Yesterday, Italy was celebrating the 150th anniversary of its establishment. Throughout the country different events took place to honour this special day and as it was a red day, it would be a shame not to take advantage of a day off, so I went to Bologna with my flatmates Marta and Léo.
breakfast in Bologna: cappuccino and brioche con marmellata (for me), brioche con crema (for Léo) and some kind of a doughnut (for Marta)
Bologna, the capital of the Emilia-Romana region, is only a good hour away from Prato. The town that boasts with pasta bolognese (ragu with tomato sauce and minced meat) and the oldest continually operating university in the world (established in 1088) is also known for its lively student and night life, plus I could easily imagine myself going for a little shopping spree (well, from what I've heard, nothing compared to Milano in this sense, but ok). The two towers of Bologna, symbol of Bologna, are leaning towers just like the leaning tower of Pisa. The lower one, Garisenda is 48 m high and the higher one, Asinelli, reaches up to 97 m. The Asinelli tower was used for experiments on Earth rotation and heavy-body motion studies in the 16th and 17th century by Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Giovanni Battista Guglielmini. It has been recently discussed that the towers have to be properly protected as they are threatened by heavy traffic. The towers have already been damaged as their structure has been weakened by constant tremors. It is suggested to close the area for traffic like it was done in Pisa or at least stop the plans for a tram line that should run just by the towers. 
Ok, back to the festa della repubblica. The main celebration of the festa took place at the main square, piazza Maggiore. In the rythm of the army orchestra representatives of different police and army departments marched across the piazza and despite the crowd behind the fence, I managed to squeeze at the front and had a perfect view on all the uniform men. There were the carabinieri, some divisions of the Italian Armed Forces, Red Cross volunteers, war veterans ... I have to admit I really enjoyed watching all different uniformed men march by and some of them had really funny outfits. There was a group of men with feathery hats, just like Captain Alberto Bertorelli in the 'Alo 'Alo tv show. I'm sure there's a special reason for wearing dead-bird's feathers on your head, but at this very moment I'm completely satisfied with my ignorance and not really eager to check the story behind the feathery hat.
As my two flatmates didn't exactly share my enthusiasm for men in uniforms, we continued our little trip wandering the streets of Bologna. We soon found a bookshop and couldn't resist going in. It was one of the Eataly bookshops, which are a part of the Italian food-store chain Coop. Eataly (http://www.eataly.it/) is a special bookshop as apart from books it also sells food. Of course, I headed for the food department first and was pleasantly surprised, when I saw that the food department also has a cooking-book department. I was so so so happy when I saw a long shelf of nothing but cookbooks and I bet I could spend hours and hours just browsing the books. 
Anyway, in only 15 minutes I already had more than 10 books on my wish list. One of them is the 1001 ricette della nonna. Such a lovely cover and an even better content. I convinced myself the book is way too heavy to carry around all day, so there's no point in buying it (now) and I left it on the shelf. I then continued with checking out the food department - all sorts of sauces, pickled garlic, marmalades, olive oil, pasta ...
If there's anything I love Italy for, is its cuisine. Just a simple tomato sauce and pasta can be so unbelievably rich there's no need for meat, cheese, cream or any other thing. Italian restaurants (managed by true Italians, of course, not someone foreign trying to cook Italian dishes) are those where I've eaten the best meals in my life. I know I've been living in Italy only for a month, but combining this with my previous experiences of eating in Italy I can say that there's a big difference between an Italian and a foreigner making pasta, pizza, lasagna or any other Italian dish. Italians cook and eat with their heart and soul; you can simply feel their love for food. If I get incredibly upset by some crazy Italian driver, I just treat myself with gelato or a cappuccino and in a blink of an eye my serotonin level rises and adrenalin is back to normal.
chocolate pastry in one of the Bologna's pasticcerias
Léo in one of the prosciutto and fresh-made pasta shops
The other day we had an international evening. Kristiana organized it for her language tandem group and we each prepared something tipical from our home country. I made potica - a sweet roll with walnut filling. In Slovenia, it's traditionally made at Christmas and Easter and more or less, it's one of the dishes Slovenia is known for. I was a bit anxious to make it hence the only time I made it was like 10 years ago with the help of my mum and it's not exactly a piece of cake to make, especially if you're making it on your own for the first time. What I was most nervous about was making the dough as it is yeast-dough, so I decided to follow one of my mum's well-checked recipes and everything worked the way it had to! Despite not having the "proper equipment" (using a wine bottle to roll out the dough and beating the egg whites for half an hour with a fork instead of five minutes with a whisk) the taste was perfect and everyone loved it - that's what matters the most.
As I'm writing this, I'm also thinking about my working schedule for the summer. Spending a wonderful day in Bologna woke my travel bug. Last week we finally decided who's working at which summer camp, so I can finally plan my holidays. I have to say I'm very satisfied with my schedule as I have at least a week off between each camp. I'm already thinking about going to Milano for two days in two/three weeks, so I guess it's about time I start planning my little get-away - pure joy!
M.
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