Friday, January 16, 2009

Welcome to Bologna

To start off this blog, I figured I'd give a little history about Bologna and how I've come to be in this beautiful city....

Bologna is an Italian city with a long history, dating back to 500B.C. with the Etruscans.  It has a colorful story and is a place of great importance to this day.  Bologna is the capital of the region Emilia-Romagna, in the northern half of Italy. A small city which like many European cities, has a nice mix of modern and medieval aspects. Bologna has three nicknames, La Dotta meaning "the learned", La Grassa meaning "the fat", and finally La Rossa or "the red". 

 The first nickname derives from the fact that Bologna has the oldest university in Europe, dating from 1088, which had notable scholars such as Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch as students.    La Grassa comes from the rich culinary tradition in Bologna, now one of the gastronomic centers in Italy. It's the home of tortelloni, mortadella (vaguely related to that American version - bologna), and ragù sauce.   The last name comes from the red-tinted buildings and rooftops. 

Now, my reason for being in Bologna and the reason for this blog:
I am currently living in Bologna for the year, completing my last year of undergraduate study at the great Università di Bologna.  While I'm living here, I wanted to share with the world the beauty of my new home. So I hope you enjoy the pictures and the bit of history I can maybe provide with them. 

  Benvenuto in Italia! 

1 comment:

  1. You have just started and I already want to visit Bologna. It looks much nicer than I thought it would :) So, thanks for sharing your photos!

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