My Bologna has a first name ...: ...it's F-e-r-r-a-r-a!

Ciao tutti,

No, not Ferrari. Ferrara is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region, just a 30-minute train ride north of Bologna. A week ago last Friday, a few friends and I decided to spend the day there. I also want to give my apologies for the delay in posting this. Now that the snow is finally starting to melt and classes are pretty much in full swing, I’ve been busy the past week or so.

Ferrara is a very cool city, with a relaxed vibe, a friendly population, and some GREAT culinary traditions (i.e., the food may or may not have been our number-one reason for going there).

When we first arrived in Ferrara, we walked from the train station towards the city center, passing the local post office on the way. I’d like to take the opportunity now to point out an observation I’ve had while taking these gite (day trips) around Italy: the post office tends to be the fanciest building in the city. I don’t know why, but it just is. It’s happened twice so far, first in Parma and now in Ferrara, where we’ve passed pretty fancy post offices. It’s a cool phenomenon, one that I know happens in some cities in the U.S. as well. I’m sure I’ve have more to report on Italian post offices later, but I just wanted to share these preliminary findings with you now:

The Ferrara post office

The Parma post office

A close-up of the Parma post office

Hundreds of bicycles at the Ferrara train station, many of them rusted from the snow

A tranquil Ferrara street

While walking, we also passed the Castello Estense on the way. This castle, which dates back to the 14^th century, is named after the Este royal House, which ruled Ferrara during that time.

Il Castello Estense

A view of the moat around the castle,
with floating chunks of ice and snow

We continued towards the city center because we were all hungry for lunch, and (let’s be honest) we had come there for the food. We found a FANTASTIC enoteca/trattoria called “al Brindisi,” where we were able to indulge in a fixed three-course lunch menu with wine pairings! It was great. We started with some local meats – Prosciutto, salame – before moving on to the pièce de résistance, the pasta plate known as cappellacci di zucca, a tortelloni filled with pumpkin and Parmesan and served in a butter and sage sauce. Arguably the most delicious plate I have had in Italy. The third course was a serving of beef with puréed potatoes, but I really just wanted another plate of the cappellacci di zucca. We ended with some deserts and a sweet white wine. A two-to-three hour meal, completely satisfying J

The outside of the restaurant

Dusty wine bottles

i cappellacci di zucca con burro e salvia

After leaving the restaurant, we checked out the local cathedral, which was spectacular inside. With the weather being pretty overcast, though, it was fairly dark inside in the cathedral, but it did not disappoint.

The main façade of the cathedral

A protective griffin outside the front of the cathedral

The nave

A decorative side-chapel dedicated to Mary, with
spiral columns made from red marble of northern Italy

We then meandered through the city back towards the castle, where we could walk around the courtyard. We arrived at the castle too late to enter the museum portion, but we were satisfied with the day. Another great day-trip under our belts!