Italy
Eating Through Bologna in Three Days
Bologna is a small city with a large appetite and thirty-eight kilometres of covered arcades, which means you can eat your way across it in the rain without ever getting wet.
Do not order spaghetti bolognese. There is no such thing here, and the places that serve it are telling you something useful about themselves.
The three days
Day one is the Quadrilatero — the old market grid east of Piazza Maggiore. Buy nothing, look at everything, then eat tagliatelle al ragù somewhere with paper menus.
Day two is the hills. Walk the portico up to San Luca; it is 666 arches and about forty-five minutes, and it earns you dinner.
Day three is Modena or Parma by train, an hour each way, for the vinegar or the ham depending on your allegiance.
The queue outside the famous place is mostly people who read the same article. The place next door is usually better and always emptier.
What to bring home
Parmigiano from the market rather than the airport, and a packet of dried tortellini that will disappoint you at home, as it should.
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