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A long weekend in Emilia-Romagna – photos & blog

Posted in Travel, tagged , , , , on November 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

 
 
You are invited to view Gareth James’s photo album: A long weekend in Emilia-Romagna
A long weekend in Emilia-Romagna
Nov 1, 2012
by Gareth James
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Emilia Romagna is considered the premier foodie region of Italy and its capital is Bologna, so why wouldn’t you make it a long weekend destination? It stretches from the centre of the country to the Adriatic Sea and I based myself in the capital, a hugely underrated medieval city with many parts of its walls and gates intact. There are miles and miles of arcaded streets (including one 2.5 mile section on the route to a San Luca), some with painted vaulting, a smaller section of narrow cobbled streets with walls leaning in to the centre of the streets, lots of towers (for which it’s most famous) and so many palaces and former palaces you don’t quite know where to look. It’s the perfect weekend city, with just enough to see in a couple of days, very walkable, lots of character and good food.

 

It also made a good base for a foodie tour with the loud, eccentric and entertaining Alessandro, taking in that day’s production of Parmigianino from the delivery of milk to the formation of the 14 cheeses (requiring departure at an unearthly hour!), an insight into the secrets of good balsamic vinegar (time!) and a ridiculously big and boozy lunch in the hills above Bologna.

 

My second side trip was to Ravenna, somewhere I’ve wanted to go to for a long time to see its byzantine mosaics. Walking between the two basilicas, two baptismal chapels and mausoleum meant you get to see most of the town too, but it was the simply extraordinary mosaics which you had to see and they didn’t disappoint, as the photos attest.

 

A delightful Autumn diversion!

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