Italia 2011: A day in Bologna

Bologna

I finally got to Bologna yesterday! Something to check off my list...

The train ride was surprisingly short (about an hour including changeover at Prato Centrale) and cheap (7 euros). The train ride from Prato to Bologna was mostly through tunnels, as you essentially need to go through mountains to get there. There was a guy on the train, typical Italian, wearing pink shorts and a purple top (not that there's anything wrong with that, it was just memorable) and he was trying to have a phone conversation and kept stalking back and forth from one end of the train to the other trying to get service. He also had an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth for most of the trip. I wanted to tell him "dude... you know we won't be arrive for another half hour, put the cigarette down and chill out!".

The city of Bologna is beautiful, with tons of public art and impressive statues, and with a unique tendency towards covered walkways with vaulted arched ceilings, rather than regular sidewalks. The city also had great shopping (hello new shoes) and I found the people (in stores, restaurants, on the streets) to be noticeably more pleasant than in other Italian cities. Unfortunately my lunch was a bit disappointing... I trusted Lonely Planet and went to a place called Osteria de Poeti, which had a neat location in the basement of an old wine cellar. But something felt a bit off when I entered... I quickly realized it was the fact that they were playing "Sweet Home Alabama" on the speakers... hmmmm... And my meal wasn't that great. I made up for it later though...

I also checked out the Museo Civico's collection of art, which was very nice. I was disappointed that the archaeological museum was closed for no apparent reason... I was looking forward to going asI hear that they have an impressive collection of Egyptian and Etruscan artifacts.

At about 5pm I decided it was time to extract myself from Bologna (the fact that I was seriously contemplating buying a pair of boots for 550 euros was a pretty good indicator that it was time to leave). I took the train to Florence and met Katie who had done a bit of shopping at H&M, and after we showed each other our purchases, we headed to the bridge beside Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge of Florence... the only one to survive WWII) to enjoy a bottle of bubbly. It's really fun to have wine outside in Florence (or anywhere in Italy/Europe) since there are so many tourists around who can't believe that you can legally drink in the streets and therefore think of you as, for lack of a better term, super cool. A lot of Americans struck up conversations with us, including a family from California who had just arrived that morning... They also asked for restaurant recommendations. I hope they found Piazza Santo Spirito and had a good meal there!

After our wine, we decided it was time for dinner. We decided to try Pizzeria O'Vesuvio, which is the pizzeria where the Jersey Shore cast was "working" (...catch all their thrilling Florence adventures next season... or don't...). I'd heard that O'Vesuvio is actually the best pizza in Florence, but was rather skeptical... anywhere that's been tainted by Jersey Shore has to be dismal. But Oh. My. Gosh. That pizza was indescribable. I didn't even know pizza had the ability to BE so good. It changed my life... everything else that has ever happened to me, or will ever happen to me, will now be categorized as pre-pizza, or post-pizza. Post-pizza Ally is a new woman, a woman who sees the potential beauty in everything, especially cheesy doughy messes. I'm getting emotional just thinking about it. I don't know why Florence residents would ever eat anywhere else!

Still reeling from our pizza experience, we ran to the train station to hop the train to Prato, as Miranda had kindly offered to let us stay the night. Once in Prato we grabbed a beer at a very cool bar in a very old grotto-like space, and then I located an exceptional gelato place... their flavors were nothing extraordinary, but the texture was superb! And then we called it a night.