We were up early, and after a breakfast of granola, ham, two types of salami (which were out of this world) cheese and orange juice, I was ready to go. We had decided to check out the city of Pistoia (for which the “pistol” is named), which is located between Lucca and Florence. I had wanted to visit Bologna on this trip, but my wife wasn’t sure whether she wanted to go there. There was heavy, stop and go traffic on the A11, which continued all the wait to the Pistoia off ramp. Pistoia was not an unattractive place, but it didn’t seem to have the promise that the guidebooks indicated, and it did not have convenient parking, and when we saw a sign for “Bologna 90”, we decided to make the run through the Appenines. The route was national highway 64, and offers beautiful vista after beautiful vista. About halfway between Pistoia and the Toscana/Emilia-Romagna line we passed through the Passo della Collina, at 932 meters (3,058 feet) above sea level. We crossed into Emilia-Romagna just south of Porretta Terme, passed through Vergato and Sasso Marconi, and then saw signs for a commuter rail station in the Bologna suburb of Casalecchio (Casalecchio Garibaldi), where we were able to park for free, and take a train operated by the local transit authority (Ferrovie Emilia-Rogmagna/ATC) for €1.00 one-way each (there is a €3.00 all day transit pass for greater Bologna, which we didn’t find out about until the end of the day). Our tickets were good for 60 minutes and allowed transfer onto city buses. We arrived at Bologna Centrale, arguably the axis of the national railway system in Italy (the Venice-Rome-Reggio Calabria and Milano-Pescara-Brindisi lines cross here). Before the bombing at Atocha station in Madrid was the catastrophic terrorist bombing at this station on August 2, 1980 that murdered 85 persons, and is remembered by monuments on one of the exterior walls of the station.

After consulting a tourist map we obtained at a booth near the entrance to the westbound platforms, we decided to walk out to the street in front of the station, turn left and walk one block to Via Dell’Indepdenenza, a major north-south street to go into downtown (the station, despite being called “centrale”, is actually on the north center of the perimeter of Bologna. A number of buses stop there frequently, so the service is great; we took bus 11B. Bologna is almost completely flat as it is beyond the Appenines and at the south end of the large plain that extends up to the Po River and beyond and east to the Adriatic Sea (except for hills to the southwest), compared to Florence’s location in a river valley surrounded by hills. Bologna simply drips with charm but doesn’t have all the tourists of Florence. For us, there was a surprise and delight around almost every corner. When we got off the bus near the piazza in front of Bologna’s cathedral (Basilica di San Petronio) and to the east of city hall (Palazzo Comunale), we saw two of the centuries old watch towers which remain in Bologna, one of which leaned at an even more rakish angle than the Torre Pendente in Pisa. It was closed to the public, but the neighboring tower, Torre Asinelli, was open, and for an admission price of €3.00 a visitor is entitled to torture himself by ascending 495 steps covering a vertical height of 97.20 meters (318.9 feet). I took the challenge. I made it without suffering a coronary, but my legs and hips are still sore from the trip. I was able to take some great photos of Bologna, which I’ll upload to my photo website in the near future.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering the streets of Bologna, touring the magnificent cathedral, and shopping in the city’s historic food market street, the Via Pescherie Vecchie (the Old Fishmarket), where we found the finest delicatessen we’ve ever seen, La Baita Formaggi. This place simply defied description. You could travel the world, but you’ll never find a better collection of cured meats, cheeses, olives and wines in one shop. Wonderful.

Also, a shout out to Bologna FC on their centenary (1909-2009). They won the promotion playoff and were promoted to Serie A for the upcoming 2009-2010 season. Good luck to them; I bought one of their polo shirts. If you see someone on Delta wearing a Bologna FC polo shirt, it will probably be me.

Downtown Bologna is not the only place to buy great food. After leaving the city by train and getting back to our car, we found that we were near the Bologna Beltway (the “tangenziale”), and it was very easy for us to get on the famous A1 “Autostrade del Sole” in the direction of Florence. Shortly after joining the express highway, we encountered another “Illinois Oasis” style rest area, and we went in to buy a cold drink. On the way out, we were channeled through the most amazing market I’ve ever seen at a roadside rest, where a shopper could buy whoe hams, mortadella and salame along with wines and beers. Amazing.

An hour later, we were at the north end of Florence. We had decided to have dinner at one of our all time favorite restaurants, La Lampara, which is on Via Nazionale maybe 200 yards from SMN station. Although it was after 1900, we got into heavy traffic, as two key streets leading from the A1 and A11 autostradas (and Amerigo Vespucci Airport) were blocked off for constructon, and we got lost. Finally, my wife’s Italian skills were put to the test, and she got directions from a passer by; soon we were driving by the Duomo, and the underground garage at SMN came into view. Soon we were dining on bistecca fiorentina expertly prepared over a wood fire and eaten in small, delectable bites with a squeeze of lemon. Desserts of tiramisu and lemon torte accompanied by wonderful Italian coffee were scrumptious. We had better luck exiting Florence than entering it, and less than an hour later we were back at the Busdraghi in Lucca.