Blogs from Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe

The logistics in the large breakfast room at the hotel are a bit interesting. The designers apparently thought it was a good idea to put the milk as far away as possible from the cereal, and the butter and marmalade as far away as possible from the toaster, so I guess they figured the main priority should be for the guests to get some early morning exercise. At least the toaster’s next to the bread, but that doesn’t mean an end to the morning’s challenges. The toaster’s one of the stranger contraptions I've come across in our travels. You’ve got to load the bread into a steel clamp type arrangement before putting it into the toaster, and if you only remember to turn on one of the elements it comes out only toasted on one side. ... read more

First up this morning is a climb up the clock tower of the Palazzo d’Accursio in Piazza Maggiore. I read that the first mention of the Palazzo was back in 1287 when the Accursio family sold one of the family homes to the Municipality of Bologna. It’s effectively been the Bologna Town Hall ever since .... the papal legate even had his apartments and offices there when Bologna was one of the Papal States. It came to national attention in 1920, in an incident during a council meeting presided over by the newly elected socialist mayor. The Piazza was packed with cheering citizens when a fascist paramilitary squad turned up. Shots were fired, and ten died and 58 were injured when the crowd got caught in the crossfire between the fascists and the Carabinieri. After yesterday’s ... read more

Our apartment here in the historic centre of Bologna is almost more museum than somewhere to lay your head - antique furniture, chandeliers, a library of old books, framed artwork - all of which probably explains why we had to pass a video interview before they’d let us anywhere near the keys. And if you wanted to rob the place, well good luck getting past all the locks. It is however very spacious and comfortable, and the views over the city centre’s historic monuments from the seventh floor roof terrace are priceless. We head out for a wander. First up is the main square, Piazza Maggiore, which is surrounded on three sides by stately looking historic buildings - the Basilica di San Petronio, the Palazzo d’Accursio with its clock tower the Torre dell‘Orologio, and the Palazzo ... read more

After a couple of days around the Villa and hanging out at the local swimming pool, we picked up Mhairi from the Montecatini Terme Train Station. We had a quiet dinner at url=https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g1028703-d1866272-Reviews-Il_Maialetto-Monsummano_Terme_Province_of_Pistoia_Tuscany.html?m=19905Il Maialetto which translates to The Little Pig and as names I had to have their suckling pig for dinner. Rose and Mhairi shared a T-Bone steak which was cut from a whole side presented at the table where the girls could choose how thick the steak should be cut. This restaurant has a well deserved Michelin rating. As you would have guessed from the heading of the post, Rose, Mhairi and I all went to Maranello to visit the Ferrari Museum, we wanted to also do the factor... read more

Now for the very serious business of the cars. There are 2 Ferrari museums; one in Modena and one in Maranello. I’d gotten tickets to the Maranello museum so that we could try to get into the factory as we can get in free as Ferrari owners. We hopped in a cab and got to Maranello; we had the driver leave us off at the factory. Dale was so impressed as there is a driveway that is in many photos and there he was, walking on the driveway. We asked about going into the factory and were told we had to ask at the museum so we walked there. As it turns out, we could not take the boys into the factory as there is an age limit of 16. We were disappointed but at least ... read more