"YOBO: You Only Bologna Once"

My Saturday started off early with 8 other kids from CAPA and a 40 minute high-speed train ride from Florence to Bologna, which is in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. We stepped off the train with no map, no directions, and no itinerary; it was somewhat daunting, but after asking for directions in Italian (about 4 times, I might add) we finally reached what seemed like the center of the city. We stopped for a coffee and pastry at a bar called Frollia Caffé, which was probably the best decision of the entire day. My hot chocolate was good, and my pastry was even better... but the best part was practicing Italian with the nice Bolognese barista. We asked him where we should eat lunch and he very kindly and smartly recommended a very local osteria close to his bar. 

We headed off in search of some interesting buildings or the University of Bologna. For those of you who don't know- the University of Bologna was founded in 1088 making it the oldest university in the world! Instead of finding the university, we came up to the two towers of Bologna. Built in the 12th century, these towers were initially used for defense by the wealthiest families, but are now a symbol of the city. Luckily, the tallest of the towers (the Asinelli Tower) is open to visitors on Saturdays so I mustered up some courage and somehow climbed the 97m to the top! The view was amazing especially because the day was absolutely gorgeous.

Garisenda and Asinelli Towers

View of Piazza Maggiore from the top of the tower

As we headed over to Piazza Maggiore, we stopped and listened (along with a huge group of Bolognese) to a fantastic band playing the Star Wars theme song and "Imperial March." We finally came upon La Fontana del Nettuno, the San Petronio Basilica, and... a group of actors dressed in old-time garb! When they saw Julia and I not-so-sneakily snap a few pictures, one of them came up to us and told us to pose for pictures! It turned into a huge photoshoot... especially after I asked for a sword and one guy graciously ran into the Palazzo d'Accursio and snagged one for me! Turns out they were about to film a scene about La Festa della Porchetta (translated to: feast of the pork) in which pork would be thrown off the balcony of Palazzo d'Accursio while the people were celebrating St. Bartholomew.

Oh, just about to get my head chopped off... va bene!

Around this time, we decided to make the trek to Osteria Broccaindossas... in other words, heaven. This was the local place that our barista very expertly recommended; I say this because it was amazingly authentic Bolognese food! We entered the small restaurant and were seated in a back room; there were no menus so at the suggestion of our waiter, we decided to just get a bunch of antipasti for the entire table. We had no idea what they were bringing us, but we were hungry and decided we couldn't really go wrong in Bologna! The meal started off with a perfectly fresh mixed-greens and orange salad, followed by mortadella (which is like bologna but about 289473920 times better), and the most divine pecorino cheese with fig marmalade. At this point, I was perfectly content with the antipasti and was ready to order a primo piatto, but they kept bringing more food! And it only got better and better! They brought out sweet peppers, sausage and beans in a thick sauce, little torts of zucchini and eggplant with tomatoes, eggplant parmigiano, potatoes with cheese, polenta topped with bolognese sauce, and pumpkin flan swimming in a butter and cream sauce.  Even though the entire group was ready to loosen their belts, we were feeling gluttonous and decided to order lasagna with bolognese sauce and ravioli... Both were such mouth-watering dishes. The dessert: clementines and the richest brownies I've ever eaten! My words won't give justice to the delicious meal they served us because it was probably the best food I've ever eaten in my life. (Sorry mom, I love your food too!) It was very clear as to why many people consider Bologna a foodie's paradise!

We walked around Bologna some more and checked out a few churches, such as the San Petronio Basilica. In Piazza Maggiore, we also watched a group of breakdancers while sitting on the fountain! As our departure time neared, we headed to the train station but not before getting some gelato... everything about my life in Italy revolves around gelato!!

I can certainly say that my day trip to Bologna wasn't only a huge success, but a great day for bonding with friends over food and wine and practicing my Italian. It was really nice to get out of Florence and experience a whole different setting in Italy. The people of Bologna were all much more willing to humor me and speak Italian, whereas most Florentines always speak English.

On Saturday night, Catie, Lorenzo, Julia, and I went to a party hosted by a student at the CCF; it was very cool because everyone was from all around the world: Holland, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Serbia, England, Russia, etc. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!