B-O-L-O-G-N-A: Bologna, Italy

Fontana del Nettuno

I couldn’t resist the title of this post since every time I type the name of this venerable Italian city, the Oscar Meyer jingle runs through my head and sticks there long after I put away my laptop. Any American of a certain age should sympathize.

After visiting the tiny republic of San Marino, we spent three nights in Belle Arti Gallery House, an apartment in the university quarter of Bologna. Although I’ve traveled extensively in Italy, I’d never made it to Bologna, the reputed culinary capital of the country. Given the worldwide popularity of Italian cuisine, that’s saying a lot and my food-loving husband was particularly keen to check out the city. read more

Before Italy: San Marino, the oldest and smallest republic in the world

A recent 9-night trip grew from a friend pointing out that the only European country I hadn’t visited was San Marino, a tiny republic surrounded by Italy. On a lark, I started researching San Marino and quickly decided (1) it looked beautiful, intriguing and merited an overnight stay, and (2) it was an easy drive from Bologna, a city I wanted to visit and a short flight from our home in Paris. My plans grew from there. I’ve been to Italy many times, visited lots of towns and cities in many regions, but I’d yet to stay in one of the iconic conical houses known as trulli (singular trullo) in Puglia, a region in the “heel” of Italy. Why not add that to this trip? A little more research revealed a direct high-speed Frecciarossa train from Bologna in the north to Bari in Puglia where we could rent a car. I confirmed there were direct flights from Bari back to Paris and learned that the nearby town of Alberobello was known for its beauty and had the largest concentration of trulli in Puglia. It sounded like the perfect base to explore Puglia. I quickly finalized our trip. read more