From Fanano, we took the back
roads (of course) through the hills above Bologna. These smooth curve-fests
prompted memories of my much loved immaculate ’68 Honda 450CL. We passed by the
Villa Bel Poggio at San Lorenzo in Collina. Surrounded by gardens and vines,
this 18th century palazzo on the top of a hill overlooking the vast
flood plain of Emilia Romagna was my last place of residence in Italy. We were
soon reminded of the more mundane aspects of the Italian experience by the
usual afternoon traffic jam on the ring road around Bologna. We eventually reached
the farmhouse in the hills above Ozzano in time for a civilised aperitivo with
Krantz and Silvia followed by an excellent dinner. I had forgotten how hard the
guest beds were, but we did have our own bathroom with an untimed shower and a
solid roof over our heads.
The heavy rain overnight
afforded us the rare spectacle of a view across the entire Po flood plain to
the Alps 200 kms away. With Krantz on
board as the local expert, we headed up in to the Apennines to trace parts of
the legendary Mille Miglia route. We stopped for coffee at the mythical Passo
della Raticosa before continuing over the Passo della Futa and down into
Tuscany.
We wandered around the 14th
century town of Scarperia, famous for high quality knife production and the
legendary Mugello race circuit. We had our panini and beers sitting on the
grass overlooking the circuit, with the angry mosquito-like motorbikes doing
practice laps in the background. We continued up the road to Firenzuola, which
once formed part of the 65 km Mugello Road Circuit , used intermittently from
the 1920’s until 1970 as a GP venue.
We had an amusing,
nonsensical conversation with the lady who served our post prandial coffees at
the Passo del Giogo café, overlooking an idyllic meadow of bright yellow
flowers. We arrived safely back in Ozzano, despite our local expert directing
us in our shiny, new hire car down some of his favourite mountain biking tracks.
After picking cherries in their orchard, we said goodbye to Krantz, Silvia and
the dogs and headed into Bologna to catch up with other friends.
As Aldo and Pucci live just
outside the original Renaissance walls, we wandered into the old part of Bologna, allowing
me to once again wallow in a bit of nostalgia. We visited the glorious
restoration of the dilapidated Cinema Ambasciatori which now features 3 floors
of upmarket Trattorie, Osterie and a book store. It goes by the wonderfully
punny title of “Eataly”. After the stunning Selexyz bookshop within the
Dominican church in Maastricht, this is my favourite piece of recycled
architecture. Like the Selexyz conversion, the modern steel structure is inserted
into the original fabric of the building without actually touching it. There is
a delightful distinction between old and new.
We wandered through the
Piazza Maggiore, past the statuesque Neptune to another of my favourite
restorations, the ex-stock exchange complex or Sala Borsa. The central piazza
is covered by a magnificently figured roof and skylight. Even more impressive
is the vast glass floor which permits a view of the excavations below dating
back through Roman times to the Etruscan and original Villanovian residents of
the 7th century BC.
Aldo and Pucci had just
arrived back from San Diego and hadn’t time for reprovisioning, so dinner was
at their favourite pizzeria in Via Castiglione – not a problem for Ross and me.
As they are friends of 35 years, there was no shortage of conversation. Again,
we appreciated our accommodation being far more salubrious than that of our
usual two man tents.
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