We’ve said ciao for now to Bologna, after soaking up the culture and consuming enough carbs to soak up the wine and beer too. This year the weather broke from tradition, giving us two-and-a-bit days of glorious sunshine to explore all this beautiful Italian city has to offer.

What we saw:

Once you’ve passed through its industrial outer edges, Bologna is a busy and bustling city, with a real Medieval feel to it. Courtyards and arcades are home to traditional shops, restaurants, cafes and beautiful grand churches, such as the Basilica di San Petronio that overlooks the Piazza Maggiore.

As well as being the birthplace of Bolognese, Bologna is the home of Ducati motorcycles. Si and Rich headed off for a tour of the Ducati Factory and Museum learning how pre-war Ducati was known for electronics, before selling a million small bicycle engines, leading them to motorcycle production.

• - Piazza Maggiore
• - Basilica di San Petronio
• - MAMbo Gallery
• - Two Towers
• - City and countryside views from the roof terrace and hot tub

What we ate:

As much as possible… starting our gastro experience with pizza and pastries at Forno Brisa; a little bakery/coffee bar/café serving incredible food and coffee – plus vegan options. That evening we opted for a feast of authentic Ragu and Tortellini in Brodo (plus lots of wine) at Osteria Broccaindosso. Delizioso!

The next morning, after a large hotel breakfast, we sampled more antipasti, gelato, risotto, lasagne and anything else we could get our hands on.

Saturday’s evening meal was at Berbere, where we ate our bodyweight in pizza, seven-layer cake and semifreddo and were left literally speechless by the taste and quality of the ingredients.

• - Mercato di Mezzo
• - Stefino Organic Gelato
• - Osteria dell'Orsa
• - Zoo Cafe
• - Botanica Lab Cafe
• - Quadrilatero Market

heck

What we drank:

We fully embraced Cafe Culture with plenty espresso and plenty more spritz. Pretty expected. Less expected was finding none other than Vocation beer in a small student bar, Cucchiaio d'Oro.

• - Aperol Spritz (of course)
• - Birra Moretti
• - Ichnusa Beer
• - Sangiovese red wine (and lots of it)
• - Russian mango IPAs

A big grazie mille to Si, Jess and Hattie for organising! Check out our Instagram to see more pictures of what we got up to.