Oh Bologna!

It recently occurred to me that I am going to Italy in a little over a month. I will be there for a little over a month. Dissy will come with me. My mom may stop by. I find this all a little surreal, so in order to convince myself that it is real, I've been acquainting myself with Bologna. I thought you might appreciate getting to know the place a little too.

Bologna has many nicknames:

BOLOGNA THE RED

The rooftops are all red in the old part of town and it has been a Communist Party stronghold since WWII, so the name has a dual meaning.

BOLOGNA THE FAT

It is the ancestral home of tortellini, spaghetti bolognese, and mortadella (the ancestor of "baloney"). It is considered the gastronomical capitol of Italy, which is considered the gastronomical capitol of the world.

BOLOGNA THE LEARNED

The oldest university in the Western world, Alma Mater Studiorum, is in Bologna (now know as the University of Bologna or UniBo). It was founded in 1088. Yes, that's just 22 years after the Norman conquest of England at the Battle of Hastings. Impressive.

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So now I just want to parenthetically comment on how much Bologna and I have in common. What is my favorite color? Red. What is my favorite hobby? Eating. Where have I spent the last nine years of my life? In college. It looks like I have found my dream town.

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Bologna has many wonderful sights, such as the Due Torri (aka, the Two Towers--eat your hearts out Tolkien fans). Yes, they lean.

There are 38 kilometers of porticoes in the city center. I'm not sure how long that is, but apparently it's enough to walk pretty much anywhere in the city.

There are also wonderful fruit and vegetable markets and cheese shops and every other wonderful thing you could possibly want.