Bologna, Italy

After bopping around Sterzing we drove 3 more hours south to Bologna! We checked into the Holiday Inn and then went in search for some dinner.

Good ol' Google Maps suggested a place just across the street from our hotel called Dispensa Emilia so we walked over to check it out. It looked quick, relaxed, and good, so we ordered up some delicious treats. The region of Italy we were in, Emilia-Romagna, and the city of Bologna in particular, are known for having the best, richest, most lavish food in Italy. Famous specialities are parmesan cheese, Parma ham also known as prosciutto di parma, and this area is the only true home of pasta in Northern Italy. The famous red meat sauce everyone is familiar with (e.g. spaghetti bolognese) was invented here, as was tagliatelle and tortellini pasta. Fun stuff! So, when in Rome... or Bologna. We ordered a big plate of tagliatelle in the meat sauce which they call ragú and topped with the local parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

This little place also specializes in tigella, which are thin, 4-inch round bread rolls that originated in this region. They serve them with tons of fillings and we got several to try. Here is Chris' tigella with salami and caciotta. The salami was very flavorful and delicious. The best part? They also served these tigella with nutella all warm and gooey.

Thanks for a great start to Bologna!

The next morning... up and at 'em!

It looked like the weather was going to cooperate with us so we were excited to explore the city.

We checked out of the hotel after breakfast and drove to a parking garage just outside the restricted traffic area of the old city and started walking down the main shopping drag in Bologna - the Via dell'Indipendenza.

Aside from its food, Bologna is famous for its porticoes. No other city has anything like the number of these covered walkways. In the city center there are barely any stretches of sidewalk not topped by an ornate, arched covering. The first porticoes were built out of wood and some 13th century examples still survive. They proved to be so popular that by the 14th century construction of stone or brick porticoes, high enough to accommodate people on horseback, had become compulsory on all new streets in the city. Today, some 38km still stand, including the longest portico in the world leading from the city up to the Santuario di San Luca (see lower in the post for that).

We arrived at the heart of the city, the joint squares of Piazza del Nettuno and Piazza Maggiore.

The Palazzo d'Accursio fronts the Piazza Maggiore and sports a huge statue of Pope Gregory XIII (covered in scaffolding so no photo here) as an affirmation of papal authority.

Looking out the east side of the piazza down Via Pescherie Vecchie. 

Also on the square is the huge San Petronio, one of the finest Gothic brick buildings in Italy. The end result looks a little strange at first glance with an unfinished facade. Money to finish the church was diverted by the Pope's man in Bologna towards a new university so plans had to be modified. 

Little Jane being cute inside the cathedral.

Light, airy interior.

Looking north over the square from the steps of San Petronio to the Palazzo Podestà and the tower of Palazzo Re Enzo behind it.

Our family in Bologna on Monday May 23rd 2016.

Quintessentially Italian street. We headed down this charming alley to the famous cheese shop on the right.

While Chris went in to La Baita Formaggi to buy a 1/2kg souvenir of parmigiano-reggiano cheese, I enjoyed the sun and ambience.

Hidden courtyad.

I'll tell ya, we loved these porticoes. It was very sunny most of the day so they kept us cool in the shade and when it rained for a few minutes we were dry. Perfect!!

Awesome door.

Bologna is home to the oldest university in the Western World and its original campus, called the Archiginnasio, is in the heart of the city.

The main courtyard.

Coats of arms of its more famous graduates decorate the area. 

There are several sights open to visitors here so we bought some tickets and started at the Teatro Anatomico. Check out this awesome wood ceiling in the room.

The teatro is the original medical faculty dissection theater. Tiers of seats surround an extraordinary professor's chair, covered with a canopy. Not many dissections went on, owing to prohibitions by the Catholic church, but when they did, students, artists, and the general public used to turn up in droves.

While you couldn't enter the old library, it was visible. Pretty dern cool.

Back out on the street with some rain clouds rolling in.

We wanted to go see some pieces by Michelangelo that were in the city so we walked down to the Piazza San Domenico.

The church was built in 1221 to house the relics of St. Dominic. The famous Arca di San Domenico which holds the relics was created by Nicola Pisano and has a couple sculptures made by Michelangelo. No photos allowed.

By this time we were ready for some more of Bologna's best: its food! We decided to try A.F. Tamburini, a famous traditional delicatessen with a great little cafe that sells plates of pasta and roasted meats. 

We got some gnocchi e brocoli and tortellini in ragú. Legend has it that first tortellini were made by a Bolognese innkeeper trying to re-create the beauty of Venus's navel. I'll never look at them the same again haha! Lunch, like our dinner, was delicious and we bought and cooked our own gnocchi several more nights while staying in our airbnb in Florence.  

