Day Tre in Bologna: Chocolate Fest

Third day in Bologna.

Last night we dined at Golem, a nice restaurant named after the famed Golem of Jewish lore. We had a Bacon Fritto Insalate with fried pancetta, mista, limone, noci, e fromaggi (8€), cheese il tortelloni in a porcini mushroom cream sauce (9€), prosecco Villa Sandi (4€), and when the time rolled to 1AM and we thought we'd overextended our welcome, our waiter Ricardo brought by two very generous glasses of house limoncello. You could have made a flame thrower from the fumes of our breath. We rolled home about 1:45AM and I didn't even get into bed until 2:30AM.

Morning came way too early. But by 9AM I was up and on my way to the local open air market. My Italian sucks in a big way, and despite a few people actually capable of speaking French or Italian, I just never got around to buying anything. The quality of clothing at the open air markets is just not there, but it's affordable enough that it allows the locals to buy some of the new fashions. A sharp contrast to this is a few streets on the other side of the main drag where you can find Hermes, Giorgio Armani, and Dolced & Gabanna.

At 11:30 I met J at the Neptune fountain in the Piazza Majore for what would be the focus of our day. A bit of history.

So I understood, before coming here, that this place is the gastronomic heart of Italy. Modena is the next town over, famous for its Balsamic Vinegars, the yearly truffle festival is held here in Bologna, and the foodstuffs of Ferrera and Florence are also closeby. But last night about 10PM, J and I discovered that there is a country-wide chocolate festival going on a few streets away. Literally less than a 5 minute walk from our front door we can find just about every single chocolatier, or so it seems, handing out samples and selling chocolates at greatly reduced prices.

How could we have gotten so lucky?

Chioccoshow 2006

Definitely a trip worth the price of admission. We spent a mini fortune on chocolate and, famished, J and I were off to find a panino and caffe, talking about how we might find a way to buy a place here and start up and export business to the US, literally we were in th e midst of this conversation when a flying rat hoisted onto me, not one, but three turds, taking out my only coat and a nice big one landing on the top of my head.

Too coincidental, considering our conversation, I think this visual display of Italian "good luck" means that I'm definitely coming back.

J took a warm towel and carefully removed the bowel contents of the flying rat from my hair. I think the residents three floors down must have heard me from our 4th floor (5th floor in the US) apartment.

J is arranged, and then rearranged, our chocolates for her food blog and then we were off to buy more. I bought some chocolate macaroon/candies, not sure exactly what they are, but they're from Piedmont and damn are they good. J bought something that I can only explain as being a chocolate panforte.

Needlesstosay, going through customs will be quite entertaining.

As the evening ran on, J and I stumbled onto the local antique flea market. The night got cold and our stomachs were yearning for real food. However, before we could move onto something substatial, we passed by a bakery where a miniature sfogliatelle (0.50€) filled with lemon scented ricotta beckoned to me from the other side of the glass. J chowed down a tiny lemon custard tart (.80€) topped with sweet strawberries. Both amazing bargains and quite successful at whetting our appetites for more. Not quite satisfied, we turned town a narrow cobble stoned street and made our way to the little taverna we went to the first night.

Wine in hand, we ordered a plate of small breads (think crumpets without the bubbles) topped with cheese and salmon (8€), cheese and prosciutto, shrimp...and then moved onto insalata con tonno (8€). The waiter accidentally brought us some bread that was moldy, which I pointed out to him. I guess he was rather embarrassed. He returned with a basket of freshly baked bread and topped up our nearly empty wine glasses. Nice thing that he did as the waitress "accidentally" overcharged me 2€ for my wine (a delicious Liano Sangiovese at 9€ instead of 7€).

Dessert was located around the corner at the Gianna Gellateria, a chain gelato establishment, where the lady behind the counter asks you how much you want to spend then proceeds to fill the cup to obscene levels. For 2€, I tasted their ciocolatto, caffe, and the "inferno", a concoction of vanilla and cherries. The ciocolatto was dense and thick, and the other two had been whipped and had a tiny bit too much air for me. But the same amount of gelatto in Los Gatos at Dolce Spazio would have set us back nearly 5 bucks each. Dolce Spazio makes a nice gelato, dense with a nice texure, but they're quite expensive, which makes for a rare treat.

So we started the day with chocolate, and we ended it with chocolate. Walking home with gelato in hand, I proposed a rule for Monday whereby it would be illegal to pass by a gellateria without stopping to sample their goods. I think that despite the extensive walking we are doing, and the 5 flights of stairs we take multiple times a day to get to our apartment, I fear that I will be coming home with a few pounds attached to my arse.

This display of gluttony is what we did today rather than take a train to Florence. The museums are closed on Mondays so I'll likely take a train to Florence on Tuesday by myself. Tomorrow J and I will climb the taller of the two Due Tori and then she is off to photograph another local artist. I plan to explore the eastern area of the city by foot to see what there might be that I'm missing.

On Tuesday, we're invited to lunch with a rather well known local artist, but I'm torn between whether it's a better use of time to go to Florence while I'm here, or to sit on the top of an Italian baside, having lunch, drinking copious amounts of wine, and enjoying the view of the valley. Wednesday is our last full day in Bologna and as it stands, J has nothing planned as far as photographers are concerned, but our artist friend Lorenzo Pugliesi (his site is temporarily down) is having his show and J needs to be there. So perhaps Florence will happen that day just so long as we can return in time.

Did I mention that this trip is all about the food?