Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE
If you came to Emilia-Romagna in search of authentic spaghetti bolognese you're out of luck. The
name is a misnomer. Spaghetti bolognese is about as Bolognese as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding
and Bologna's fiercely traditional trattorias never list it. Instead, the city prides itself on a vastly super-
ior meat-based sauce called
ragù
, consisting of slow-cooked minced beef simmered with pancetta,
onions and carrots, and enlivened with liberal dashes of milk and wine.
So why the misleading moniker? Modern legend suggests that
ragù
may have acted as spaghetti bo-
lognese's original inspiration when British and American servicemen passing through Emilia in WWII
fell in love with the dish. Returning home after the war, they subsequently asked their immigrant Itali-
an chefs to rustle up something similar. Details clearly got lost in translation. The 'spag bol' eaten in
contemporary London and New York is fundamentally different to Bologna's centuries-old
ragù
. First
there's the sauce. Spaghetti bolognese is heavy on tomatoes while
ragù
is all about the meat. Then
there's the pasta. Spag bol is served with dry durum-wheat spaghetti from Naples taken straight from a
packet.
Ragù
is spread over fresh egg-based
tagliatelle
(ribbon pasta) allowing the rich meat sauce to
stick to the thick al dente strands.
Ever keen to safeguard their meat sauce from mediocrity, Bologna's chamber of commerce re-
gistered an official
ragù
recipe in 1982, although, ironically, it's still nigh on impossible to find two
Bologna
ragù
that taste the same. The concoction made at Osteria dell'Orsa is popularly considered to
be the Verdi of its field.
Sleeping
Accommodation in Bologna is geared to the business market, with a glut of midrange to
top-end hotels in the convention zone to the north of the city. If possible, avoid the busy
spring and autumn trade-fair seasons when prices skyrocket, hotels get heavily booked
and advance reservations are essential. Outside of fair season, some hotels offer discounts
of up to 50% and attractive weekend rates.
Hotel University Bologna
( 051 22 97 13;
www.hoteluniversitybologna.com
; Via Mentana 7; s/d €61/75; )
Remember
student digs? Well, heave a sigh of relief, they were nothing like this. It's good to see that
the world's oldest university town can still muster up a hotel that's not a million miles
beyond the price range of its large undergraduate population. The HU Bologna is billed as
a three-star hotel, but it's recently renovated and punches well above its weight.
HOTEL
€
Astoria Hotel
HOTEL, APARTMENT
€
