Final Destination: Bologna, Italy!

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We are finally in Bologna and after a little over 1 month are starting to get settled. We found a great 1 bedroom apartment right in the historic center of the city so we’re a close 5 minute walk to the main piazza where many of the Bolognesi hang out—drinking coffee, eating gelato, and of course people-watching, which is especially fun in a highly fashion conscious city like Bologna. This city is also highly “food” conscious which has earned it the nickname “la grassa,” meaning “the fat one.” It’s a very appropriate nickname because Bologna is the culinary capital of Italy and the birthplace of Italian favorites like tortellini and tortelloni, lasagna, ravioli, and the ragu sauce (meat sauce). So as you can imagine, the food here is amazing! We are enjoying eating out once in awhile but mostly doing our own cooking which is so much fun when you have the finest ingredients at hand. The specialty food shops off the main piazza sell the most delicious (and local) cheeses, cured meats, produce, fish, etc and grocery shopping has never been so fun.

Most things about living in Bologna (and Italy in general) are lovely, but we must mention we’ve been frustrated a bunch too. Anthony has his Italian citizenship but getting Melanie’s paperwork to establish residency and legally work here has been a huge pain and even after 7-8 different trips to various government offices around the city, we’re still getting the Italian bureaucratic run-around. When Melanie went to buy some stamps, she waited on line at the post office for one half hour only to find out that stamps aren’t sold at the post office in Italy. To them it was obvious—you buy stamps at a tobacco shop, silly American! We also are still getting used to the different schedule over here where everything is closed from 1pm - 4pm for lunch and a siesta, which can make it hard to run errands when you have other stuff to do in the morning.

On the work front: Anthony landed himself a job teaching English and so far that is going well . Melanie is still job-searching but has some good leads and will likely end up teaching English also. There are many language schools in Bologna and it seems to be the most popular job route for foreigners.

Overall, so far so good and we’ll continue to update our blog as we get settled in here…

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Photos

Basilica Steps
The steps of the main basilica is the best place to people-watch

Our Street
This is our street, Via Dell' Inferno. Yes, like "Dante's Inferno." He was born a few towns over.

Lovely Porticos
Bologna is also famous for its porticos/galleries which are beautiful to look at but also really convenient when walking around in the rain or reall bright sun. Bologna has more porticos than any other city in the world.

Foodie Street
This is one of our favorite streets in Bologna, it's the one with all of the fresh food markets. Even window shopping is fun on this street.

Tastes of Bologna
We shared this spread of Bolognese bread, cheese, cured meats, and lambrusco (sparkling wine) with our friend Saumil who came to visit after Easter

Enjoying an Aperativo
One of the popular things to do in Bologna is to go out for an aperativo (before dinner drink) to work up an appetite. Anthony and Saumil were enjoying Campari Spritz.

Tagliatelle al Ragu
Melanie's tagliatelle al ragu (fresh egg pasta with meat sauce) has become a staple in our new apt

Street Buskers
We've seen some pretty good busker bands performing on the streets.

Book Fair
Bologna is home to the oldest university in the western world, including all of Europe. It's a very well-educated city and there are tons of book stores, libraries, and Italian smarty-pants people

Courtyard Exhibit
One of our favorite library courtyards sets up a new exhibit every few weeks. Our favorite so far was the newspaper headlines exhibit which displayed major headlines from the past 100 years-- JFK's assasination, Princess Diana's death, the Tsunami in SE Asia, and when Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon.

San Luca's Sanctuary
We hiked up to San Luca's Sanctuary via the world's longest portico walkway-- a steep 2.2 miles to the top of the hill. Beautiful views were waiting at the top of the hill.

Motorinos and Vespas
The most popular mode of transportation in Bologna is a motorino or vespa

Comments

[Aileen]

LOVE IT!!
Ah- love all the pics and the update!! So fun!

[Pearl]

hello from Pearl
Hey you guys, love the pics! Were you in Bologna during Easter? Clint and I were there then and we found it to be eerily quiet. What lovely city though. We went to this a very good restaurant called Trattoria Meloncello. If you get a chance, you should check it out! Cheers and best of luck to you both! xoxo Pearl

[Cheryl Coyle]

Love the pics!
Melanie and Anthony - I've loved reading your blogs. I'm glad you're settled in. Your apt looks adorable - and what a fabulous location. Good for you -- following your dreams. What a wonderful experience for you both. I hope Melanie finds a job soon and you keep enjoying yourselves. I wish we could fly over and visit you, but not this year. Keep blogging!! Love, Cheryl

[Emily]

Amazing
Thank you, just surfing after reading a cookbook focused on Bologna -- in cooking school and raising my family in NY, . Yum, can't wait till I can organize a trip. Thanks for the photos and comments. What a lovey life the two of you are enjoying. Emily