Bologna and Balsamic Vinegar Production Tour

Bologna (origin of Spaghetti Bolognese for you foodies) is two-hour bus ride north of Florence. It is also the site of Europe’s first college founded 900 years ago. Its towers (only ten or so are left of the original 800) were immortalized in Dante’s “Inferno” (see photo below).


Elizabeth and I were most blown away by the University. The walls were covered with students’ family crests. Hitler used this building as his command center during WWII, specially the law room since there were many Germany family crests in it.


It was originally founded to teach law and then the arts were added, specifically medicine. Elizabeth drooled over the medical room which was completely wood—wood statues (of Hippocrates ect), wood lecture seats and lecture stand that was held up by two men without skin, exposing their muscles. Michelangelo studied the human body here.

The marble table in the middle was the site of dissections. Two human ones were done a year, a man and a woman, in the colder winter months. Students were not allowed to leave the room for 24 hours to maximize learning. (talk about hardcore pre-meds) It’s interesting, as a college student myself, to see where college learning began as we use it today in the West. I felt some connection sitting in the wooden bleachers listening to our guide…as if I was following some legacy of learning.



Bologna is also home to Basilica of San Petronio, designed to be longer than St. Peter’s in Vatican City, however as you can imagine, the Pope would have none of this, so they made it a little shorter. The façade was never finished since it took more than 100 years to complete. It has a Mediterrian Line (not sure on the spelling) to trace the days of the year. I love learning about “ancient” science. Nerdy, I know.


After our tour we ate a delicious lunch at a local favorite’s eatery. I had four cheese pasta (which rivaled my mom’s) and grilled veggies. There were large hooks around the top boarder of the room. They were used to hold slabs of meat in a prior era.For a snack I picked up some heart shaped raspberry cookies from an adorable bakery down the street from the restaurant.


Then Elizabeth tried to call hostels in Venice, however, we were unsuccessful and decided to do Venice on Sunday for a speedy day tour. We met back up at Neptune’s Square where I captured a picture of a boy eating gelato under the sun.

Next we hopped back on the bus to San Matteo, where traditional balsamic vinegar is produced. In a quaint country house three generations continue on the 120-year family tradition of making traditional balsamic vinegar. It is not a factory, which produces industrial balsamic vinegar, which we are used to in the states. Like other “copy righted products” such as Chianti, prosciutto di Parma, or parm. cheese from Parma, balsamic is protected in this region. We got to taste 18 and 30 year old balsamic, eat it on appetizers and ice cream, tour the vineyard and their storage cottage. It is a complex process that I can tell you about in person if you’re interested. Needless to say I picked up a few goodies…look forward to those ;)

*Elizabeth, Plamena, and I in the vineyards


Batteries, the “nesting dolls” of barrels of vinegar that are used in the complex processes of fermentation and oxidation (science people would have loved her explanation). The oldest balsamic is 100 years old. They have a cute family tradition of starting a barrel at each generation. So the eight year old boy has his eight year old barrel and the father has a forty year old one in addition to the ones left by his grandparents. These are used for special occassions, such as weddings.





The owners collect objects from Italian farms and are in the process of opening a museum. Here are some glass flasks displayed.


When we finally returned home after some traffic, Elizabeth and I split a spinach pizza and had a couple local beers as a flame eater entertained us.


Ciao!

Jacqueline