Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EMILIA-ROMAGNA
TOP OF CHAPTER
Bologna
POP 380,000
Fusing haughty elegance with down-to-earth grit in one beautifully colonnaded medieval
grid, Bologna is a city of two intriguing halves. On one side is a hard-working, hi-tech city
located in the super-rich Po valley where suave opera-goers waltz out of regal theatres and
reconvene in some of the nation's finest restaurants and trattorias. On the other is a Bolshie,
politically edgy city that hosts the world's oldest university and is famous for its graffiti-
embellished piazzas filled with mildly inebriated students swapping gothic fashion tips. No
small wonder Bologna has earned so many historical monikers. La Grassa (the fat one) cel-
ebrates a rich food legacy (
ragù
or bolognese sauce was first concocted here). La Dotta
(the learned one) doffs a cap to the city university founded in 1088. La Rossa (the red one)
alludes to the ubiquity of the terracotta medieval buildings adorned with kilometres of por-
ticoes, as well as the city's longstanding penchant for left-wing politics. All three names
still ring true. Bologna is the kind of city where you can be discussing Chomsky with a
leftie newspaper-seller one minute, and be eating like an erstwhile Italian king in a fine res-
taurant the next.