The Via Rizzoli drying after the rain.

Another incredibly unique aspect of Bologna is the Due Torri, or two towers, which are two of only a handful of towers that remain out of hundreds that once were scattered across the city in the Middle Ages. Each family had their own mini-castle at the time for defensive purposes. Today, these two still stand, although the tower on the left, the Torre Garisenda, is like Bologna's take on the leaning tower.
Visitors can climb the taller (and thankfully straighter) Torre degli Asinelli so that's exactly what I did. Anything for views!

Worth it.

Selfie atop the 320 foot tower.

Beautiful Emilia-Romagna countryside.

I love the uniformity and consistency of the red rooftops. If you look closely you can see the Santuario di San Luca on top of the hill just right of center. 

"What a bunch of Bologna!" :)

Safely back on the ground.

We then headed out to the current university campus. It was grimy and crowded and not really a family friendly scene. We hurried through as fast as we could.

The Porta San Donato, a gate from the former medieval city walls built in the 13th century.

I think all homeowners and landlords have to buy their paint from the "national paint store" since there are only about 4 or 5 colors anywhere we went. True or false?! :)

More porticoes.

Supremely Italy.

I don't know what this is, but I like it!

Looking down towards the towers.

After seeing the old town, we piled in the car and drove up to the Santuario di San Luca, an 18th century shrine.

Italia!

Inside the church.

The shrine is connected to the city center by the longest portico in the world. It's about 4km long and is made up of over 660 arches. Wow! We didn't walk all the way down, but we wanted to check it out.

Bologna from afar. It was a great stop.

Does the portico ever end? The world may never know.

We had a WONDERFUL day in Bologna! Next destination: Florence!

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Sterzing, Italy

Let the Italy recaps... BEGIN! This whole trip was planned because I was invited to teach a workshop near the micro-country of San Marino - we hadn't been there yet so we thought, why don't we all go and turn it into a road trip and visit a bunch of places in Italy we haven't been to yet?! FUN!

Approaching the Bavarian Alps as we headed south. 

Gas station with a view!

McDonald's with a view! But for real, we have been to our fair share of McDonald's and this is, without a doubt, the most magnificent view from a McDonald's we've seen yet! It's located on the Brenner Pass a few miles south of Innsbruck, Austria.

We ate some lunch, took in the view, then were on our merry way.

First stop on our 8-day itinerary: Sterzing! Or, Vipiteno in Italian. Sterzing is a town in the region of South Tyrol of Northern Italy. The region is Italy's dramatic rooftop with valleys and towns surrounded by the Dolomite mountains. A hard fought history has left this region bicultural, with an emphasis on German. Most locals speak German first and some wish they were still part of Austria. By losing World War I, Austria's South Tyrol became Italy's Alto Adige. Mussolini did what he could to Italianize the region, including giving each town an Italian name (e.g. Vipiteno). But, even as recently as the 1990s, secessionist groups agitated for more autonomy.  We parked our car in some free parking and went out to enjoy this unique mix of Austrian and Italian. The colored buildings tho!

Fox and Jane are such great posers, lol.

Cute.

Quaint.

 Pretty sure this is one of the cutest towns in all of Europe, definitely a must see! At the end of the street you can see the Zwölferturm, a 46 meter high tower erected in 1470. This tower is the symbol of the city and it divides the New Town from Old Town.

Ornate post office sign.

Fountain.

Fancy door. Horse ride anyone?

The part of town around the tower feels very Austrian.

Why don't we paint buildings all over the world such vibrant, yummy colors?!

Methinks it's time to start getting Fox the next size up clothes! He's getting so big!

Running amok, I'm sure she was searching for pigeons to chase, that's her thing. Vibrant yellow.

Another super fancy wrought iron sign. I just want one.

Once we reached the top of town we turned back around. All in all it took about a half hour to meander through town. A perfect little stop!

Framed by an archway.

Our family in Sterzing, Italy on Sunday May 22nd 2016.

Bye bye beautiful Sterzing! Hope we meet again!

Next stop: Bologna!

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Fancy Free Mini Album

We just got back from an 8 day road trip through Italy! The whole adventure was planned around a class I was invited to teach in Tuscany, near the micro country San Marino. We hadn't been there yet so we decided to turn it into a family vacation and visit lots of places (Sterzing, Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Volterra, Sienna, and Assisi) - lots and lots of recaps coming soon :) Today I'd like to share the mini album I taught at Scrap2Days!

