Europesure’s Italy-loving travel insurance customers will surely recognise this truism ahead of World Pasta Day (October 25). There is no such thing as spaghetti Bolognese or spag bol in Italy! But if you head to the most natural place to visit on a day dedicated to all-things pasta, you can discover that for yourself.
True Italy-loving travel insurance customers will instantly recognise that Europesure is talking about Bologna. This is a less-discovered Italian city, despite being the country’s 7th largest. If you haven’t yet ventured to the city known as “la grassa” (the fat one), “la rossa” (the red one) and “la dotta” (the learned), you have surely been missing out.
These names hint that this is a city dedicated to its food and identified by its red terracotta medieval architecture. Finally, it is home to the oldest university in the western world, founded around 1088 AD.
Discovering Bologna
Bologna is located around 200kms from Milan, 150km from Venice and 100km from Florence. With Italy-loving travel insurance customers often only flocking to one of these big three cities, “la grassa” is often not on an itinerary.
And yet it is the spiritual home of food in Italy, including pasta. You cannot fail to note the predominance of pasta in the atmospheric shop windows of the old quarter – the city’s Quadrilatero area. Here, delightful foodie experiences such as that offered by Tamburini just waiting to thrill.
Prepare for a pasta voyage of discovery, with a huge variety of different pasta shapes and varieties available. Some will be totally unfamiliar. What you will surely discover in Bologna, however, are the two varieties with which it is most associated – tagliatelle and tortellini.
Tagliatelle and its links to Bologna
Our Italy-loving travel insurance customers may, or may not, be familiar with the food bible of Pellegrini Artusi. This was both 19th century cookbook and food-focused travel guide. In this work, he noted that a phrase associated with Bologna was “may you have short bills and long tagliatelle”. Long tagliatelle signified that a master pasta maker had prepared your dish. The association between Bologna and tagliatelle survives to this day.
Some say tagliatelle was inspired by the renowned golden braids of the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI. Allegedly, a chef produced the dish of tagliatelle as part of her wedding feast. However, this is likely to be more fiction than fact.
Protecting tagliatelle
One true fact is that, by 1972, tagliatelle was such a big part of Bologna’s culture that the Italian Academy of Cuisine registered the ideal dimensions for a tagliatella – one strip of tagliatelle.
This was set at a width of 8mms when cooked and 7mm raw, with this measurement actually being a nod to one of the city’s most striking pieces of architecture. This is one of its ‘Due Torre’ (two towers), the Torre degli Asinelli. Tagliatelle’s measurement constituted a 12,279th part of the height of the tower.
The ‘instructions’ were lodged at the Bolognese Chamber of Commerce. Later, in 1982, the same authority also placed the official recipe ragù there. With the two combined, you have, in a way, the real authentic version of spag bol, with the meat not served with spaghetti but with tagliatelle. The meat sauce is lovingly prepared over many hours, not quickly rustled up.
Such is the obsession with the exact dimensions for a tagliatella that a solid gold strand of tagliatella – sized to perfection, sits inside a glass case at the Chamber of Commerce in Bologna.
Bologna and its obsession with tortellini
But the city is equally tied to the pasta dish of tortellini, particularly when served in broth as the traditional Sunday family dish of any true Bolognese citizen. Guess what? The official recipe for the tortellini stuffing was created and placed at the same location, but in 1974.
In the eleventh century tortellini was a Christmas dish. By the 1500s, it was referenced widely and then became the centre of a legend. Here, after battling it out for a day, Venus and Jupiter took refuge in a small village between Bologna and Modena. Their innkeeper became obsessed by Venus’s beauty, becoming a peeping Tom by spying through her bedroom keyhole. When all he could see was her navel, he went into his kitchen and recreated its form in pasta – the belly-button-resembling tortellini.
Again, there is an exact size to be achieved with tortellini. They should weigh no more than 2 grams and seven should fit on a tablespoon. The exact recipe for the filling should be followed and only OO flour used.
It is this obsession with food perfection that pervades Bologna, no matter where you eat. That could be a piadineria, serving delicious piadinas (unleavened flatbreads), or a fabulous gelato (did we mention there is a Gelato University here? It could be a trattoria dishing up tagliatelle al ragù, or the fantastic gem of an old-fashioned food store that is Gilberto’s, with is antique spice drawers, wine collections and olive oils and balsamic vinegars galore.
There are food tours galore, not to mention pasta-making classes, opportunities to cook with a ‘nonna’ and cookery schools. You can also become an expert gelato maker at the Carpigiani Gelato University.
Discovering the Quadrilatero – an Italy-loving travel insurance customer’s delight
Head early into the Quadrilatero and you can experience the delights of the various food markets, whether that is within the Mercato di Mezzo or the Mercato delle Erbe. Fish stalls, butchers shops, formaggio (cheese) vendors and fruit and vegetable shops will vie for your attention, as you make your way through the narrow streets of the medieval quarter. The food culture is intoxicating in its intensity and full-on, in terms of sensory impact.
Here too, you will find shops from yesteryear, be that a tailor or a cobbler. Our Italy-loving travel insurance customers cannot resist snapping these antique-looking shops and marvelling at their continued existence in our 21st century world. Juxtaposed with rows of parked, gleaming motorcycles and Vespas, they make for fantastic subject matter for Instagram posts.
Piazza Maggiore, Neptune, San Petronio and more
If you want to escape the food addiction and find open space, simply head to Piazza Maggiore and gaze at the Basilica of San Petronio, the Palazzo del Podestà or the Palazzo D’Accursio. Wander just off the main white and pink granite piazza, and you will find Piazza del Nettuno, boasting its striking Neptune fountain.
Gravitate towards the two towers (if not being restored), which tilt Pisa-style and offer a breathtaking view of the city. Tap your feet to the buskers who fill this city of 666 arches and covered walkways with joy, or head to the Little Window of the Via Piella, which allows you to view one of the medieval canals of Bologna, most of which are long buried.
Seek out the world’s longest sundial – the 67-metre-long Meridian Line, designed by Cassini in 1656 - by heading inside the Basilica of San Petronio. There, fabulous frescoes and a side chapel inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy await.
Outside, gaze up at its exterior, as there is a tale to be had there. The statue is described as San Petronio (Petronius) but isn’t! The inscription was placed there to fool Napoleon’s troops, because Napoleon hated the Papacy. The clever people of Bologna managed to pass off Pope Gregory 13th as their city’s patron saint, by changing the inscription! That secured the statue’s survival.
The Sanctuary of San Luca and shopping
Learn all of this, and much more, by taking a walking tour from the tourism information centre in Palazzo del Podestà. If walking is your thing, you can also enjoy the UNESCO feature of the world’s longest portico. Stretching your legs over 4km, this will lead you to the Sanctuary of San Luca, for an incredible and breathtaking view of Bologna and beyond. Just be prepared for steps at the end of your travels. If that sounds like hard work, hop on the San Luca Express in Pizza Maggiore and let the delightful little train be your transportation.
Shop till you drop down long porticoed streets such as Via Indipendenza, discover the charm of an Italian children’s bookshop in Via Rizzoli, or pick up designer labels in Galleria Cavour on Via Farini. Wherever you venture, just remember that you will not go far wrong for food. Europesure’s Italy-loving travel insurance customers can vouch for that.
