Category: Emilia-Romagno

Every trip there is a place that surprises us. We may have vaguely heard of it, or not heard of it at all, but at the end of the day we return to François and realize that we have just experienced something great and unexpected. Parma is one of those places for us.

As is usual when we visit an European city to have google route us from where we are staying to the center of town I put in the cathedral as our destination as it always in the center of the old town. After a short bus ride in a very busy bus we got off at a stop next to the river. It was market day so the walk to the main square was thru bustling streets as people were out looking for bargains. But there are two types of bustling streets, one we like which is when the people who live in the city are out doing daily activities. It is fun to see how life in the city works, and the people of the city go about their lives. Trying not to sound like travel snobs, the other type of bustling we do not like is places full of tour groups being hustled from point to point on three hour tours. We know we are tourists also and from a locals perspective probably just as big a nuisance as the tour groups, but we tend to stay in towns longer, shop in the local groceries as well as eat in the restaurants, and try to see the city we are visiting in more than three hour increments.

The first building that began to make Parma a special stop for us was the Baptisery located next to the Cathedral. As large and imposing as the Cathedral is, as soon as we entered the square both of our eyes were drawn to the Baptisery. It is a six sided tower made of pink marble. As the name implies it was built as the place for baptisms to occur. We have seen a couple of other stand alone baptisteries in other cities, but not one as interesting as this one.

We both circled the exterior of the Baptistery a couple of times before turning to the main building on the square the Cathedral. From the outside the Cathedral was typical Romanesque architecture. While imposing it was not particularly interesting.

But the inside was beautiful. Parma was a center of arts during the middle ages and the art work and frescoes inside were stunning to us. Usually we stay together when we go thru these big religious buildings, but today we tended to be drawn to different pieces of art. We both found different things to focus on, and came away awed by what we saw.

We were truly impressed by the Cathedral and the Baptistery but that was not the highlight of our day. Our next stop was the Farnesene palace or as it is called now the Pilotta Palace. The Farnesene family ruled the Duchy of Parma for about 200 years. Once again the exterior of the palace while quite large is nothing spectacular visually. But what we found inside was spectacular.

There are three distinct places to visit in the palace, a theater that has been in place since 1618, a library and a museum of art. The primary draw is the theater and it was what motivated us to pay the admission fee to see all three.

We started in the theater and it is an incredible room. A huge hall in the original palace was converted into a theater by building a large wooden stand inside the building. In addition to the main stand of wooden benches ther are two levels of boxes each with ornate wood carved arches. It is an amazing place. We would love to see a concert here, but had to settle for a video concert being projected on a screen on the stage. But even though the music wasn’t live we were engrossed. When the video ended we left the hall and entered the area backstage.

When we entered the backstage area we though we would loop around the back and come back out in the theater. But instead, we ended up on a magical two hour tour of Italian art from the 1100’s to modern time.

The tour included over a thousand beautiful paintings, and in addition to just exposing us to great art, it explained to us the different periods of art, and the prominent artists in the region. It was focused on art in the region around Parma, but included art from other parts of Italy. Even for complete novices like us it was a fascinating trip. We were exposed to hundreds of beautiful pieces of art in a way that both educated us on the differences in style and what caused them to come about.

We have been to quite a few museums in our travels to Europe but this one is my personal favorite. It also helped that there was plenty of time to stand in front of a piece of art and enjoy it without the pressure of large crowds of people.

We came across a beautiful portrait by DaVinci that we both loved. Unlike the Mona Lisa we had never heard of this piece of art, but it was fascinating. Also, unlike when we tried to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre we had the painting to ourselves for the entire time we admired it. So after admiring the La Scapaliata by ourselves we had a much better understanding of Da Vinci’s genius than we did trying to glimpse the Mona Lisa thru a crowd of tourists all trying to get a selfie with the painting.

After we finished with the art museum we moved to the library in the palace. It was another fascinating room. The library is about 100 yards long and is lined with old books its entire length.

A large part of the palace was destroyed during WWII by allied bombing. But they were able to preserve a significant portion of the books.

The Pilotta Palace was one of the best museums we have ever visited in Europe. We were truly awed by we had just seen, but we were hungry so lunch was in order. Both places on Tons list were closed and after walking thru the palace and around the streets to the closed restaurants, we were by now really hungry, so as we were walking down the street we saw a Pizza Place and decided that was good. The Pizza while not spectacular did the job.

The day had turned a bit gray while we were in the theater and seeking out lunch, so we decided to head back to the campground. But as we were riding the bus we noticed a Supercenter market for one of the big Italian grocery chains Esselunga. So the end of our day was spent doing some grocery tourism. Ton was quite happy.

It was supposed to rain heavily today about noon so we were up early to move down the road to Parma. It took less than a hour to arrive at an Aire next to a busy highway. The good news the aire was less than 50 yards from a Lidl. So we got a good shop in before the rain started. This time weather.com was right and right about noon the heavy rain kicked in for the rest of the afternoon. So our day was spent relaxing and watching movies. Tomorrow we will visit the city.

