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September 18, 2006

Bologna

Bologna is the second most complete medieval city in Italy, behind only Venice (Assisi is too small to be counted). The history predates Roman arrival, originally a villanovian farming settlement, it was progressively inhabited by Etruscans, Gauls, Romans, Lombardi and finally the current inhabitants reshaped it. Most of the buildings have medieval porticoes, and indeed, the city, with 37km of them, has earned the distinction of being the most porticoed city in the world.

The main produce of the region is cured pork (a legacy of the Gauls) and amazing machines (Ducati, Lamborghini and Maserati all come from here). There are many old eateries, and some proudly displayed bans and documents from 1472 onwards licensing it as a seller of comestibles. The food, though excellent does lean heavily to pork produce and has led to clothing stores offering "taglie accomode" - "comfortable sizes". Bologna also has the oldest University, founded in 1088.

An interesting fact: All coffee shops are bars in Italy. This happy accident is a result of the licensing, enabling them to sell liquids in cup, whether coffee, tea, wine, spirits or beer.

Footpath dining is an absolute delight, as opposed to New York. Whilst the idea is the same, the noticeable difference is that they occur in alleyways with no traffic other than pedestrians and the occasional cheeky Vespa - not four lane thoroughfares.

Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at September 18, 2006 02:05 PM

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