Bologna

Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region. It's a university town, home to the oldest university in the world. It is world famous for its balsamic vinegar and also its Parmesan cheese, due to its close proximity to Modena and Parma.

We arrived early on Sunday morning, and after dropping off our bags, made our way into the city center. 

We decided to make the climb to the top of the Torre Asinelli first thing upon reaching the city center. Almost 500 steps later, we had reached a spectacular view of the city below.

What I found most unique about the Bologna landscape is how the entire city seemed to consist of one family of colors. Rustic reds, golden yellows, burnt oranges and natural browns were seen on every face of every building.

After a bit of wandering through a flea market, we made our way down Via Independencia, a major shopping street.

Tori's research told us that if we found a little bridge close by the university, we'd get to look through a small cut out window that gives you a great view of the last of the canals in Bologna, once part of a huge network of waterways. 

Unfortunately, it was all dried up!

We then explored the grounds of the university. It is covered in graffiti, some the usual tags, but others interesting works of art.

We settled into an antipasto shop for an afternoon break and spent a few hours enjoying each other's company over more tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala and fresh bread. Feeling more lethargic than we felt at the beginning of the week, we took shelter from the rain in La Feltrinelli, an Italian book store equivalent of Barnes and Noble. Kathleen and I poured over coffee table sized books of the most beautiful cities in the world and UNESCO world heritage sites, and agreed we felt extremely lucky to have seen so many of those listed.

We topped off our last meal in Italy with another hotel recommendation, this one outside of the city center. It is well known for its seafood, and as Anna and I are both pescetarian, it seemed like a perfect fit. We all feasted on fresh seafood, delicious pasta, and sumptuous desserts, and cheered to a perfect 9 days of traveling all of these gorgeous cities.

While we thoroughly enjoyed our patatas bravas in Spain, Italy truly trumped all other places we've visited in terms of food (is anyone really surprised?). So, grazie, Italia, per il cibo delizioso!