We shifted our base about 50 kilometers today to Modena. Modena is probably most famous these days for being the home of Pavarotti. Ferrari’s headquarters and plant is located about 10 miles from Modena in a small town called Maranello, so there are a lot of things Ferrari in the area also.

Ton had prepared a list of places to visit so we headed to the first one on her list, the indoor market. The market was a nice mix of shops with everything from fruit and vegetable stalls to fish and meat. It was clearly set up to cater primarily to locals and not tourists. This is the kind of market we like.

We made a pass thru the market and spotted a couple of items we were interested in, but decided to come back after lunch. The region is known for its Balsamic vinegar and there were a couple of stalls featuring that as well as a particular bread unique to the region that we wanted to buy.

Ton had read about a restaurant across from the market so we decided to go there for lunch. Yesterday our giant charcuterie plate had blocked us from trying two local specialties we were interested in. So when we sat down we were very pleased to see they had both Lasagna Verde, and Ragu Tagliatelle on the menu. We ordered one of each as well as a meat dish prepared with Balsalmic Vinegar. With one order we had covered three of the most famous foods in the region. The Ragu was memorable and one of the better pasta dishes we have ordered, but the lasagna was incredible. It had a creaminess in the sauce that we had never experienced before. The pasta is dyed green by adding spinach to it as it is produced, the bechamel sauce used in the lasagna was originally French and gives it the creamy texture. We both agreed it was the best lasagna we have ever had.

We returned to the market after our long and delicious 90 minute lunch, but all of the shops we intended to buy from before lunch had closed down. So we left without our bread and vinegar.

When we first entered the cathedral it was very dark and did not make much of an impression on us. But as our eyes adjusted to the light Ton said this place is beautiful. This is the second church we have seen in northern Italy where there is a wall right behind the alter that divides the church. In this case there are stairs that you can climb to stand on the wall behind the alter and look down on the congregation. This is our first experience seeing this design feature in a cathedral particularly the stairs and balcony above the altar.

The cathedral also has a crypt with the patron saint of the city in it which is open to the public. We have seen a lot of churches and cathedrals in our travels but this one broke the mode a bit in its design and lighting, we enjoyed it.

Ton also wanted to visit St. Augustine church to look at the ceiling and a sculpture. It took us two attempts to get in. The exterior is not that interesting, in fact I was hard pressed to recognize it as a church when google told me I had arrived, it looked just like any other building in town. We couldn’t find the doors in, because it turns out they were locked until 4pm.

We used the time we had to find an ATM to get some cash. We first went to a commercial bank, but they wanted to charge us a 5% transaction fee. I then remembered that the post offices in Europe often offer a banking service and their ATM’s don’t charge transaction fees. A quick search of google showed a postal bank only 200 meters away and our cash problem was solved.

We headed back down to St. Augustine and we arrived just as they were opening the doors to the public. While the exterior of the church is nothing special. The interior was very ornate and beautiful. While the cathedral was Romanesque in style, the church was from the Renaissance. These two churches 500 yards apart were a good education for me on the differences between the austerity of Romanesque buildings, and the elaborate features of the Renaissance.

After we finished with the church it was time to head back to the campground. I would like to say that I have mastered Italian bus schedules and the trip back was smooth, but I would be lying. Despite my best efforts we ended up on the wrong bus (I took bus 3, and I should have took bus 3A, I think…) so we ended up walking an unplanned mile to get back to the campground. Ton wasn’t too happy with me.

Well it took a while but Bologna finally won us over. We were up bright and early so that we could take the 9am bus into town. The bus runs from the campground every two hours, and we thought 11 was a little too late to start the day. Also, we were nervous after the strike yesterday and wanted to make sure we had time to find an alternatvie way if the bus didn’t show.

After yesterdays drama with the transit strike we were relieved when the bus rolled up to the stop 10 minutes before nine. The campground is the beginning of the route so we knew we had 10 minutes to wait. 6 of us got on the bus and took out seats. Unfortunately, the drama with busses in Bologna wasn’t over. The busses in most of Europe work on an honor system, no one checks your ticket when you get on the bus, they do periodic sweeps where they get on a bus and check everyone’s ticket, the fine is substantial if you do not produce a ticket. On this trip we have only been checked once. One guy got on the bus with a dog and clearly didn’t have a ticket as you have to time stamp it when you get on. Then he sat down and immediately began to blast crappy techno music from his phone. Everyone was tolerating this behavior until he began to shout at the driver of the bus to get going even though it wasn’t 9am yet. The bus driver told him to shut up and turn his phone down, he then got in a shouting match with the driver until the driver opened the doors of the bus and told him to get off, he continued to shout at the driver and refused to get off. I then noticed the driver pushing a button on a computer panel in front of him, probably indicating he had a problem. 9am came and went and we were in a standoff between this jerk and the bus driver. He finally turned the music off on his phone, just as the bus driver got a radio call from dispatch, but while the driver spoke to dispatch and closed the doors in anticipation of leaving, the jerk got a call on his phone which resulted in him getting in a shouting match at the top of his lungs with whoever was on the other side of the call. This was too much for the driver who again opened the door, shut down the bus, and stood up and told the guy to get off the bus, this prompted another tirade from the jerk. I don’t speak Italian but I got the gist of the next part from the driver which was you don’t have a ticket, the dog doesn’t have a ticket and you are causing a disruption so if you don’t get off the bus I am calling the police. At this point the jerk got off and we began a tense drive into Bologna.

