Gems of Northern Italy - Day 4 Bologna

This is the fourth in our series on Uniworld’s Gems of Northern Italy river cruise.  Click here to read from the first day.  Today we head into Bologna via bus - about 2 hrs away. And here's a quiz: what do Maserati, tortellini and 80,000 university students have in common?   Bologna.

Tortellini and Bologna - perfect together

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Turns out that it’s not just tortellini that was made famous here.  It’s also torteloni, Parmesan cheese, bolognese sauce, balsamic vinegar and lots of cold cut.  We walked through the food market in the middle of town brimming with all these plus the usual fish, meat and local vegetables.  Bologna is the gastronomic capital of northern Italy.  It’s like Lyon is to France.

And if that’s not enough, we went to a pasta making demonstration.  Start with finely milled flour, farm fresh eggs and voila - you make pasta.  They showed us how how to cut and form lots of different shapes of pasta from very thin angel hair to ravioli.  No pasta making machine here. And even better - we got to taste the freshly made pasta, tomato and bolognese sauce.  So when you think food, think Bologna.

Maserati

There's a large fountain in Bologna featuring  Neptune.  And the symbol of Maserati is Neptune's trident.  Coincidence?  No  - the founders of Maserati were born in Bologna, and located their headquarters close by.  And they are not alone - Lamborghini and Ferrari are also located close by.  And that makes Bologna a luxury sports car hub.

80,000 students

Coats of arms of graduates adorn the ceilings and walls of Bologna University

The first university in the western hemisphere is located right here in Bologna.  And boy has it grown - it’s now 80,000 students strong. University buildings are all over the city and its outskirts.  It started as law school but soon also specialized in medicine - such as it was back in the 11th century. By 1315 they were doing human dissections and by the early 17th century had a purpose built “Anatomical amphitheater” built for the purpose of learning.  This extraordinary room is richly decorated in wood (to absorb the odors) including sculptures of professors and famous medical leaders of the day.  There was even a place for one of the monks to “listen in” to make sure that the science didn’t get too far away from church doctrine. 

This town is no baloney

No marble finish for the Bologna Cathedral

Our tour of Bologna revealed magnificent 13th - 15th century buildings. The very large Bologna basilica was started in 1390 and was under construction till 1600’s.  But the town could never raise enough money to complete the marble facade so to this day it has a very odd and unique outer appearance.  The town has several 10th century towers which are leaning quite a bit.  Only 20 towers survive today; the city had a hundred by  the 12th century.

Gluten

Once back on board, we opted for the pizza dinner tonight.  Just didn’t feel like getting dressed for the dining room. The gluten free pizza is really well done (despite the high humidity) just they way I like it.

They dinning staff has been really great about gluten free.  Even on our excursion today to the pasta making demonstration, they made sure that I was served gluten free pasta.    They’ve even made gluten free danish and croissants for breakfast over the week. 

Night life Reflections

After a sunset sailing around the lagoon, we listened to a really great singer Maria that Uniworld brought on board.  Classic songs ending a classic day in Italy.  Sailing the Venetian lagoon is so relaxing - which is a perfect reflection of the cruise in general.

Reflecting on Bologna, I think first of food.  But also of history, culture, education.  Not a bad combination!

Bologna food map

Typical old town Bologna architecture