Bologna la Golosa

After spending Christmas and New Year's with my family back in the United States, I got back to Bologna a few weeks ago.

I took an oral exam for my Italian Literature class, which was nerve-wracking (imagine having the entirety of your grade depend on one conversation you have with your professor, not to mention that it was a six-credit course). I got there at nine in the morning to find the hallway already filled with other students. Some of them were from my class, some were from the professor's other course, some had taken the class last year and were just now getting around to finishing it up by taking the exam. The head professor was almost forty-five minutes late. Then we started. I ended up doing my exam with the assistant professor, but the head guy was there, two feet away, talking with another student. Then, ten or fifteen minutes later, after answering every question as thoroughly as I could on Dante and Boccaccio and Pirandello and the others, it was over. He wrote down my grade on my report card and I was free to go.

I've been taking advantage of my light schedule these days (classes don't start until February) to get to know Bologna a little better. Starting with the food, naturally. Now, all of you who know Bologna and are shocked that it's taken me so long to find these places, please know I share your amazement and I'm going to try to make up for lost time. I've recently become acquainted with Pizzeria Spacca Napoli, conveniently located five minutes from my apartment. They serve the most gigantic pizzas for an excellent price. And while the ratio in Italy is generally assumed to be one pizza per person (you should see these little Italian girls eat), here I think it's safe to split one.

Another classic Bolognese restaurant is the Osteria dell'Orsa. I'd describe it as very authentic, for lack of a better word. You sit on benches along these long wooden tables, and you could very well end up sitting next to people you don't know, as it's a very popular place and there is always a wait to get in. But it's worth it. The Orsa serves three or four different types of fresh, hand-made pasta each day, but they always have the traditional tagliatelle al ragu'.

A whole new group of students arrived for the spring semester, and the BCSP took all of us to a pasta demonstration class. We drove about an hour outside of Bologna La Tintoria, where they showed us how to make the sfoglia for fresh pasta, tagliatelle, farfalle (bow-tie), tortelloni, and tortellini, as well as cookies. Unfortunately, I didn't get the recipes, but I can tell you it all tasted great!

One last food discovery, and I can't take credit for the finding. Tiffany and Becca discovered it, and to them go the glory. The oldest tabaccheria (a store that sells everything from cigarettes to stamps to bus tickets) can be found right across the street from the train station, bearing the name of AB for Anton Bentivoglio. He was head a powerful feudal family during the Middle Ages. Anyway, back to the food. In recent years they have expanded the tabaccheria, adding a gelateria. Well, if you go there when Piera is working, she will make you a treat to remember. It starts with a large mug of decadent hot chocolate. Then she adds a scoop or two of the gelato of your choosing. Next, a hearty dollop of thick whipped cream sprinkled with coco powder. To finish the presentation, a tasty little cookie. Congratulations if you can finish one by yourself.

Signed,

the Sengenblogger