables. For dessert there was a duo of tiny desserts a mascarpone mouse (like tiramisu without the cookie) and a melted lemon sorbet. Both were divine and followed promptly by espresso. After coffee we headed to the bar for a shot of walnut digestif and then back to Bologna. Lunch was so late it became dinner but it was an amazing day.

In addition to having a wonderful time in Bologna we also had the best gelato we had the whole trip. By one of the markets was a small artisanal gelato shop where I tried mascarpone gelato made with Marsala wine. It was incredible.  Small batch canister gelato is so fluffy it almost has the texture of frozen cool whip with then the creamy decadence gelato is known for. It was the perfect combination and made my 3 week hunt for canister gelato totally worth it.

Bologna by Night

Bologna was a very cool city and one of our favorites for the trip. Up next is our final stop in Venice!