We had one last stop to make on this trip – Bologna. We got an early start departing from Pietrasanta and caught the train to Bologna.
We have a “family member” who lives in Bologna. He’s not related to us by blood, but we call him Zio Stefano (Uncle Stefano). He has been friends with my parents since before I was born, and whenever we are in Italy, we make a point to visit him.
Zio picked us up at the train station and drove us straight to one of the best bars in Bologna for a morning café. Bar Billi 1833 is straight up old school and no frills, but also has a delightful courtyard. The adults had some strong espressos, and if I remember correctly, the girls had lollipops (because Uncle).
Bar Billi also happens to be located along the world’s longest covered arcade in the world that runs from the center of Bologna 3.5km up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. Fortunately, there’s also a road that leads to the church, so we drove up there for the view of the city of Bologna in its entirety.

After our spot of sightseeing, we headed up into the hills on the outskirts of Bologna to lunch at Agriturismo Ronca Cà di Paola in Monte San Pietro. Agriturismos are farms in rural villages that open themselves for tourism in the form of boarding and/or dining.



Clearly the views from the farm were spectacular, but when you’re in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, known for having some of the finest regional cuisine in the world, you turn your attention back to the lunch pretty quickly. Agriturismo Ronca Cà di Paola serves a set menu on weekends for lunch with a reservation. I still dream about this meal.

Following lunch, Zio kindly took us to a Centro Commerciale, a mall, this one with a giant supermarket so that we could grab a few items to take back to the States with us. Always on our list, Fonzies for the plane, Rio Mare tuna for special dinners at home, a few cooking magazines, and a few Kinder Sorpresa. You can buy most of these products online in the US now, but we still stock up anyways. The Italian version of the Kinder Egg has different chocolate and better toys inside.

Zio dropped us back off at the train station after our very fun day, and we headed to Milan for one more night at a hotel before our flight home the next morning.
What We Say About Bologna
Friends that are like family + food is always a great idea
Mom
Zio picked a great restaurant
Big Sis C
I liked the lasagna
Lil Sis M
I dream about that meal
Dad