A Russian Abroad: The Chocolate Festival comes to Bologna.

Last week the inhabitants of Bologna were treated to five days of a chocolate festival which took over the three main piazze in the centre of the city. I had the best white hot chocolate I have ever tasted and indulged in crystalised fruit covered in chocolate, chocolate coccoretti (which I had never had before but were absolutely DELICIOUS - and on which the sign said 'eat 2 and lose a pound' - I highly doubt it!) and many, many free samples of the different types of chocolate on offer. Chocolate in the shape of tools was a big theme - slightly random I thought - along with shoes and musical instruments.

Two friends who are working in Florence for their Erasmus came to visit for the weekend for the chocolate festival and with one I took a trip outside of the city to Cesena as some of her family live out there in the country. It was a wonderful opportunity to explore a part of a Italy that is just as beautiful but isn't a major tourist attraction. We were treated to a lovely typical italian lunch (at her relative's) with pasta as the first course and meat and salad as the second followed by coffee. Then, we went to explore Cesena and had a walk around the Piazza del Popolo, past the Biblioteca Malatestiana (the first public library in Europe) and the Malatestian Fortress. Having done that we decided to go to Forli - Cesena isn't the most happening place - and I was interested to see what all the fuss was about when people complained about being placed in Forli (for Erasmus) instead of Bologna! The first thing that struck me walking into the centre was that I felt like I was on a film set. I later found out Mussolini was born in the province of Forli and, during his rise to power, fascists went to the province and gathered there and certain architecture was rebuilt to reflect the new regime. The town feels very modern, orderly, square and slightly cold - and honestly like it had just been built for a new film in a big warehouse. Very strange but also fascinating to look around a city which is so close to Bologna yet feels worlds apart.

Another small, slightly disheartening observation is that though my language is definitely improving - it seems that the Italian language is just a very difficult language to learn with many small, fiddly grammar rules in addition to the range of dialects, all of which seem to seep into 'standard Italian.' During lunch in Cesena, I witnessed one of the family correct his younger sister saying 'nella spiaggia' (on the beach) instead of 'in spiaggia.' I felt better to see that even a native makes such grammar mistakes!

I went to see another film this week; another french one, however, this time dubbed in italian called Giovane e Bella (Jeune et Jolie). I loved it and it was another one which had been shown at Cannes this year. I'm also lucky in that there is a cinema twenty seconds away from my flat so I braved the rain (for which the majority of italians normally will cancel their plans) and enjoyed another wonderful french film.

It has been quite a food orientated couple of weeks. Ivana (one of the friends who came from Florence) and I went to a little 'pop-up' type specialist tortellini place - tortellini is a specialist food from Bologna - and we had the tortellini in brodo which was absolutely delicious and so so simple to make I will definitely be copying it at home. It was chilly and rainy and we were sat in Piazza Maggiore with warm pots of the tortellini looking onto the tents of the chocolate festival which would supply us with desert! Last week I also went to the Osteria dell'Orsa which is one of the most well-know typically bolognese osteria's in the city. Bologna has osteria's and trattoria's and traditionally you could only buy drinks in an osteria and you would bring your own food, and the trattoria would sell food and drink. Nowadays, however, there is only one 'original' osteria left where this tradition still stands. The Osteria dell'Orsa is less expensive and so very popular with students. I trusted the six italians I was with to choose my meal for me as I didn't recognise a few of the dishes and they did well as the food was delicious. We had crostini and beef straccetti which was yummy but very filling - and I had also eaten a big margherita for lunch so I was completely full. When in Italy though....might as well eat like an italian. (Bologna also offers a good range of all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants and I could honestly live on sushi so I may have been twice in the last couple weeks... )

Other than that...the days are getting colder, the christmas market on strada maggiore is now open and people are starting to study for the odd exam in december. I start my 12 hours a week (in two 6 hour sessions) of conservatory classes on friday, I had a concert last week and have spent today learning a very difficult part for a concert next tuesday! Busy as always!

Un grande bacio xxxx