10/2 Wednesday
We head into the city again,
following a walking tour we’ve gotten from the Tourist Office. The walk is
suggested as a three hour tour, but we’re into our second day with it. We walk
through the streets, getting just a little lost, and find several of our sites
closed for lunch. Italians like to shut down in the middle of the day, a very
civilized habit. Along our route are dome very swanky designer shops, Gucci,
Armani, Hermes, YSL, and when they are open, we see people in all of
them, browsing and buying stuff.
So, we walk around, stop at the Post
Office for stamps, sit in the courtyard, until it’s time for things to be open.
We’re interested in the Basilica of St Dominica, founder of the Dominican Order
of monks. This church has an altar with several small statues that are early
works of Michelangelo. They’re very nice to see. Then, there’s a special area
behind the altar with an actual turnstile for entry. We pay our coin and enter.
The rows of chairs are built with inlaid wood, delicate and intricate, that
depict scenes from the life of Christ. They date from the 1500’s and are quite
amazing.
As we make our way back home, we
pass a small storefront display room attached to a very expensive hotel. It’s
called a Laboratory, and it looks like one, very spare, with stainless steel
tables and racks on rollers. A woman dressed in whites is making tortellini.
She rolls the pasta out on the table into a huge sheet, about 2 x 3 feet. A
crowd starts to gather at the window with us. She has a big roller-cutter that
sections the pasta sheet into one-inch squares. Then, she comes over to the
door and invites us all to come in and watch closer. What fun! She takes out a
bowl of meat filling and dabs some onto each square. Now, for the part we’re
all waiting for – she picks up a little square, folds it and rolls it off her
finger, twisting the ends into a tiny tortellini. She works so quickly,
expertly and nimbly, popping out one little tortellini after another. We’re
almost thinking it could be worth 35 Euros for a kilo.
1 Video Included
Bologna Walk
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