All posts by arnotaylor

Given our lukewarm feelings for Padua, we decided to skip exploring the city further until tomorrow and we headed out to Venice. In the deep of summer, the city was only moderately busy (butt still very busy). Here we are in St. Mark’s Square. Smarting from my disparaging remarks about it, the City of Padua…

Well we had our walk through Padua and the environs. It was viciously hot and humid way more unbearable than Bologna. Our landlady even was complaining it was unlivable now until late September. Padua was nice, sweltering walk not withstanding, but it just had nothing of the energy and friendliness of Bologna. I was at…

Our trip to Verona was a success in enjoying the incredible beauty of the touristic center of the city. Outside of the city center the city was less enthralling than either Genoa or Bologna. So that leaves r=today’s trip to Padua to see if we can unseat Bologna as my next home. So here are…

This is how the opera in the Arena ended. 10 minutes left in the first opera, Cavaleria Rusticana at midnight. There had been two rain delays and we were waiting inside as so many people (stretching back to the Roman Empire) had done before us, though probably without the masks. The evening started out well…

After leaving Bologna, pretty convinced I have seen my new home, we then drove to Verona. We took a little detour because Minne wanted to stop in Ferrara, which he heard was a very beautiful town. I must’ve admit I was a little shocked but what a wonderful place it was to visit. We took…

Our last big Bologna highlight was visiting the Anatomical Theater and one of the sites of the oldest universities in the world. The walk started with a walk through Piazza Maggiore with its famous statue of Neptune. It was incredibly ornate with very incredible details, many other pictures I took did nto come out for…

Our last day in Bologna we visited two amazing sites: the Sanctuary of Santa Luca, which was perched on a hill overlooking Bologna and then we went to the Anatomical Theater, a sixteenth century medical school and the site of one of the oldest universities in the world. First the Sanctuary of Santa Luca. To…

July 21 is the last full day in Bologna. It was indeed an incredibly positive visit. This is the first place I came to and just felt like I was home. The city is like an Italian San Francisco in that it is small but has much of the big city culture I love. Although…

Update: in my description of Balsamic Vinegar IGP below… Tuesday 20 July is suppose to be the first full day in Bologna. So what do we do? We drive to Modena. In Modena we have an appointment for the tour of a Acetaia Di Giorgio, which I assume is a Balsamic Vinegar factory. I also…

One small detail I left out of the cheese tour is this picture. Every wheel before it goes on sale, is tested by the cheesemaker with a mallet to make sure the wheel sounds good and there are no air pockets found. The air pockets do not effect the taste; however, the cheese can no…