Rolled into Bologna after Turin. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some tagliatelle al ragu. It didn’t disappoint. I also had the milk-braised pork loin I was dying to try. I had tried making this at home, and had screwed it up in fine fashion. Never having actually eaten it prepared by anyone else, I wasn’t really sure what the actual target was, though. It turns out I didn’t screw it up nearly as bad as I thought. More surprisingly, I discovered that my Bolognese sauce holds up pretty well against the standard.
The next day, I took a day trip to Ravenna. The big attraction there is all the old Byzantine-era mosaics scattered across a couple old religious sights. They were certainly something. Most notable in the frescoes was Jesus’ full-frontal nudity in two different baptismal scenes. The savior had some pretty impressive abs, but let’s say that his another endowments were somewhat less impressive. One would think the son of the all-powerful being that created the universe would be hung a little lower. Jesus’ junk aside, the mosaics were pretty impressive, particularly considering their age. Most were clocking in at around 1400-1500 years old.
The next day I caught up with my friend Caterina in Bologna. The major part of the plan was to check out the market. My gourmet travel guide had really trumpeted Bologna as THE place for food-geek shopping. I must say I was a bit underwhelmed. They had some pretty beautiful little shops (one in particular had some of the prettiest pancetta I have ever seen pressed old-school style between a couple tree branches), but nevertheless it didn’t quite live up to the billing. I personally found the market in Padova to be more impressive. It was still worth checking out, though.
Other eat-treats I had in Bologna included the gnocchi al gorgonzola, and a roasted rabbit. I was actually dying to try the coniglio (rabbit) alla cacciatora, but apparently they only make that in the winter. Ditto for the ossobuco. Major downer. I was thinking I was going to miss out on the stinco di maiale, too (slow-roasted pork shank), but luckily I was able to find it at another place. And it rocked. It wasn’t as good as the skin-on roasted pork shank with kraut I had in Bolzano, but whenever you put a whole roasted pork shank in front of me I’m going to be a pretty happy guy.
The next day, I took a day trip to Ravenna. The big attraction there is all the old Byzantine-era mosaics scattered across a couple old religious sights. They were certainly something. Most notable in the frescoes was Jesus’ full-frontal nudity in two different baptismal scenes. The savior had some pretty impressive abs, but let’s say that his another endowments were somewhat less impressive. One would think the son of the all-powerful being that created the universe would be hung a little lower. Jesus’ junk aside, the mosaics were pretty impressive, particularly considering their age. Most were clocking in at around 1400-1500 years old.
The next day I caught up with my friend Caterina in Bologna. The major part of the plan was to check out the market. My gourmet travel guide had really trumpeted Bologna as THE place for food-geek shopping. I must say I was a bit underwhelmed. They had some pretty beautiful little shops (one in particular had some of the prettiest pancetta I have ever seen pressed old-school style between a couple tree branches), but nevertheless it didn’t quite live up to the billing. I personally found the market in Padova to be more impressive. It was still worth checking out, though.
Other eat-treats I had in Bologna included the gnocchi al gorgonzola, and a roasted rabbit. I was actually dying to try the coniglio (rabbit) alla cacciatora, but apparently they only make that in the winter. Ditto for the ossobuco. Major downer. I was thinking I was going to miss out on the stinco di maiale, too (slow-roasted pork shank), but luckily I was able to find it at another place. And it rocked. It wasn’t as good as the skin-on roasted pork shank with kraut I had in Bolzano, but whenever you put a whole roasted pork shank in front of me I’m going to be a pretty happy guy.
