Forza Italia!

I was certain I'd have time to update before I went on vacation but work (and other things) got in the way. Now it's nearly the end of June--here in Sweden we'll soon be celebrating Midsommar (that's "Midsummer" to the English-speaking world though I am sure you could figure that out) and everyone will be drinking far too much aquavit and singing about "small frogs" as they dance around the maypole (though it is June)--and here I am updating after close to a month of nothing, nothing, nothing.

The hubster and I went to Italy for nine days to celebrate his birthday and to throw ourselves completely at the mercy of la cucina italiana. And, boy oh boy, did we enjoy! Early on, we decided we wanted a Slowfood trip and planned our itinerary around cities renowned for Slowfood, namely Milano, Cremona, Parma and Bologna. Milano and Cremona are part of the region in Italy known as Lombardia (or Lombardy in English), while Parma and Bologna belong to Emilia-Romagna. Parma and Bologna are often referred to as the food meccas of Italy, and both cities live up to their culinary reputations.

We only spent one day in Milano. We spent several days there a few summers ago, and neither Tord nor I were very interested in shopping or spending too much time in a large city. Instead, we spent the night at the Jolly Hotel Milano Machiavelli, which was quite nice and very conviently located--just a ten-minute walk from Milano Centrale train station, and left the following morning for Cremona. While in Milano, we didn't really partake of any Slowfood there. We were too tired and still rather full from the pizza we ate for lunch. We made up for it in the remaining cities.

Cremona, which is a little over an hour's train ride from Milano, is a fantastic place to visit in early June. While we were there, the city was in the midst of its Poesia Festival. Every evening there were free concerts in the city's piazzas. We enjoyed an al fresco concert by Misia, a Portuguese fado singer with a fantastic voice. It was the perfect way to cap our evening, which started with dinner at La Sosta, a renowned Slowfood restaurant on Via Vescovo Sicardo 9. By the way, the food was stellar there. You will not be disappointed if you go there. Speaking of food, the Cremonese salami is so delicious that you will want to eat it every day...preferably with some really good bread, a hunk of cheese and a good bottle of wine (all purchased at Formaggi d'Italia, a charcuterie just around the corner from Cremona's duomo). In case you're interested, we stayed at the Hotel Delle Arti, which is around a twenty-minute walk from the train station, and we really enjoyed our stay there. Our only complaint about the hotel is that check-out is at 10 AM, but then again it meant we could take an early train to Parma and the train wasn't crowded, so maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

Next, we continued on to Parma, another short train ride via Fidenza. We spent four days there and loved it. We stayed at the wonderful Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati, in the Ermione suite. What we really liked about this hotel was its great location (right on Via al Dumo), the coziness of our suite/apartment, and the first-class service we received from the friendly staff there. We tried out several restaurants but our favorite was La Forchetta, which was just around the corner from the palazzo. The duck (my choice) and black bass (and Tord's choice) were so delicious we still dream about it. We also tried Trattoria del Tribunale, and enjoyed their local specialities! Thank God Parma is a very pedestrian-friendly town--we needed to do a lot of walking considering how well we ate there. Since we had a kitchenette in our room, we made our own breakfast every morning and ate lunch there every afternoon. We got in the habit of walking along Via Cavour, crossing Piazza Garibaldi and traipsing along Via Farini until we came to what became our favorite enoteca. We bought all of our provisions there and the lovely ladies who run the place were always so friendly and patient with us (especially considering our poor Italian skills). I hope we'll return to Parma--it was a great place to visit.

Our final stop was Bologna. The last time we visited Bologna was in January 1999--we were poor and couldn't really afford to enjoy everything the city had to offer. This time, we had enough money to eat more than lackluster tourist food. We indulged in everything the Bolognese cucina had to offer at restaurants like Trattoria da Gianni (on Via Clavature 18, recommended in our Slowfood guide and well worth it) and Marco Fadiga Bistrot (on Via Rialto 23/C--not in our Slowfood guide but it ought to be). We stayed at Il Convento dei Fiori di Seta, an intimate boutique hotel in a converted convent on Via Orfeo 34. The beds are incredibly comfortable at this hotel, and the location is in a residential neighborhood in the southern corner of the historical district.

By the way, while you're in Bologna, you should definitely see Santo Stefano, a fantastic church made up of seven religious edifices. According to legend, it was built by Saint Petronius over the remains of an Isis temple. Don't miss it!

Returning to Stockholm after such a gratifying trip was difficult. I was in a bit of a funk last night and this morning at being back. Now I am happy to be home again (though if someone were to offer me a free ticket back to Italy I'd take it in a heartbeat). I will have to live on the memories until we have the time and the money to sneak away again...

By the way, if anyone has any theories as to why Gli Azzurri is doing so poorly in the Euro Cup, I'd love to hear them. I remember when they won the World Cup, defeating then-champions France. We were in Rome the same day Gli Azzurri arrived home with the Cup and remember the anticipation, the heat and the all-night celebrations. I don't think there will be such celebrations this year... I just wonder what happened between then and now since the team doesn't seem to be playing as well together as usual.