The City of Bologna
Bologna, pronounced "boh-low-nya", is a city in italy with intensly rich culture, food, and history. It is one of the most fertile regions in all of italy, and it home to the oldest University in Europe. It has three nicknames: "La Grassa", "La Dotta", and "La Rossa"
La Grassa: The Fat One
Bologna is known for it's amazingly heavy food culture. Large amounts of meat and cheese are not normally found in italian cuisine (sorry, that chicken parmesian and chicken alfredo you've been eating isn't made here). However, Bologna is in the center of a very fertile region of Italy and most of their cuisine is made in-house. They're known for their wine, tagliatelle pasta, lasagne, and their mortadella and other cured meats. Ironically enough, the American food "Bologna" made famous by Oscar-Meyer, is actually an American version of this fat-enriched cold-cut meat named "mortadella". I promise you one thing though: mortadella tastes completely different and, in my opinion, much better.
La Dotta: The Learned One
The oldest university in Europe exists in Bologna, and it's the one I'm currently studying at. The University of Bologna was founded 1088, and ever since then hundreds of thousands of students from across italy and around the world have come to study in the city. Bologna has been so heavily influenced by the University and it's culture that there are many historical buildings around the city that were erected as places to study fand places to live for students. In fact, the porticos that Bologna is famous for were built because the overflow of student housing was so immense that they could no longer build buildings upwards, and had to start building sideways into the streets. Some notable students that attended The University of Bologna are Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Pope Alexander VI, Nicholaus Copernicus, Guglielmo Marconi, Enzo Ferrari, and Giorgio Armani.
La Rossa: The Red One
Once arriving in Bologna, I immediately realized the reason Bologna is called the red one. All of it's buildings and rooftops are covered in the color red. It' a beautiful change from the standard limestone that I'm used to, and looking out from Due Torri (the Two Towers in the center of the city) you can truly see the expanse of red that the city is famous for. The buildings and porticoes lining up the streets celebrate the different shades of red, pink, rust, and rose. However, the Red One is also another term for the surge of communist thinking in this area. Many also reference "la rossa" for Bologna because it has such a large concentration of automaotive companies like Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati, and Lamborghini.
