World Italy Emilia Romagna Bologna

Mike and Cheryl's Journey of Italy, Croatia, and Southern France

Mantua and Bologna, Italy Sep 23, 2011

We left Verona after two wonderful days of meandering, eating, drinking wine and generally have a blast, headed for the town of Bologna for a two night visit. In route, we stopped in the fortress village of Mantua. This ancient city served as a home for the powerful Gonzaga (yes the University in the US is named after this saint) families that ruled the northern Venetian Empire during the middle ages. We visited the Ducal Palace which took up about 1/3 of the walled city. It contained fabulous painting and frescos by many famous Italian masters. For art buffs, this was ground zero! After a traditional Northern Italian lunch of Bruschetta, several pastas, followed by a salad (they do things a bit backward here) and of course, several bottles of local piedmont wine! In route to Bologna we stopped for a tour and tasting at a traditional balsamic Vinegar vineyard. We learned everything you ever wanted to know about Balsamic—most importantly—really good balsamic cost really big bucks! Our time in Bologna was amazing from an historical perspective but also continued the amazing food tour! Pasta Bolognese paired with Veal a la Bolognese)(veal with prosciutto and parmagiana cheese) was the traditional dish—but more important—Delicious! We had a cooking class to learn how to cook both from the head chef at the Grand Hotel Majestic where we stayed. Besides the great food, Bologna is best known for housing the 2nd oldest University in the World started in 1088! The first experiments on Human corpses here performed right here in bologna! There are still 90,000 students in this town that represents more than one quarter of the city’s population! Hope this finds you well! Ciao!