La dolce vita

Modena is an overwhelmingly pleasant city. Not as touristy even as Bologna (or Florence for that matter, where we are right now) and not as bustling as Ferrara, it leaves you with an overwhelming feeling of la dolce vita. If you watched the second season of Master of None, you might already be tempted to move here, and I can confirm, it's the kind of place that has you lingering outside real estate offices thinking "why not?". You don't seem to need to move faster than an amble, and there are plenty of pleasant places to window shop or stop for a drink, gelato or meal.

Modena Duomo. I loved all the beautiful Romanesque carvings

Alley next to the Duomo

Some wild grape-eating creature

Beautiful chapel inside

A lion caught a knight!

Very dangerous, these lions!

Squished by the weight of his column

Modena's central market

For lunch, we found this delightfully retro place that seemed to be frozen in the sixties/seventies (the Oreste). The gentleman in the picture, the owner (?) informed us at the beginning of the meal that there were no waiters today due to an unspecified problem, so he served everyone himself using a little tray on wheels. Service therefore proceeded at a glacial pace, but the food was delicious and the ambience was a lot of fun - you can just see the old record-playing jukebox on the left. The next table to us was made up of an odd trio of an older guy in a suit, looking very Mafia don, who kept stepping out to take calls on his cellphone, and two much younger guys, one of which looked kind of like an 80s greaser and the other who was dressed in a tracksuit, baseball cap, and mirrored sunglasses indoors. It was fun to concoct outlandish stories about what the made man and his goons were up to today.

After lunch, I treated my Bolognese friend to some gelato

Modena has some porticos too

Synagogue, with soldiers

So cathedral, food, more food, walking around and handbag shopping - that was it for Modena, and very pleasant it was too. When we move there, I promise you can all visit.

Bologna la Grassa

On our second day in Bologna (our only full day really), we didn't have much of a plan but ended up doing most of the things I did already on my first trip to Bologna. I suppose there isn't all that much to see. But it was enjoyable again the second time, so no complaints from me. The first time was in winter, complete with snow. This time, it rained, so it wasn't so different really. This once again proved the value of Bologna's many covered porticos, as well as the importance for sitting down for a long and ample meal.

First stop was the Anatomical Theatre, once part of the University of Bologna, the world's oldest university. It's compact and somehow cosy, due to the all-wood panelling, despite the grotesque depictions of flayed bodies and the marble slab in the middle to remind you of its original purpose of displaying dissections.

In the Anatomical Theatre

The "Skinless" statues by Ercole Lelli

Apollo hovering above the dissection table

The corridors are decorated with thousands of coats-of-arms and memorials to teachers and students

The "Stabat Mater" reading room

Jules in one of the famous porticoes

In the middle of town, we stumbled across a "ragu fest", dedicated to Bologna's famous culinary traditions. It actually wasn't the most exciting of festivals (not enough free samples!) but it was fun to walk around for a little, and it felt like another little serendipitous moment of honeymoon fun.

Ragu fest

Did Sophia Loren really star in a paean to Bologna's favourite sausage?

New friend

A slightly sulky lunch of tortellini in brodo, while it poured outside. The rowdy Italian family behind us were being very rowdy and Italian

The sun came out while we were lunching, and we popped into Santo Stefano, or the seven churches, another repeat from my previous visit. Dating back perhaps as far as the 5th century, these preserve a special atmosphere even though they were more crowded than on my winter trip.

In front of the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Animal attacks

Altar inside the Holy Sepulchre

So we actually accomplished quite a bit in Bologna, while seeming not really to do anything at all. One thing we definitely did do was eat. A lot. Platters of sliced meat and cheese, tortellini, tortelloni, ravioli, ragu bolognese.... even between the two of us, there was a lot going on. Hence why they call Bologna "La Grassa", or "the fat"!

Making friends with our rival tower Asinelli

Piazza Maggiore by night

A perfect day

It's perhaps a little unconventional to nominate a perfect honeymoon day as one in which my sister and a friend tagged along, but last Saturday, we really did have a wonderful day. The weather was great, the scenery spectacular, the food good and the company fun.

Post-wedding, my sister took the opportunity to travel a little in Italy also, before heading back to New Zealand. By coincidence, we happened to be in Bologna on the same day, so in the morning, we set out for Ferrara, set a rendezvous point on the edge of Bologna, and picked up Jess and Jo for a trip to the Opera02 agritourism centre, located in the hills about 50 minutes from Bologna.

Emilia-Romagna, the region which is home to Bologna (and Ferrara, Parma, Modena, etc.) is known above all for its fine produce and cuisine. Amongst its world-famous products are Parma ham, Parmesan cheese, mortadella sausage (the original "baloney"), and Balsamic vinegar, as well as recipes like bolognese sauce, lasagne and tortellini. We knew we wanted to do some food tourism while we were there, and picked Opera02 because it offered two kinds of food tours - balsamic vinegar and lambrusco wine tasting, because it had good restaurant reviews, and for its stunning location in the countryside.

It delivered on all points. We learnt a lot I didn't know about Balsamico tradizionale di Modena. The first thing being that there is such a thing as Balsamico tradizionale di Modena. It turns out that, while the vinegar you can buy in the supermarket labelled "Balsamico di Modena" probably is authentically produced in Modena, it's actually not the super high quality (and expensive), certified "Protected Designation of Origin" stuff. The Tradizionale vinegar is aged longer, produced differently (from cooked grape must only) and must be certified by the governing body and placed in a specific bottle.

We tasted balsamics (by the way, the name comes from "balsam", as it was used to dress wounds and as a medicine for things like sore throats before people thought of it as a condiment) of different ages, plus one which was used as a traditional sweetener before Europeans had refined sugar. You really could taste the difference between them and the standard supermarket stuff. All the vinegars produced at Opera02 were made in the same process, but there was a big price jump between those which had the tradizionale label (aged longer and certified) and those that did not, so all of us opted to buy the 12 year aged but non-certified variety. This is meant to be used as a condiment with strong cheese or meat, rather than as a salad dressing, due to its strong flavour (and price!)

The "battery" where tradizionale vinegar is aged. It starts in the biggest barrel on the right, and then after a year, some is scooped out and put into the next barrel. The sizes decrease as the vinegar loses volume to evaporation, and each barrel is made from a different type of wood to impart different flavours to the balsamic. The barrel on the right can then be topped up again from a large vat.

Part two was a tour of the wine-making part of the operation, where they produce a variety of red and white wines, but particularly sparkling lambrusco wines. I'm no expert on Italian wine, but I gather lambrusco has a bit of a bad rap. A sparkling red is not to everyone's taste, but it was enjoyable, and we all particularly enjoyed the sparkling rosé lambrusco.

Bottles in riddling racks

Next was lunch, on the most beautiful terrace in gorgeous weather. It rained most of the next day, which made the recollection of our lovely lunch all the sweeter. The food was great too.

Our view

Lamp friend

My sister's travelling companion Little Shark trying to steal some dessert

The perfect day continued back in Bologna, but I think I'm going to have to make that a Part Two. Ciao!