LOVE YOU MINI ALBUM by Paige Evans

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper, chipboard, die cuts, tags: Fancy Free by Paige Evans/Pink Paislee; Cardstock, Thickers, chipboard covers: American Crafts; Doilies: Wilton; Baker’s twine: Divine Twine; Watercolors: Loew Cornell; Spray mist: Heidi Swapp; Other: white paint, brush, needle, binder rings, sequins, thread, paper cutter, scissors, adhesive, dimensional adhesive, pen, pencil, stapler, xacto knife, eraser, (34) 2 ½” square photos, (6) 2” square photos, (1) 3” square photo



Use a heart die cut as a template and trace it onto one of the chipboard covers then use a sharp craft knife to carefully cut it out. Paint the front and back chipboard covers white and let them dry. Drop black spray mist on the top right and bottom left corners and let it dry. Embellish the cover with a flower transparency on the top right, two strands of pink baker’s twine tied around the right edge, an “&” chipboard sticker with a “you” die cut tucked underneath, a puffy flowers sticker on the left side of the cut out heart, and three sequins on the bottom left side.



The entire mini album is filled with pictures of things that I love :)



Use the cover or the heart die cut as a template to lightly trace a heart in the center of a 6x6" piece of paper #10. Place “Love” Thickers in the middle. Journal around the drawn heart then erase the pencil lines.

Trim a “colorful” chipboard word sticker in half and place the pieces in the middle. Tear off the right edge of a piece of 6x6" vellum. Cut a large doily in half and glue one half on the left edge. Layer a journaling card, photo, "play" die cut, and “make beautiful things” transparency die cut over the doily.

Place a “celebrate today” transparency die cut and a hashtag Thicker behind the doily.



Use an ampersand die cut as a template and trace around it onto a piece of 6x6” white cardstock using a pencil. Poke a hole every ¼” around the entire ampersand then erase the pencil lines. Use thread and backstitch around the ampersand. Watercolor inside the ampersand and let it dry.

Trim paper #04 to 9 ½ x 6”, score 6” from the left edge, then fold the right edge over. Place a small doily on the center and staple on a “favorite” die cut to a round journaling tag and journal on the tag. Inside, mat (6) photos onto patterned papers then adhere them inside. Place “Favorites” Thickers between the pictures.

Trim 6 photos and 6 patterned papers to 2” square then tuck them inside the photo sleeves. You could embellish the centers of the papers with chipboard stickers and/or die cuts.

On a 6x6” piece of white cardstock, place a journaling tag in the center and add a chipboard potted plant at the bottom with a “best ever” die cut at the top. Journal on the tag. On the back, place a journaling spot in the center and glue a die cut plant on the left.

Trim paper #11 to 4 ½ x 10 ½”, score 6” down from the top, fold the bottom up, then fold the top ½” of that flap down and staple/glue in place to create a pocket. Journal on a tag, tie a baker’s twine bow through the top, adhere a transparency heart die cut to the bottom, then tuck it into the pocket. Adhere a photo under the flap and embellish with a “routine” die cut and silver heart tab transparency die cut.

Use the letters from the “LOVE” die cut as a template to trace and cut out letters and a photo. Place dimensional adhesive on the back of the word and add the papers/photo.

Layer a small doily, tag, photo, and chipboard phrase on a white page and journal around the edge. Journal on the back with a heart die cut between paragraphs.

Adhere four photos to the center of a 6x6” light kraft cardstock page and place “most favorite” puffy stickers in the center. Embellish the back with the other half of the large doily, a photo, tag, and chipboard flowers.

Layer a frame die cut and a photo in the center and write journaling on the frame bottom. Add a plant chipboard sticker on the bottom right and a “live a colorful life” round die cut to the top left. On the back, adhere a photo at the top center and a “cherish the here & now” die cut at the bottom. Draw a border around the edge then journal around it.

Trim paper #07 to 9 x 6, score 6” from the left side, then fold the right side over. Adhere a round “so happy” journaling spot to the center and journal on it.

Inside, place a large doily in the crease then adhere four photos on top and embellish with die cuts and stickers. Journal in the center of the back.



Trim patterned papers to 3” square, mat photos on top, then tuck them into the photo sleeves. Add a transparency “our happy place” to the bottom front photo.

On a 6x6” white cardstock page, adhere a “favorites” journaling card to the left side and adhere three photos on the rest of the page. Journal on the card and journal on the back then embellish as desired.

Trim paper #08 to 4 ½ x 6”. Adhere a photo to the middle then add a tag, “just be you” die cut, and a “selfie” and arrow chipboard sticker.

Trim more papers to 6x6" and embellish with photos and die cuts and journaling.



On a 6x6” white cardstock page, adhere a photo and lots of die cuts. Add a flower chipboard sticker to the center of the back and write “the end.” below. Connect all the pages together with binder rings. Binder rings are great because you can easily add more pages!

I had so much fun teaching this mini album class!

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