We got off at the train station and I went to the front of the bus and thanked the driver before heading into the city. Our first stop was the little Venice. Bologna used to have a series of canals that ran thru the city, most of them have been paved for roads, but one canal remains. We were told to get there early before the tours arrived which was part of the reason for our early start. We found it on a pretty nondescript street. You view the canal thru a window cut in a wall we probably would have missed it except there was a tour taking turns peering thru the window. When we looked thru we almost laughed, the canal was completely dry, talk about a tourist trap.

We found the main street and just before we got to the main square we saw a series of stalls for an agricultural cooperative near the city. We walked over to see what they were selling and it was a mix of different products the region was famous for. What we didn’t catch until the end was that these farmers were here as part of a campaign to help a bunch of farms that have been subject to two serious floods in the last year. One was about 9 months ago which was described as a 100 year flood, and just as they were recovering from that one, they were flooded out again 2 weeks ago. On our to do list today was to pick up some Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese that this region is famous for. Ton noticed that for a €15 donation you received a nice block of the cheese. When I asked the guy if they took a credit card he apologized but said no. We had a nice conversation with him and he explained about the floods. As the conversation wrapped up he asked if we would mind being interviewed for their website. A couple of minutes later their social media guy showed up and I did a couple of minute interview, though I doubt it made the cut on the final edition. While I was being interviewed Ton talked to a nice gentleman who worked for the Co-op who had visited Portland when he was in high school because Portland is a sister city of Bologna, something neither one of us knew. So now we know why Ton was drawn to Bologna it is our sister city.

The cathedral in Bologna is striking because it is unusual. The lower half is done in marble, but the upper half is done in brick. It makes for an interesting exterior that is to me more striking than the standard cathedral.

The interior of the cathedral is as rich in appearance as any we have seen, though it feels a little less ornate than many of the Italian cathedrals. It appears this was an artistic choice, not an economic one. The interior is huge, one of the biggest we have visited, the story is that the Pope demanded that the original plans be scaled down as it was going to be bigger than St. Peters in Rome. In fact I was startled to find they were having a mass at the front of the cathedral while visitors were still allowed to visit the back of the cathedral. It is big enough to allow that to happen as they are usually closed to the public during mass.

The cathedral has a large fresco depicting Dantes vision of heaven and hell. It is incredibly detailed and quite large and really stands out in the otherwise relatively sparsely decorated cathedral.

Bologna’s significant architectural feature is the Portico covered walkways of the city. They have the most covered streets in Europe and the Porticoes are now featured as a UNESCO site for the city. They are really nice, and practical as you are separated from vehicle traffic, you are covered from the rain and when it is hot you have a shaded place to walk. We really appreciated them as we navigated the town.

The other reason we were looking forward to Bologna was to try the pasta sauce they are world famous for Bolognese Sauce. Every American is familiar with this sauce as it is the most common Italian Pasta Sauce in the US. In Bologna this sauce is referred to as Ragu, which of course is the brand name of one of the biggest producers of Bolognese in the US. They are also famous for a green Lasangne. So we spent the better part of an hour wandering from restaurant to restaurant looking for the perfect one. We had several on the maybe list when we came across the one we wanted to try. Unfortunately, they required reservations.

So we decided to head back to the very first one we came across. After doubling back a good distance we had walked enough to allow us a good sized lunch.

By the time we returned the place was packed with customers, but we found a nice table on the inside where we could watch the food being prepared. Simoni is famous for its charcuterie plate so we ordered one intending it to be our appetizer. When the plate arrived we knew that we would not be ordering much more food.

The restaurant was a well oiled machine so in addition to enjoying our excellent plate of meat and cheese we got to watch an efficient kitchen and wait staff at work. Also our table was on the path to the bathroom so the people watching was quite fun. We did order a small bowl of meatballs with Ragu sauce so we did complete our quest. The green lasagne will have to wait for another day.

Our last stop for the day was the university. Bologna University is the oldest continuously operating University in the world dating back to 1088. The campus is located in the center of the city. The university district is full of charming Porticos and imposing buildings. We had hoped to visit the library as it is quite beautiful but it was closed on Sunday.

By now the town was really busy. It turns out this weekend is the Saint of the cities weekend so it is a local holiday, so the locals were out in force along with the tourists. It was getting a little too crowded for us so we headed back to the campground on a pleasantly unremarkable bus ride.

So Bologna won us over after a rough start. I can tell Ton likes a place by the volume of pictures she sends me to consider for the blog. She liked Bologna as I got a large number of pictures after she spent over an hour considering which ones to forward. It had everything we like in a city. Good food, interesting and unique buildings, a very walkable downtown core, and (mostly) good and charming people. On top of that it is the sister city of our hometown, a sister we didn’t know existed until today.