I first came to Bologna in 2002. I was working for a Danish company called NetDoctor and we were establishing office in most European countries.

To be honest ..I have no idea why we chose Bologna or even how it was chosen.

It was my job was to open a new office there and start getting content translated into Italian

Of course, I didn’t know tmuch about Bologna. Situated between Firenze and Venice it is sort of off the tourist trail despite its amazing historic center, the 23 remaining family towers built in the 15th and 16th century and the largest University in Italy . It’s a famously left of center place with huge ties to historical labor and leftist movements…my kind of place .

However, you don’t really come for the history or political leanings or the towers .. you come for the food .

Many people argue it is the food capital of Italy and I agree! Within a 50 mile radius you find the core products of food that make Italy famous .

Parma ham , Balsamic Vinegar , Parmesan Cheese , Mortadella and yes the name of the city was bastardized to name Bologna and Bolognese.

We started our adventure in the hills above Bologna when we stumbled on an Osteria in the middle of nowhere. We had discovered it through a Google search that yielded 1700 positive reviews mostly in Italian. Situated on a winding mountain road it seemed an odd place for an incredible restaurant. However, this is Italy where it’s hard to find a bad meal. 

We sat in the garden, the only English speakers there and tried to bluff our way through the menu. We thought we had done well till platter after platter kept arriving. Clearly, we had over ordered The food was amazing and the view in the garden very peaceful. I easily could have stayed there all day.

Everywhere you go here you are surrounded by food . Huge Trattorias and small speciality shops . I think it’s very hard in this place to go hungry or be a vegetarian.

John and I got up very early on our first day here and met up with our new friend Mattei . He’s a bit of a food expert and he walked us around the city trying everything the city was known for .

We watched ladies making tortellini by hand as they have for 400 years and had a balsamic tasting in an old cellar of a 300 year old wine merchant . I can tell the 40 year old balsamic is something very special but at 230 euros for a small bottle I guess it should be . We settled for the 20 year old balsamic and a big slab of Parmesan. Without really knowing it we ended up following Stanley Tucchi’s trail on his recent CNN food special sampling food and wine from Simoni and Gilberti and Osteria del Sol . Osteria del Sole encourages you to bring in food since it’s a drinks only venue and Mattei put together a huge spread for us .

The big surprise was Mortadella. Now in the States Mortadella is some weird processed lunch meat that tastes like baloney with olives in it. In Bologna mortadella is thin and light honey that picture of us the laundromat could you send it to me now can you it should be on amigoand has a fantastic flavor of peppered quality pork . We loved it

We had a fantastic trip here and great experiences ….even doing the laundry at the laundromat was an experience lol.

We had a bit of an adventure leaving Bologna in our rental car as it turned out the only way out from our hotel was to drive through the central plaza negotiating through diners in cafes,

pedestrians and a very bizarre performance art group who were chanting humming and dancing in the square. They clearly weren’t prepared to have us drive through their performance but the show must go on !