Ferrara

Ferrara is a city on the Po River in the Emiglia Romagna region of Italy (nearby cities include Ravenna, Bologna, Verona). Founded in the 7^th or 8^th century, the city grew in the Middle Ages. In 1284 the Este family, which originally was from Padua, took control of the town. The Este family, who ruled also in Modena, transformed in the 15th century their court into one of the most important place for art and writing in Italy:  “capital of modern poetry” as it has been labelled. It was the intellectual center of the Italian Renaissance. We visited Ferrara because during the Renaissance there was high interest and debate about Architecture and Cities. Many intellectuals wrote treatises which applied the new rules of perspective and symmetry to the constructions of buildings, villas, streets and even cities. Biagio Rossetti, an Italian architect furing the Renaissance was key project manager of enlarging Ferrara in 1492. He knew how to balance the humanistic principles in architecture with the real needs of the city and local tradition. We went to see the remains of his urban planning in person. We saw the ancient city hall, Romanesque Cathedral, Castello Estense from 1384! - the castle of the Este family which was surrounded by a moat. 

On the trip we went to a great art museum (in which I was really sad that I wasnt allowed to take pictures in). It was in the Palazzo dei Diamanti of Diamond Palace. As you can see above, the facade's stone blocks were cut into diamond points. The palazzo houses the National Picture Gallery where we saw the Italian impressionist paintings of Giovanni Bolini, born in Ferrara and studied under Degas in Paris. His works were so beautiful. Here's an idea:

For lunch we had a typical Ferraran dish at this really good local restaurant - Brindisi. It was around the corner from the Cathedral. All of us ordered the dish that Ferrara is most famous for - cappellacci di zucca con burro fuso e salvia (pumpkin tortellini in a butter sage sauce). It was SO good and I need to make/find it in NYC.

Ravenna: Enchanting

I absolutely love Ravenna! As tired as I was after the train ride from Bologna and going out with my cousin the night before, I still had the energy to explore Ravenna as soon as Jocey and I woke up Saturday morning. My family lives pretty close to the historical sites and the shopping district in the center of town so we went there first. The city is so beautiful and so charming so clean. We started off at San Vitale and Dante's Tomb. We later saw beautiful San Francesco, the Church Dante's funeral took place in in 1321, also located in the center of town. Under the alter, is a crypt that is always full of water. There are fragments of mosaics of the original church of Neone. Basilica di San Francesco in Ravenna. First Constructed in the 5th century, rebuilt in the 10th - 11. The churches in Ravenna are some of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. They are Byzantine, unlike most Churches in Italy which are medieval. Two of the most famous Byzantine mosaics that survive today are in Ravenna, which was the capital of the Byzantine Empire before Constantinople. They are located in San Vitale and Sant'Apollinare in Classe (shown above). San' Apollinare in Classe, built in 549, was my favorite. The mosaic was absolutely incredible to see in person. 
I still remember standing there in awe in the Basilica di San Vitale (shown right). Its magnitude and elegance gave me the chills. In the city center, there was a small street market where local artists were selling beautiful handmade jewelry. I fell in love with a necklace that had Edgar Degas ballerinas imprinted on a pendant. The chain was full of beautiful jewels and etching and details. It was 30 euro. I resisted buying but I regret it still today. The people selling the jewelry were so kind and humble and fascinated that I was an American with family here. I've found that's the nice thing about smaller cities - people are much more kind and like Americans. Everyone who lives in Ravenna are also amazingly nice, compared to Florentines, whom I've found, for the most part, cold and anti-American (most likely because the number of American tourists passing through gets irritating). Another thing I loved about Ravenna was how close it was to the beach. My cousin Alessandro drove us down to Rimini on Saturday night, a popular beach resort in Italy, that was really beautiful and lined with bars and clubs and eateries and fancy hotels. I remembered that my Urban Studies professor had mentioned that Rimini was once "the Barcelona of Italy." This was before Barcelona became the hot spot in Europe. It was nighttime so it was pretty chilly but I could imagine how nice it is in the Mediterranean summer heat.

         I would have to say that if I were ever to move to Italy, I would want to live in Ravenna. The people, the town, everything was just so quaint and relaxing and nice. I loved being with my family too. This time I was not the mute child! I learned so much vocabulary and got much more comfortable in conversation (which came in handy when it I took my Italian Oral Exam yesterday). 

And then there was the homemade Italian food...The Friday night we arrived was Guisy's (my cousin Francesco's fiancee) birthday so we had pizza with grilled zucchini, eggplant, roasted peppers generously piled on. The pizza accompanied Anna's lemon dressed salad which I loved the first trip to Ravenna. For dessert, we had a chocolate birthday cake covered in crushed hazelnuts topped with raspberries. Hot homemade croissants in the morning were delicious. For lunch on Saturday, the main meal of the day, they made pasta alfredo (which Italians don't call pasta alfredo but pasta ai quattro formaggi. Don't ask for alfredo in Italy, it doesn't exist). It was very good, but too cheesy for my preference (I'm not the biggest cheese fan, i know, weird). The fresh mozzarella di bufula, however, was excellent. It's so different from American fresh mozzarella which is more rubbery. Here, it cuts like butter. The homemade tomato bruscetta (chopped tomatoes, onions, loads of olive oil, fresh pepper, salt) on the grilled bread from their wood burning stove was delicious and unnecessary as me and Jocey were already too full... but of course we ate it anyway. We ate in the small dining room/kitchen in the small house built next to their main house. It was so beautiful and Italian and picturesque; I love their home. For a snack later on, Anna brought out the fresh pears and figs from the trees in their backyard...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Tutti era troppo buono! Everything was so so good. I definitely want to visit again before I leave. It felt like going home for the weekend.

Bologna

Last weekend, I got to visit the two beautiful cities in the Emilia-Romagna region. My friends were going to Bologna on Friday which worked out great because I had plans to visiting my family in Ravenna that Saturday which is just a short distance away. 

After we got to Bologna Friday morning, we took some espresso shots and started blindly walking through the city. As we walked we discovered the wealth of important Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque monuments. Bologna's historic center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the largest in Europe. One of the main sites to see in Bologna are the Two Towers (another UNESCO site!). 

The two towers that remain are the Asinelli (the tall one) and the small leaning tower is the Garisenda. Their names derive from the families which are traditionally credited for their construction between 1109 and 1119.The Asinelli Tower was used by the scientists Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1640 and Giovanni Battista Guglielmini for experiments to study the earth's rotation. In World War II it was used as a sight post. The Garisenda, the dangerously leaning tower, is a municipal building. After lunch we saw the Univeristy of Bologna, Europe's oldest University. The date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088. 

(Above) Famous for its great food and as the birthplace of tortellini, our Bolognese lunch did not disappoint. We ate at a great restaurant off of Via dell'Inferno, a street named in recognition of Dante's "Divine Comedy" which was set in Bologna. (Right) Walking through the park, we saw about five young couples making out hardcore with absolutely no shame on park benches in the midday. My guess is they still live with mamma e babbo a casa. What do you think?