Bologna 2011: Food

After the Book Fair, what is there to do in Bologna?  Plenty.  I'll get to history & sightseeing at a later date, something I explored on my own since most of my friends were booked with business meetings most of the day (plus, they'd all been to Bologna many times and had no interest in climbing Torre Asinelli with me).


No, Bologna BF regulars get those meetings out of the way ASAP to get to the important stuff:  food, shopping...and food shopping.  Let's face it, this is Italy, home of PASTA:

 

With so much pasta to choose from and only a week in Bologna to try it all, decisions are grave and long-debated.  Here, Doug Cushman deliberates between fresh tortellini and tortelloni di zucca (pumpkin):

We ate mostly at trattorias, where meat (mostly beef or pork) is traditional, but where seafood is not commonly found.  However, the markets do carry fresh fish:

And almost every night we got together for dinner.  My favorite meal was at Trattoria Da Silvio, where the food just kept coming.  Here is the bloated, sated group after umpteen courses (I lost count of the desserts) and a digestif of homemade limoncello (l to r: Doug Cushman, me, Bridget Strevens-Marzo, Angela Cerrito, Erzsi Deak):

Don't we look happy?

For the in-betweens, our favorite coffee shop.  We liked the name:

 

And then more food shopping!  Gifts to bring home: the chocolate Easter eggs packed in colorful boxes...or the huge eggs on the stainless steel counter in the back, neither of which would fit in my tiny suitcase.  Oh well.

But most important, spending time with friends: