Dozza, The Festival of Painted Walls

I recently went with friends to the small village of Dozza, about 30km east of Bologna. Every two years the village hosts a unique festival, inviting national and international artists to create permanent paintings on the walls of the houses. The Biennale will happen this year from Sept. 9 - 14, but one can go there any time to view the art works.

Entitled "The Angel of Dozza."

Doors and windows are often cleverly incorporated into the paintings.

The festival began in 1960, and there are still some paintings from that time period. Some of the older paintings have been refurbished in recent years to restore design and color.

We spent several hours perusing the art along the winding cobblestone streets of the village, which led uphill to a castle.

Rocca di Dozza dates back to the 15th century, when Caterina Sforza rebuilt areas of former Bolognese fortresses, dating back to 1250. We didn't take time to go in and visit the museum, which charges a 5 euro fee to enter. What was once the dungeon of the castle is now a Regional Enoteca, or wine cellar.

The Rocca di Dozza

A local ristorante is highlighted in this painting.

Perusing the art in Dozza.

The short drive from Bologna was well worth the journey to visit this unique village.

Bologna: Tortelli-making lessons

Tortelloni, Tortelli di Zucca : the finished product

While in Bologna visiting my friends Massimo, Sofia and Erika, Sofia taught me to make Tortelli di Zucca (tortelli with a pumpkin filling). Here's how it went:

start with the flour

add eggs

mix the eggs into the flour

knead the dough

roll the dough out

roll out to desired thickness

prepare the filling: pumpkin with walnuts and nutmeg

Sofia made two types of filling, using a special kind of green pumpkin known as the Mantova pumpkin.  In fact, Tortelli di Zucca originates from Mantova, where the pumpkins come from.

Mantova pumpkins

One filling was made with a mostarda, which is  basically candied pears and apples and sometimes quince, preserved in a mustard flavored syrup, along with other ingredients. The other filling had walnuts and nutmeg as its base.

one way of doling out the filling

a simple way to mark the "pillows" of tortelli

cutting the individual tortelli

Everyone joins in to make the tortelloni, which requires some finesse: Erika, Anna, Massimo, Sofia.

Sofia showed me several ways to make the tortelli, and then how to shape the pasta into tortelloni. At this point, everyone joined in, including Massimo's cousin, Anna, who had come for the cena (dinner).

the shape of tortelloni

Once the pasta is made, it's boiled until done, and served with a light butter sauce with sage and parmigiano cheese (sugo).

Cooking the pasta and sugo

You've seen the finished product in the first picture on this post, but there was much more for dinner that day. Sofia is an artiste with food and pastry, and she had special supplies of food sent from her home town in Southern Italy for the meals she made during my stay, including this braid of buffalo milk mozzarella, that was used in several dishes:

Buffalo milk mozzarella from Campania

The buffalo that produce milk for the best mozzarella are not bison, but water buffalo, and come from the area near Salerno, in southern Italy. There is nothing like the taste of fresh buffalo milk mozzarella, and there's nothing in the U.S. that can compare. For our meal that evening, Sofia made aperitivi in a creative way, with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, olives and basil:

appetizers

Earlier in the day, Sofia also made profiteroles, which are basically very small cream puffs. Sofia loves to cook and makes everything from scratch. The finished profiteroles were served for dessert. Needless to say, everything was DELICIOUS and it took several days to recover from this magnificent meal.

filling the profiteroles with cream

Three mounds of profiteroles, covered in chocolate, coffee and cream. Look closely and you'll also see handmade swans.

Grazie mille to Sofia for her expertise, creativity and patience! I'm eager to try making Tortelli di Zucca when I get home.

La vendemmia Bolognese

The wine harvest in Bologna

It's time for la vendemmia!  All over Italy, grapes are being harvested and transformed into many kinds of vino italiano.  Lately I've been hearing from my friend Massimo about the vendemmia that is taking place near his home of Bologna.

First Massimo told me about a food festival that he and his family (wife Sofia and daughter Erika) came across one Sunday afternoon in Bologna's centro storico. There were many booths selling fall fruits, vegetables, jams and wine, among other things. They also came across a booth where children were allowed to jump in a vat and stomp grapes, the way wine making was done many years ago.

i ragazzi pigiano l'uva (children stomping the grapes)

Massimo's family was also invited to attend la vendemmia at his friend Fabiano's house in the country, where a machine called il torchio (winepress) is used to squeeze the grapes. Il torchio has been in existence in one form or another for many years, so la pigiatura dell'uva (grape stomping) nowadays in Italy is done mostly for fun. Massimo sent me a few photos of the wine making process that went on at Fabiano's house. The end result: vino Moscato (Moscato wine) for family and friends.

 le uve arrivano in ceste di legno (the grapes arrive in wooden crates)

Fabiano e suo madre riempiono il torchio
(Fabiano and his mother filling the winepress)

Sofia preme l'uva sotto gli occhi attenti del padre di Fabiano.
  (Sofia pressing the grapes under the watchful eyes of Fabiano's father.)

Grazie mille a Massimo per le foto e la famiglia di Fabiano per la vendemmia!
Many thanks to Massimo for sharing his weekend outing at Fabiano's!

Massimo also sent me a link to a High Definition video he created and posted on YouTube about the wine-making. It's fabulous!

Wine Harvest in Bologna

Hopefully I'll have the chance to see a similar operation at the Cantina del Tufaio during my stay in Zagarolo next fall. For more on la vendemmia, here's the link to an article with more information from the Florentine, an English bi-weekly magazine published in Firenze:

Grape stomping time in Italy

Bologna

On Sunday, I caught an early train to Bologna, to spend the day with Massimo, Sofia, their daughter Erika and Milly, their energetic puppy. I met Massimo earlier this year through the language exchange site, but this was our first chance to meet in person. He's been a great help in teaching me the "Italian" way of saying things.

Massimo knew that I was interested in the 4 km sentiero (path) that starts in the city center and climbs a hill up to Il Santuario della Madonna di San Luca (The Sanctuary of the Madonna of Saint Luke.) The path is often used as a pilgrimage route, and the panoramic view from San Luca is magnificent. Bologna is a town of many porticos, and the page to San Luca is composed of 666 porticos. We had used the story of San Luca as one of our language exchange exercises.

San Luca

Walking down through the many porticos.

Massimo shared this story with me:

"This Madonna is linked to a famous event: in 1433 the spring was extremely rainy and threatened to cause a severe famine. The icon of the Madonna was taken to the city to plead for an end to the rains, and as soon as the icon entered the city, the rains ceased. There was a great festival of thanksgiving, which included carrying the picture of the Madonna around the city for three days, then taking it back to the Sanctuary. From that day, each year the icon comes down for three days to Bologna: this custom represents a great religious time for the city. The interesting thing is that each year during this time, it invariably rains!"

The view from San Luca

After our climb, and descent back to the city, we returned to their home for pranzo (lunch). I had once mentioned to Massimo that one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten was in Bologna several years ago, when I had Tortelloni di zucca (Tortelloni stuffed with pumpkin). In honor of my visit, Sofia had prepared Tortelli di zucca! Nuts are often used in the stuffing, and Sofia had used some biscotti made with almonds, which added an exquisite flavor to the tortelli.

Quick lesson: Tortelloni are large squares of pasta stuffed with various ingredients. Tortelli are smaller squares of pasta, used in a similar fashion. Tortellini are ring-shaped pasta, which in Italy are ALWAYS stuffed with meat.

Sofia had prepared an elaborate feast and had set the table with great care. First we ate verdure fritte (deep-fried vegetables), tortelli di zucca, tacchino ripieno con spinaci (turkey stuffed with spinach), and pomodori con pangrattato (tomatoes with bread crumbs). The crowning touch to the meal: an elaborate torta (cake) made with layers of chocolate and vanilla cream filling, topped with tiny cigne (swans) that Sofia had created. (She worked for some years in a pasticceria (pastry shop) and still enjoys being creative with dolci (desserts). I know she spent many hours preparing these dishes, including a search for the right type of pumpkin for the tortelli di zucca, and I felt honored that she went to such trouble.

Sofia's torta

Does anyone still wonder why I love Italians? I always feel humbled by the thoughtfulness, openness and generosity that they bestow on me during my visits.

After our feast, another passeggiata (stroll) was called for. This time we walked from their flat to the city center and climbed la Torre Asinelli, a leaning tower that is higher than the tower of Pisa or the campaniles in both Venice and Florence. We climbed 498 wooden steps to the top, where we had an incredible view in every direction of many Italian provinces. Sometimes it is even possible to see the Alps in the distance, but not that day.

There are two famous towers in Bologna. We climbed the taller one (the Asinelli Tower, 97 m, which is shown leaning behind the the Garisenda Tower, 48 m).

A view from the tower, with San Luca in the center of the far background, on the hill.

Another place we visited was the Sette Chiese (seven churches) of Piazza Santo Stefano, an interesting complex of ancient churches that interconnect with each other. By this time, Erika was eager for gelato, so we walked to their favorite gelateria, where only the freshest ingredients are used daily (80% fresh fruit). I tried fico (fig)....meravigliosa! (wonderful)

It was nearing the time for my departure, so we headed to the train station, where they waited with me for 30 minutes until my train arrived. I had a wonderful time in Bologna, grazie a Massimo and his family, and I hope they can visit me in Firenze so I can play tour guide for them in return. Sadly, I won't be able to create a feast that will compare with the one Sofia made for us today.

Massimo, Erika, Sofia

Bravissima, Sofia per la meravigliosa cena! Grazie a Massimo e tutti per la vostra gentilezza!