Bologna

Leaving our agroturismo, we decided to spend one evening in the center of Bologna.  Bologna is the capital of a region of Italy called Emilia Romagna, which is considered the food capital of Italy.  

There's an area near the center of town called the "Quadrilatero" - it's a square block of food places that look like this:

Ham, cheeses, olives, pasta...

Artisinal gelato shops... (this place was a recommendation of Mario Batali)

The streets were littered with Enotecas (wine bars):

And for dinner, we had to check out a place called "Ristorante Diana".  Mario Batali: "Their lasagna will make you cry."

It didn't make me cry, but I will say that the Bologna region has remarkable lasagna.  The restaurant across the street from our agroturismo ("Jari") - these were both the same style of lasagna and the best I'd ever had.  What makes them unique is that they are just layer upon layer of noodle, but the noodle is so tender that it's hard to describe.  Wonderful! 

Giddy Up!

The morning before we left our agroturismo outside of Bologna, Jessah decided to take advantage of the horseback riding lessons...

Modena - Ferraris!

Monday we day tripped about 50 miles Northwest of Bologna. Originally we had intended to hit up Parma to check out all of the Prosciutto di Parma and the Parmasean cheese.  Alas, the day after Easter is apparently a big deal in Europe, because the whole city was shut down.

Therefore on our way back, we stopped in Modena to buy a new car.

Kyra was pushing for the green Lamborghini.

Jessah wanted the red Ferrari.

Or any of these would do!

Just sign on the dotted line...

And we're off!

Agroturismo La Gaiana

Bidding adieu to Florence, we traveled about 80 miles north to Bologna.

Actually we're staying in a little B&B agroturismo just outside of Bologna called La Gaiana.  This will serve as our base of operations for the next few days as we orchestrate missions into Parma, Modena and Bologna.

http://www.lagaianabeb.it/

We've stayed in some pretty incredible places to date, but this one deserves some special mention.  

This is a working farm, surrounded be fields of crops and horses.  This is our villa.  That's my car parked out front.  The whole building is ours :)

This is "my" upstairs area, from whence I am writing this as we speak.  Two balcony doors, a whole living area around that corner.  My room is through that hall to the left at the top of the stairs with a private bath.

Same room from the other angle.

Kyra reading her Kindle on the downstairs couch.

Jessah reading in the dining room.

Our back patio.

Up on the other side of my car there is a large dining hall in which they frequently host weddings.

All in all I highly recommend this place!

Easter in Florence

Easter was to be our last day in Florence.

The day before, Jessah and I braved the many stairs up the bell tower adjacent to the Duomo for some good shots.

This was the first time since we've been to Italy that it really started to rain.  Sunday morning was Easter, and we were scheduled to blow town and head North for Bologna.  However, before we left, we'd heard about a Florentine custom called "Scoppio del Carro" (The Burning of the Cart).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoppio_del_carro

Basically they parade a giant wooden cart down the street and park it in front of the Duomo, and then blow it up with fireworks.  They've been doing this in Florence for over 500 years, so we had to check that out before we left!

When we first showed up, we were greeted by a shield wall of a thousand umbrellas.  Those amongst us of shorter stature (*cough* Kyra *cough*) were worried they'd see nothing. 

Luckily by the time the fireworks began, the crowd was ordered to sheath all umbrellas. 

Then all hell broke loose.

Things were exploding.

Fire and smoke everywhere.

Rockets blasting off.  Jessah got nailed in the face with splinters and shrapnel.

Kyra was covered in ash.

By the time it was over, there was nothing left but an eerie fog where once a cart had been.  Too bad my camera can't photograph how loud it was.  It was like machine gun fire and bombs going off.

All in all, the second most entertaining Easter I've ever seen ;)

Tuscany and Chianti Classico

Been a crazy few days, so I apologize for the sparse updates.

Alright, after a few days of touring around Rome, Scott, Elli, Eric and Stephanie split off north to Bologna, and a couple of days later Jessah, Kyra and myself left Rome for Florence.

Florence was the home of Michelangelo, and when he wasn't being harassed by the Pope to do stuff like paint the Sistine Chapel or engineer St. Peter's Basilica in Rome (both of which we toured), he was home doing things like sculpting David.

Our hotel is only a block from the Duomo, and about 5 blocks from the Academia, where they keep David.

Florence, with the Duomo dominating the skyline.

Florence is also the capital of Tuscany.  Tuscany is a wonderfully beautiful area, and is famous for producing Sangiovese grapes, which are used to make the famous Chianti Classico wine.

Friday we hired a guide, Pierre, and he took us on an 8+ hour wine tour of Tuscany.  Frankly this may be my favorite thing we've done on the trip thus far.  We drove all around the Tuscan countryside, and visited two artisinal producers in the Chianti Classico region.  Chianti Classico is a legally delineated region of Tuscany - Italy has extremely precise regulations when it comes to what types of wines can be produced where.

This is pretty much what most of Tuscany looks like.  Rolling hills of vineyards.  It's very beautiful.

Our first winery was Villa Cafaggio in the Chianti Classico region. ( http://www.villacafaggio.it/ ) We tried four wines.  The first two were DOCG Chianti Classicos (DOCG is a governmental regulation that dictates how the wine is made).  The third was another 100% Sangiovese, but it's what's called an IGT, which means they don't have to follow the rules.  Sometimes they come out better than the DOCGs.  This was a 2000 vintage, and in my opinion was the best of the four.  The fourth was a 2005 IGT Cab, and also very good.

 Time to try some wine!  Pierre, our tour guide, helped pour.

Both vineyards that we visited today were also producers of olive oil.  It was spectacular!

Before we traveled to our second winery of the day, we stopped in the small town of Panzano.  There was a butcher there that runs a restaurant: Antica Macelleria Cecchini (http://www.dariocecchini.com/)  This guy was a badass, and the food was outstanding!

Our last winery of the day saw us tasting four wines under the beautiful blue Tuscan sky.

http://www.montebernardi.com/

This was a very tiny vineyard.  The whole place is run by about half a dozen folks.  But the wines were quite nice indeed.  Again the first three were 100% Sangiovese.  This vineyard is a biodynamic vineyard, similar in style to Grgich Hills (which I talk about frequently).  The bottles with the pink stripes on the label are DOC wines, and the ones with the red circle sticker with a black rooster are certified Chianti Classico.  The fourth wine was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.  I had a hard time picking a favorite, but they were all good.

So yeah - good food and wine in the Tuscan countryside.  That's how I'd like to spend everyday.