Italy: Spaghetti Bologna
November 2007, by Tom
Curious as to the origins of the
famous "Spaghetti Bolognese", we took a quick stop in Bologna on our
way north to Venice. Bologna, a university town was worth a quick
stop. A delightful hotel, pretty piazzas, a massive cathedral and - my
highlight - a tower to climb!
Bologna hosts many towers - a few of them leaning at various degrees, one of them (not leaning) was climbable. The tower was 97 meters tall and very simple construction - brick outer shell and a creaky, rickety wooden staircase within. The climb up was a vertigo challenging heave. The view from the top was spectacular.
We also sampled some of the local food delights. We had dinner at a reasonably priced Trattoria. Gini had the oven baked lasagna which was tasty but probably not up to the standard of a home baked. I had the Spaghetti Bolognese equivalent - Tageltaelli Bolognese. Apparently this is the traditional method. The staple diet of money stretched students, it was rather tasty. Still - not quite like how we do it back home, it was less saucy and lacked tomato. It was more of a spiced mince meat mixed in with pasta.
We wandered past many other "designer food" places - all with home made pasta ready to take home and cook. If we had cooking facilities we would have gone crazy! So many tasty varieties and amazingly presented. They definitely took their food seriously in Bologna.
With Venice in sight, we left Bologna after two nights and prepared ourselves to get wet in Venice!
T
Bologna hosts many towers - a few of them leaning at various degrees, one of them (not leaning) was climbable. The tower was 97 meters tall and very simple construction - brick outer shell and a creaky, rickety wooden staircase within. The climb up was a vertigo challenging heave. The view from the top was spectacular.
We also sampled some of the local food delights. We had dinner at a reasonably priced Trattoria. Gini had the oven baked lasagna which was tasty but probably not up to the standard of a home baked. I had the Spaghetti Bolognese equivalent - Tageltaelli Bolognese. Apparently this is the traditional method. The staple diet of money stretched students, it was rather tasty. Still - not quite like how we do it back home, it was less saucy and lacked tomato. It was more of a spiced mince meat mixed in with pasta.
We wandered past many other "designer food" places - all with home made pasta ready to take home and cook. If we had cooking facilities we would have gone crazy! So many tasty varieties and amazingly presented. They definitely took their food seriously in Bologna.
With Venice in sight, we left Bologna after two nights and prepared ourselves to get wet in Venice!
T
... including one which had nipple squirting women on each corner.
The cathedral and city below
A view not for the faint of heart.
Can I just put a few in my pocket for later?
