April 12, 2017: Ravenna

Sean Gillies — Tue, 24 Apr 2018 03:06:44 GMT

A year ago my family and I were living in Montpellier, France, and we took a road trip to Bologna during our Easter break. On the 12th of April we made a day trip to Ravenna, which is an hour east near the Adriatic coast.

We toured several of the city's famous 5th and 6th century Christian sites, including the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, and the Basilica of San Vitale. Our kids loved the mosaics, especially the ones in the Mausoleum, which was both lovely and ever so slightly spooky.

Mosaics in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

Because food is my primary passion, my favorite memory from the day is that of our long lunch at the Antica Trattoria al Gallo 1909. This restaurant is a short walk outside the pedestrian center of the city, not far from the Porta Adriana. We were the only tourists there for lunch on that Wednesday.

The owners and staff of this place were very welcoming and the decor was amazing. The walls and shelves were covered with portraits, lamps, clocks, and figurines, mainly nymphs with bow and arrow, deer, and hunting dogs. Each table seemed to have its own suite of these items.

The food was excellent. I had lightly cured anchovies for my first course and braised pork shank ("stinco" in Italian) with tangy hop shoots (bruscandoli) for my second course, and for the third: the tagliatelle and ragù that my kids couldn't finish. I ordered squacquerone (a very soft and fresh cow's milk cheese) with prunes cooked in a very dark, slightly toasted and bitter caramel sauce. I hadn't been so full or so satisfied by a meal in a long time. Ruth had sea bass and asparagus risotto, which were both very good. It was peak asparagus and strawberry season in Emilia-Romagna, and we ate a lot of each during the trip.

We had equally delicious meals in Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena, but in my opinion the Antica Trattoria al Gallo 1909 had more charm than the other restaurants we visited.

One of my other favorite things about Ravenna was seeing bikes and middle-aged people riding bikes, all over the city. Ferrara was even more bike-friendly. These Italian cities aren't in the same league as Amsterdam or Copenhagen yet, but are less car-centric than Northern Colorado cities of the same size (like Fort Collins or Greeley).

I can't wait to get back to Emilia-Romagna some day soon.

April 8, 2017: Bologna

Sean Gillies — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 04:36:52 GMT

A year ago this week we were staying near Bologna, the capital of Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, with Ruth's cousin and her family. I didn't blog about it at the time because we were too busy getting ready for the trip beforehand and too busy enjoying it while we were there.

We drove from Montpellier in a rented Citroën C4, because I felt our little Opel Meriva wasn't comfortable enough for a long road trip and didn't have quite enough power for the Italian autoroutes. It was a good call. 130 kph through the Po River valley in the C4 was no problem. In our Meriva, you could only get to this speed on a long downhill stretch of road.

It was an 9+ hour drive, like going to Moab, Utah from Fort Collins, Colorado. I drove from our house in Montpellier to a rest stop east of Nice. Ruth drove from there across the French and Italian Riveria to Genoa and over the Appenine Mountains to Tortona. She doesn't get vertigo on the viaducts like I do. Then I drove the E45 through the Po River valley to Bologna. Along the way we listened to Tamora Pierce's "Protector of the Small" series, read by Bernadette Dunne. We give this series four thumbs up.

At the end of our drive, we wound our way up to a villa in the hills in Gesso, which is 20 mins southwest of Bologna's city center by car. I loved staying in the countryside on this trip. It was green and serene and the running was great.

In the hills above Gesso

After unloading our bags, the next thing we did was go shopping for groceries. The Carrefour supermarket in the Zona Pedrosa near Gesso blew my mind. There might have been several tons of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in the building. I saw heaps of chickory; Radicchio di Chioggia, of course, plus other varieties. There were titanic mortadella sausages and mountains of other salumi. Best of all were the four tall and long aisles of dried pasta. It was heaven. I bought some of everything.

Sidewalks of Colorado can't hold a candle to those of Bologna

This is Paradise

The first course of the first of many huge lunches in Emilia-Romagna

We only spent one day in Bologna itself, but I was totally smitten. It's very walkable and full of interesting things to see and smell and eat. Before leaving downtown, we stood in line for gelato at Via Galliera 49 with Italian and French folks (we saw many French tourists around Bologna) and enjoyed them at the plaza across the street. The kids all agreed that Bolognese gelato is the best.

Gelateria Galliera 49

We saw and ate so many amazing things on this trip that I'm compelled to write a few other retrospective posts about the visits to Ferrara, Ravenna, and Modena. Stay tuned!

Sean Gillies (Posts about italy)

April 12, 2017: Ravenna

April 8, 2017: Bologna